Pickle farmers short on migrant workers to pick fields
“This is possibly the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Daryl Knipp, who ordinarily hires about 50 people to bring in his crop but is short about a dozen workers this year.
Most of the pickers are migrant workers, but fewer have been coming through Ohio, anecdotal evidence shows.
There’s no clear reason for the drop in numbers, but agriculture experts speculate that low wages and a lack of work play some role.
Baldemar Velasquez of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee said there is simply not enough work in picking just cucumbers.
“When your only labor-intensive crop is cucumbers, it’s less appealing for (people) to bring their whole families up here, so consequently you’re getting more single workers who are more desperate in terms of work,” said Velasquez, whose organization represents migrant workers.
In recent years, many workers have been leaving their families behind and coming alone.
Many migrant families may not be making enough money to travel this year, said Anita Cortez, a former migrant worker who now manages a child care center for migrant workers in Fremont.
As proof of her theory, Cortez said the center this year has 110 children, down from 166 last year.
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EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A retired farmer is donating more than $7.5 million to Michigan State University for agricultural research.
David Morris, 78, owns about 1,800 acres of farm land in the Lansing area. His father started the operation in 1900 with 200 acres.
“I feel privileged to give and help,” he told The State News of East Lansing. “We’re all born to give, whether it’s a handshake or a smile.”
Morris said research conducted at Michigan State helped him raise beef cattle and grow corn, wheat and soybeans. He also raised poultry, sheep, pigs and horses.
Morris already has been giving several thousand dollars a year to the Michigan State, said Jeff Armstrong, dean of agricultural college.
Morris’ late wife Betty graduated from Michigan State in 1949. Morris attended an agriculture technology program at Michigan State in the 1940s but never graduated from the university.