Farm workers by the numbers

This USDA ERS report on hired farm workers provides much context to the debate about immigration reform. From the Amber Waves feature:

For the U.S., the total farm labor expense in 2006 was $24.4 billion—amounting to 10.2 percent of total agricultural commodity cash receipts. But, in California, which has the greatest cash receipts of all States and produces many labor-intensive crops (such as dairy, grapes, and greenhouse and nursery), total farm labor expense amounted to 22.3 percent of the total value of agricultural cash receipts for 2006. In contrast, in Iowa, farm labor expense totaled 2.5 percent of cash receipts. Iowa has the third highest total cash receipts but grows primarily non-labor-intensive agricultural commodities (such as corn, hogs, and soybeans). Six States—California, Florida, Washington, Texas, Oregon, and North Carolina—account for about half of the Nation’s expenditure on hired labor.



On unauthorized workers:

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Workers Study (NAWS), roughly half of crop farmworkers are not authorized to work in the United States. Because the number of unauthorized low-skill immigrants in the U.S. far exceeds immigration quotas, the immigrants’ opportunities to obtain legal status depend almost entirely on changes in U.S. immigration policy. U.S. farm operators likewise rely on immigration policy for guidance on employment decisions. Immigrants who arrived after 1990 were ineligible to qualify for legal status under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). This legislation granted legal status to those who have lived in the U.S. since 1982 or who could prove they engaged in agricultural employment between 1985 and 1986. Because no major legislation has offered legal status to unauthorized immigrants since IRCA, immigrants arriving after 1990 are far more likely to be unauthorized.

Unauthorized workers appear in greater proportions in agriculture than in other industries. Current and widely cited estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center place the entire unauthorized workforce at 7 million workers in 2006. Of these, an estimated 500,000 are employed as hired farmworkers at any given point in time. But, because different workers often work at the same location at different times of the year, the estimated total number of unauthorized workers employed in agriculture throughout a year is likely to be greater.

According to the NAWS data, since 1989, a substantial portion of crop farmworkers have consistently reported they expected to remain in farmwork for the for seeable future. However, several studies based on the experience with IRCA suggest that if unauthorized workers were granted legal status, they would be less likely to take seasonal agricultural production jobs and agricultural wages would increase significantly. Hence, those employing seasonal workers would face the greatest financial challenges resulting from labor market constriction due to immigration reform. Farm operators are likely to adjust over time by acquiring additional capital equipment, switching commodities, or possibly ceasing agricultural production.

Opponents of additional immigration restrictions believe that imposing them would jeopardize the supply of labor available to farmers during critical planting and harvest seasons. They contend that if restrictive immigration policies were to occur, it could lead to reduced profits for some farms and threaten the viability of agricultural subsectors that remain heavily dependent on farm labor, especially fruit, tree nuts, vegetables, and horticulture. Others contend that little evidence supports the existence of farm labor shortages. To support their view, the latter group points to relatively slight increases in recent hired farmworker wages, greater production of labor-intensive fruit and vegetables, the small proportion of food products’ final cost attributed to labor, and increasing possibilities for agricultural mechanization. Because agriculture has not had to deal with a critical shortage of labor in the recent past, it is difficult to reconcile these two perspectives.

TK: Growers who have given up labor intensive fruit and vegetable production because of labor worries have a hard time reconciling the government's lack of action in providing growers with an adequate legal work force with their continuing ability to farm.

PMA foodservice tour provides news and fun

PHOTO DETAILS: Dino Cancellieri, sales manager of Veg-Fresh Farms, Anaheim, Calif., shows off some hothouse tomatoes on April 3. Photo by Dan Galbraith, reporting from the Produce Marketing Association's Consumer Trends '08: A Produce Solutions Conference in Newport Beach, Calif.

TOUR TIME: Day 1 (April 3) proved intriguing as I went on the foodservice tour. I, along with a bunch of grower-shippers, wholesalers, distributors and others, got a glimpse into what makes Legacy Farms LLC (Buena Park, Calif.), Veg-Fresh Farms (Anaheim, Calif.) and Family Tree Produce (Anaheim) so special. Of course, one of those things was that such a high percentage of their business was to foodservice.

CATERING TO RESTAURANTS: Legacy Farms' Nick Cancellieri estimated 40% of his company's business deals with foodservice, while the percentages for Veg-Fresh Farms and Family Tree Produce were also on the high side. In fact, David Figueroa of Family Tree Farms said almost all of his company's business is foodservice-related. All of the company representatives were especially hospitable.

NEWS OF NOTE: Steve Bradley at Legacy told me privately that his company plans to expand its hothouse business into Mexico this year and 2008 also should hold some eye-opening developments for the company as it moves forward with its packaging division. Also, it may not be this year, but at some point in the near future, look for Family Tree Produce to add on to its current facility. David Figueroa, who noted his company already deals with five buyers (which he said is two more than most companies of comparable size to his), is crammed full of produce and he said he expects the company will have to add on to its current facility if the company continues its current growth rate.

LOOKING AHEAD: Day 2 of the conference on April 4 looks to be equally exciting as I'm looking forward to meeting the likes of Scott Horsfall, chief executive officer of the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement; Bonnie Fernandez, the new executive director of the Center for Produce Safety at the University of California at Davis; and Dr. Robert Whitaker, new chief scientific officer at PMA.

Seriously?

I'm cringing when I'm reading news reports about Fresh & Easy, partly because the Pundit is pummelling the British chain to a bloody pulp with every story. It's not a pretty sight. Here is more coverage from the Times Online's story "Analyst questions Tesco's Fresh & Easy U.S. Venture.

Fresh fears over the health of Tesco's fledgling business in the US have emerged amid claims that suppliers are “disenchanted” and had no idea that the supermarket giant was going to call a three-month halt to its expansion drive.

Jim Prevor, one of the most influential commentators on the supermarket sector in the US, added that Tesco's Fresh & Easy chain needed a major strategic overhaul if it was ever going to be a hit with American shoppers.

He told The Times: “They are doing horribly. There's no question they have made some mistakes and they are still making them.”

TK: If nothing else, Fresh & Easy will want to prove Jim wrong. He is their No. 1 critic right now. Prevor doesn't even throw them a bone, like: "They've got a smart team, they will figure this thing out." Or "They've been here only a few months; let's see how they are doing in a year before we pass judgement." What's more, he said some suppliers are becoming disenchanted with Tesco and some may "walk away." Show me the suppliers who sign their name on that statement, and I'll show you some loyal followers of the Pundit.

How much do you exercise each day?

That's the poll question this week. I see we have a reader that already answered "more than 60 minutes" a day. That's putting the rest of us under the pile from the get go. Like Condoleeza Rice, by the way, who this story from Australia says get up at 4 a.m. every day to work out.

A rant against shopper cards

I was looking through my overstuffed inbox and happened upon a Google alert that linked to a great (great=angry) blog rant about shopper cards. From Georgia Gould "I don't want a Safeway card"

From the blog:

If there is one thing I really can't stand, it's getting the hard sell for membership cards. Barnes and Noble is the worst, although the guy at Safeway last night was a close second. I was buying one thing: a bottle of ketchup. This is how it went:
"Do you have a Safeway card?"
"No."
"Would you like to sign up? It will save you money today."
"No thanks."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure."
"Are you staying with any friends or do you know anyone who has a Safeway card?"
"No, it's really ok."
"Allright....Well, you would have saved .89 today."

Was he joking? 89 cents? I would pay five extra dollars just to not get hassled about signing up for a stupid Safeway card. Now I won't sign up for that stuff just on principle (and because you can see them get visibly irritated that you aren't motivated by the prospect of saving 89 cents). It's getting out of hand out there..

Readers agreed:

Jeff said:
Georgia ... I totally hear you. Albertsons does the same thing and I stop in a local markets just to avoid just the thing you described here.

Bill said:
Actually, the Safeway Card is the key to unlocking the universe...
Or at least the employees believe so.



TK: Is it a loyalty card if you have to have three or four to patronize merchants in your town? Surely there is someone, though, who will stand up for the "shopper card"?

Optimism O-Meter running low

I asked a Washington lobbyist today how optimistic she was about the farm bill. How is the Optimism-O-Meter running?

Right now the needle is wavering and dipping down to the red zone. There are only so many ways to give a "farm bill update" - truly an oxymoronic expression in recent weeks. I wish Las Vegas odds makers had a book on the chance of the farm bill passing. Then perhaps we could get a realistic perspective on where the process stands. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer is nothing but "optimistic" about passing a new farm bill. The same goes with Sen. Tom Harkin, also doggedly upbeat.

But will we have a bill, or close to it, by April 18?

Will offsets be found that everyone can agree on ?

What types of new reforms will be necessary for farm bill passage?

Will specialty crops and nutrition receive their fair share?

Will the White House demand a two year extension if Congress can't come to grips with a solution?

The pause that refreshes?

Here is coverage from The San Francisco Chronicle about the pause in the opening of Fresh & Easy stores.

A nod to the Pundit, who was the first source quoted.

"The more stores they open, the more money they lose," said Jim Prevor, a food industry consultant who writes the Perishable Pundit blog. "I believe there's good reason to believe they will fail ... (unless) the company is willing to rethink the whole concept."

Later....

Food industry consultant Prevor, who puts Fresh & Easy's weekly sales figure at around $50,000 per store, said the markets aren't drawing adequate foot traffic because they don't carry enough items for all-in-one shopping trips and U.S. consumers aren't yet familiar with the Fresh & Easy brand.

He added that he spoke to Fresh & Easy vendors who have been working for more than a year to meet the company's projected volumes. Last week was the first they had heard of any planned break in store opening.

TK: "The more stores they open the more money they lose" seems like an incredible bout of conclusion-jumping by PP. However, since Fresh & Easy isn't releasing sales figures, the company can't really dispute critics with any significant data. Those who are heavily invested as F&E naysayers can now comfortably take credit no matter if Tesco sinks or swims here in America. In a sense, Tesco should not be unhappy about the attention it is getting from all concerned.

Consider this gem from William Arthur Ward:

“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you.”