Area experiencing labor shortage
Feb. 27—The grow season is picking up heading into spring, and Yuba-Sutter farmers will be in need of field hands in the coming months to make sure this year's crop makes it to market on time.
While some Yuba-Sutter crops are less reliant on a large workforce, the peach crop is one of the most hands-on and labor-intensive commodities in the area.
Early in the year, trees are pruned ahead of the bloom. Around May, workers will start to thin those trees, touching virtually every limb in an orchard and assessing the peaches for quality and size. By July, laborers begin to harvest the crop, which typically lasts through the first week of September.
Sutter County Supervisor and life-long peach farmer Karm Bains said his crews are a bit behind schedule this year and are working to finish pruning trees in the orchards before the bloom comes. The reason for the delay is a lack of workers.
"Typically, we'd be done with pruning by now, but because of a labor shortage we aren't," Bains said.
The labor shortage also drives up the price for workers, which ultimately impacts the farmer's returns on the crop. Another challenge, he said, is the commodity's processors haven't increased payouts for growers that stay in line with the rising costs of running a farm.
Whitney Brim-DeForest, director of the Yuba-Sutter branch of the UC Cooperative Extension, said the area has had ongoing labor issues for about 4-5 years, especially with orchard crops.
"Generally, the farmers I've spoken to, they've said it's just hard to hire people right now," she said.
Yuba County One Stop Director Caron Job said her team does know of some farmers in need of laborers currently, specifically irrigation workers and pruners — beekeepers are also needed to check hives, though experience is required.
Heading into the summer months, sorters, sanitation workers, assembly lines, forklift drivers and truck drivers will be needed. Then harvest typically runs from June to October, she said.
"From One Stop's point of view, there are not enough job seekers in this area who want to work in the fields because many are choosing other training and employment opportunities," Job said.
However, the labor shortage isn't just a local farming issue, she said. Other industries currently in need include the trucking industry, healthcare, entertainment industries (such as casinos), manufacturing, and education.
Bains said it's hard to forecast how this year's grow season is going to turn out considering the shortage.
"Most of the things we do with peaches can't be done mechanically, it has to be done by hand," he said.
There's a multitude of reasons contributing to the labor shortage, he said, including changes to immigration laws, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, additional unemployment benefits, and the fact that the job requires a special skill set.
"It's definitely something one needs to think about and reassess going forward in terms of what commodities they want to grow in the future, and maybe think about things that are more mechanized and less labor intensive," Bains said.
