Border Security, Job Market Leave Farms Short of Workers

Because of a shortage of workers to pack apples, tables are empty at the P-R Farms plant in Clovis, Calif. "We're short by 50 to 75 people. For the last three weeks, we're running at 50 percent capacity," owner Pat Ricchiuti says. (By Sonya Geis -- The Washington Post)

Some farmers said they have invested in machines to take the place of workers, though some tasks, such as picking soft fruit, cannot be mechanized.

Others are worrying about credit. In August, Tom Brown, president and chief executive of Fresno Madera Farm Credit bank in California, testified at an immigration forum hosted by Rep. George Radanovich (R-Calif.) that he was worried about the impact of the labor shortage on farmers' ability to repay loans.

Some food growers, who as a group tend to vote Republican, now find themselves fighting hardest against leaders in their own party.

"So many of the farmers here are conservative, but they're finding themselves kind of at odds, not so much with Republicans in this area but with Republicans on the East Coast who have no idea what's going on in the San Joaquin Valley and California," said Daniel Jackson, a California fruit grower. "Something could happen in Washington, D.C., tomorrow, and all the farmers in the San Joaquin Valley would be out of work."

Ricchiuti has a framed photo of President Bush and first lady Laura Bush on his office wall and a pile of "Re-Elect Arnold" signs supporting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) at his processing plant. But he grew agitated when he talked about the GOP's handling of immigration.

"What's wrong with the Republican leadership?" he demanded. "They control the House and the Senate. I would have thought it would be a slam-dunk.

"Certain Republicans are very closed-minded," he continued. "They're prejudiced, and they're concerned about people taking their jobs. Well, you know what? You won't do those jobs. You might stick your head up the grapevine once or twice, but you won't do it a third time."

Hopes for the AgJobs bill are now on hold until after the midterm elections, said Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League. Bedwell has made four trips already this year to Washington to lobby for immigration reform.

"Even from our best friends and allies in the San Joaquin Valley on the Republican side, they were saying, yes, they understand. But they were trying to explain the political reality of an election year," he said. "Boy, I will be happy to get by the election, where we can start talking reason."