Published: September 06, 2007 02:12 pm      

AGRICULTURE: Operators worry anti-migrant biases will crush their businesses

The bias against foreigners couldn’t come at a worse time for New York agriculture.

Area farmers had a heart-to-heart with state Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith on Tuesday about federal immigration law and the damage that zealous enforcement is doing to their livelihoods. The meeting was arranged by state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, in response to farm lobby groups’ complaints that cumbersome labor rules are smothering one of the state’s top industries.

“We need a new labor force or a way to keep the existing labor force that we have in agriculture,” Maziarz said. “It is of the utmost importance in (the 62nd Senate district).”

While Congress continues a drawn-out debate about immigration reform, with a tilt by some toward making it tougher for non-natives to work and live in the United States, the farm community is facing ever greater demand for migrant or non-native labor.

Americans no longer want to do the dirty work of farming, according to Michael Von Heckler, a Cambria grape grower and winemaker.

Heckler figures he needs 50 pickers to clear his crops every year, and as experienced local old hands die off, he’s having a hard time finding replacements. He’s been turning more to “H2A” workers, seasonal workers from foreign countries cleared to work in the United States temporarily.

But when he has called the state labor department to inquire about H2As, he complained to Smith, “the first question I’m asked is ‘Why don’t you hire Americans?’ ”

He feels it’s an ironic and maddening question, considering the realities of his work place. “No one who was born in Niagara County wants to be the best grape picker ever. Only people who weren’t born here want to pick the grapes,” Von Heckler said. “My top pickers make $18 to $20 an hour. When you tell (local) people that, their eyes light up, but when they show up (to work) it’s a different story. You’re lucky if they last a day.”

While he’s relying more heavily on foreign-born labor to help his business fly, Von Heckler said bigotry interferes. Ultraconservatives shaping political thought and policy are “white supremacists” determined to shore up Anglo culture by attacking all things Hispanic, he charged, and said he’s been forced to consciously seek Jamaican migrants because they’re less likely to be hunted down by immigration officials.

“They won’t arrest a black person,” he said. “It’s only with Mexicans where it breaks down.”

The H2A program, in place for about 20 years, is seeing higher demand as small farm operators of all types seek migrant laborers to help them stay in business, according to Deborah Roberts, director of Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension.

The regulations for H2A employers are onerous, she said; they have to pay for the workers’ transportation to their sites, pay for housing that meets the strictest safety and aesthetic codes and pay a base wage of $9.50 per hour, well above minimum wage.

All the while, she agreed somewhat with Von Heckler, migrants face hostility — and not just from the government.

“There’s a lot of discrimination and prejudice in the community,” Roberts said. “How do we get past that?”

It’s a question the non-farm community has to face as well, retired Medina dairy farmer Bill Eick suggested.

“This is a country at war with itself over this issue. ... All of the job growth in the last 10 years is from immigrants; they’re doing the hardest jobs; they’re the ones growing our economy,” he said.

Twenty-six percent of the labor force in New York state is foreign-born, according to Smith.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that some California farmers are renting land in Mexico to avoid the immigration imbroglio. In essence, those American businesses are being forced to take work out of the country, Eick pointed out.

“Are we going to import the immigrants or import the foods? That’s the thing,” he said.

Smith said the labor department is planning a meeting with Homeland Security and Immigration & Customs Enforcement officials this year to convey concerns about migrant workers being targeted.

A series of immigration raids around the state last year snapped up whole groups of farm laborers, even those with visas, and detained them long enough that employing farms were crippled at harvest time. Raided operators included Torrey Farms in Barker.

Smith is seeking assurances from the feds that “overaggressive enforcement” was a mistake that won’t be repeated, she said.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.