AG Worker shortage affects Monterey County

Troubling news for a Central Coast money maker, the AG industry. A new survey shows that farmers are struggling to keep and hire employees across the state.

The California Farm Bureau Federation released the results of the survey, and more than half of those that responded say they’re facing employee shortages. Some of them in Monterey County.

“If we don’t solve our labor supply problem, we’re not going to get anywhere as far as continuing with the crops that we have,” said Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau.

Groot says a big part of the issue has been the federal increase in immigration enforcement.

“We’re not seeing that Americans are really wanting these jobs so as a result, we really rely on these immigrants to come in and take these jobs for us,” Groot said.

Mechanization is one of the options farmers are looking at as a solution. The technology needed to do that though could take more than a decade to develop. Experts say that in this line of work, humans just can’t be replaced so easily.

“Picking strawberrys, picking lettuce, harvesting vegetables,” Groot said, “If you think about it, in the blink of an eye, a field worker can determine whether the size is right the color is right, whether the berry is ripe to be picked.”

For now, the State Farm Bureau says it will continue to work with government officials to bring workers to California.

“We’ve had ongoing efforts and we’ve been working through a coalition for 15 years or more in Washington D.C. to get immigration reform,” Groot said, “To get a guest worker or temporary worker program and also get some documentation for those who are already here.”

Another option, the Farm Bureau says Monterey County could switch to crops that can already be mechanized such as grains and corns.

To see the results of the survey click here.