Western Pa. Vegetable Growers Share Labor Perspectives

CAROL ANN GREGG
Western Pa. Correspondent

BUTLER, Pa. — Regardless of the size of their farm, commercial produce growers deal with employees on a daily basis.

At the recent Western Pennsylvania Vegetable and Berry Seminar here, three producers from three different vegetable farms shared their experiences and perspectives on hiring, keeping and managing employees on their operations.

Kathy King, Harvest Valley Farms, Butler County, talked about working with mostly high school students on the operation. The farm employs about 12 to 15 high school students, two college students and one migrant worker. Students can begin working at Harvest Valley at the age of 14.

King was quick to point out that employers can’t expect a 14-year-old to do the same work as an 18-year-old. “It’s just not going to happen,” she said.

King talked about the things that are important to high school students on the job, such as feeling important, a sense of accomplishment, being part of a team, and being rewarded for a good job.

“The last thing that is important to kids is the pay,” King said, though she added that pay is often important to the youths’ parents.

At Harvest Valley Farms, college students are given more responsibility. They are in charge of teams going out into the field.

The pay scale at Harvest Valley is from $5 to $8.25. Because so many students want to leave in August for football and band practice camps, the Kings have developed an incentive plan. Anyone who is willing to work two hours for two days during the week and six hours on the weekend until the end of the season receives a $.25 per hour increase and a $100 bonus paid Nov. 1.

One of the major drawbacks to hiring high school students is that they often can’t drive and therefore cannot run equipment.

The Kings are looking into using H-2A employees in 2008. H-2A is a federal temporary ag worker visa program that allows foreign workers to do seasonal work if employers can show there is a shortage of domestic workers.

Harvest Valley Farms is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and also markets its produce at the farm market, at farmers’ markets around the area and to restaurants.

In contrast to this small operation in Butler County, John Mason has about 70 to 90 employees working in his operation in Erie County. Mason farms about 350 acres with about 100 acres in grapes and 150 acres in small fruits and vegetables with his wife and two sons and their wives.

Mason warned the audience of vegetable growers that bigger isn’t necessarily better. New and bigger problems come with size. He hires migrants and deals with immigration problems nearly on a daily basis. His farm doesn’t hire anyone under the age of 16.

Mason agreed with King that kids want praise.

“As farmers and employers that is one of the hardest thing to come out of us,” Mason said. He tries to thank the people for the work they did as they leave at the end of the day.

Mason’s daughter-in-law is the HR (human resources) person in the operation.

“I sit in when farm workers are being hired because I have different questions than she does,” Mason said.

They have found that by having an application with strategic questions, they can pre-screen applicants.

“You would be amazed at what some people will tell you,” Mason said. They had one application where the applicant said the reason he left his last job was that he didn’t want to work.

He recommended to his daughter-in-law that they put a camera in the parking lot to have a chance to look applicants over as they come in for an interview.

“You would be amazed at what you can tell about a person by how they move,” Mason said.

Once the HR person finds someone she thinks is right for the job, she calls them in for a second interview with herself and the manager the person will be working with.

Mason Farms pays minimum wage to new hires. “It has been a terrible nightmare adjusting to (the minimum wage) increase,” Mason said. “We had hardly anyone at the $5.15 or $5.25 level but the problem is you’ve been with me for a couple of years and you’re making $7.50 and a high school student comes walking in and I pay him $7.15. What do you think? You want more money.”

The problem, Mason said, isn’t the cost of paying the minimum wage, but the cost of raising the other workers’ wages.

“The government had to be insane,” he said of the minimum wage hike. “How does anyone absorb a 34 percent increase in labor over a year?”

Mason pointed out that as the farm got bigger it has more worker compensation claims. They have developed a safety committee to help prevent accidents.

They have also developed an employee manual so that everyone knows what is to be done and what the consequences are if there are problems. A 90-day trial period helps determine if the person is right for the job.

Mason said the farm’s Website has been a good tool for recruiting workers.
He asked some of his employees why they continue to work at Mason Farms. He found that they liked the family atmosphere of the farm and farm market. One said, “You treated me as though I had a brain.”

Mason says that you need to encourage workers to think for themselves and to take responsibility. Everyone needs to be treated with respect. He has found this especially important when working with a Hispanic workforce.

Another vegetable grower on the panel, Scott Simmons, operates a farm near Pittsburgh. As he and his brothers were growing up they and their friends were the workforce, picking berries, weeding vegetables and selling at the farm stand. As the farm grew, the boys all grew up and the need for labor was still there.

“Labor is our biggest expense and our biggest problem,” Simmons said.

About 20 years ago, an older Mexican worker came to the farm and asked for a job. He was a good worker and the father of 10 children in Mexico. Each year he would ask to bring the older sons with him, so as the boys reached the ages of 16, 17 or 18 they would come to the farm. They were all good workers.

Simmons Farm provides housing for all their migrant workers. There are four couples that have become year-round workers. They also have housing on the farm. Simmons said he began to be concerned about how the men were getting into the country. He knew they were paying someone so he asked them about getting them visas. Ever since, Simmons has done the paper work required for the H-2A worker program and lists all his workers for visas. If he thinks he needs some additional workers, he asks his current employees for names of friends that would like to work. All of his workers come from the same Mexican town.

The H-2A program requires workers to be paid in the $9.25 or $9.29 per hour range. All the workers are to be paid for at least a 40-hour week. By doing contract or piecework on Simmons’ farm, these migrant workers are able to earn even more than what is required by the Department of Labor.

Simmons also hires about 35-40 local workers, mostly students and retirees.

During the question-and-answer period, the concern of verifying credentials was discussed. Currently, an employer cannot fire or harass an employee if he believes there are problems with the employee’s papers. There is a “no match” letter that is sent to the employer if a social security number and name do not match. All the employer can do is inform the employee and tell them to go to the social security office to straighten it out. Workers who are in the country illegally are very unlikely to go to a government office.