The apple market is booming in Washington State, as farmers have seen an increase of50 percent of fruit shipped to keep up with skyrocketing demand. As other apple-producing regions of the country struggle with meager harvests following poor weather, this year’s harvest should be especially profitable — if Washington farmers can find the workers they need.
That is a big if. The overwhelmingly Hispanic workforce for the apple harvest already has 13,000 more participants this year than in 2011, but it’s not enough to satisfy the increased demand. “I’m down 40 percent from the labor I need,” said Steve Nunley, manager of a 3,000-acre apple orchard near Wapato, Wash.
Mr. Nunley, like other farmers, has increased pay to $24 for every 1,000-pound bin of Gala apples picked, up from $18 last year. Even so he has only 200 pickers right now, just over half the number he needs. Consequently, he expects having to let tons of fruit rot unpicked this season because raising wages further will make the harvest unprofitable.
Visitors often ask if non-Hispanics ever apply for picking jobs, and they hear the story about two “crazy” Canadians who drove to Okanogan County, who picked three bins of apples the first day, one bin the second day, and then said “we’re outta here” after that. The experience with using prisoners, who fail to match the productivity of mostly Hispanic pickers, is similar.
Farmers’ complaints and the political theater of marching prisoners out into fields, as was done last year, are all unnecessary. Hispanic workers, mostly from Mexico or in the country as unauthorized immigrants, want to pick apples and are able to do so at the wages that make apple growing profitable in Washington State.
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