Perdue Farms President Jim Perdue on protecting workers during the coronavirus pandemic and managing the international supply chain.
CHICAGO – The new coronavirus delayed the arrival of seasonal immigrants who normally help harvest wheat from the US, leaving farmers dependent on high school students, school bus drivers, laid-off oil field workers, and others to operate machines that bring in Harvest.
As harvesters head north from the plains of southern Texas and Oklahoma, farmers and harvesting companies struggle to find and keep workers. Any delay in the harvest could raise wheat prices and provoke a fight to secure the supply of bread and pasta.
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The United States is the world’s third-largest wheat exporter, a crop in high demand during the pandemic. A sustained labor shortage could affect soybean and corn crops beginning in September.
Harvesting companies and farmers interviewed by Reuters said that their new American employees have required more training and quit smoking at higher rates than usual, as harvesters head north and begin to bring in other major export crops.
A Mexican migrant worker picks blueberries during a harvest on a farm in Lake Wales, Florida, USA, March 31, 2020. Reuters / Marco Bello
While grain harvests are more automated than labor-intensive fruit and vegetable industries, they are not immune to labor shortages.
Josh Beckley of Beckley Harvesting Inc, based in Atwood, Kansas, generally employs immigrants for about 30% of its workers. The most common visa for migrant farmworkers is the H-2A, which allows workers to stay in the United States for months to work on farms.
This year, Beckley had no foreign workers on its crew. She’s had trouble finding replacement workers, and many Americans are unwilling to enroll for months of traveling through the United States’ agricultural belt.
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“They called back and said, ‘Hey man, I just don’t think I should get out of the house with all of this,'” he said.
Farmers, who have been loyal supporters of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, have become more dependent on the immigrant workforce in recent years. The Trump administration continues to issue agricultural visas while cracking down on tech workers, students, and other groups.
Custom pickers, or companies hired to harvest crops by small farmers who do not own their own equipment, also employ migrants. At harvest time, they accumulate up to 1,000 combine harvesters in the Great Plains of the US and Midwest, handling approximately 30% of the US wheat crop.
In this March 24, 2020 photo, farmworkers stay away from each other while working at Heringer Estates family vineyards and wineries in Clarksburg, California (AP Photo / Rich Pedroncelli)
Harvesting teams follow a trail that begins in South Texas and climbs the bread basket of the United States to the Canadian border.
The number of H-2A visas issued to agricultural equipment operators increased to 10,798 from October to March, the typical hiring period for harvesters looking for a workforce that begins cutting wheat in May. That was 49% more than the year before, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
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But many of those workers were unable to reach the United States when the harvesters set out on their annual journey, according to eight harvest companies and farmers interviewed by Reuters. Travel restrictions, stricter border controls and fears of viruses worldwide caused delays in leaving workers from their countries of origin.
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Ryan Haffner, owner of the Kansas-based High Plains Harvesting, had planned for 10 H-2A visa workers to represent the majority of his workforce when the harvest began. But only four arrived in the United States on time. He described his American replacements as “very little compromised and lazy.” A fired oil worker retired before his first day, Haffner said.
US Custom Harvesters Inc, which represents convoy operators, said finding employees was the number one problem for the industry.
Hiring difficulties are another headache for farmers struggling to return to profitability after seeing their net income drop by about 50% from the 2013 peak. Now, their earnings are once again in doubt as sales to China remains uncertain even after a Phase 1 trade agreement.
Until now, the winter wheat harvest was 41% complete as of Monday, in line with recent years. The spring wheat crop will be harvested from August.
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Even the largest farmers, who own their own equipment, had trouble completing their workforce with the Americans.
Doug Zink, a 28,000-acre North Dakota grower, fell short this spring as two South African farmers did not arrive until the end of June.
“We had a lot of trouble bringing our foreign workers here,” he said. “They couldn’t get flights.”
If workers continue to resign, the wheat harvest in the northern reaches of the plains and the fall crop harvest could be at risk.
David Misener, owner of the Oklahoma-based Green Acres Enterprises, had planned to hire two immigrants to complete his four-person team. He struggled to find suitable replacements, with three employees quitting within a week of starting.
“They couldn’t imagine doing it and making it work,” said Misener, who runs his combines on a route that stretches from Texas to North Dakota from May to December.
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Misener said he is already looking for replacements for his team’s two high school siblings who will abandon the road when classes resume in August.
“My hiring for the year is definitely not over,” he said. “I’m going to have to recruit someone who doesn’t have to be in school.”
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