No such thing as unskilled workers in our produce industry

What crazy mild weather we are having. There has been absolutely nothing normal or usual in 2021, except for agriculture. Even some of the fields are experiencing changes in their usual crop rotations. One bright note is that produce prices have been good for the most part.

With the recent opening of the Canadian border, many of the folks who wintered in Yuma before the pandemic are coming back. There are also more folks from the northern tier of the United States moving southward again for the winter. Welcome back ads are common in the local media these days.

I welcome back all of the agricultural companies that add so much to the Yuma economy. After growing summer crops in cooler areas, it is again time to return to the “Lettuce Capital of the World” to grow their vegetable crops.

While companies such as the Growers Company, Pasquinelli Produce, Barkley Ag Enterprises and JV Smith Companies are here year round, Tanimura and Antle, Dole, Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Taylor Farms, D’Arrigo Brothers, Foxy, Fresh Express and Mann Packing are among the many shifting their operations to Yuma County.

Along with the companies come equipment, employees and the need for the local support system of mechanics, equipment dealers, fuel and oil supplies, agricultural chemical dealers and applicators, labor contractors and people. Many people do not realize that 1 in 4 jobs in Yuma County is directly or indirectly related to the agricultural industry.

Yuma is fortunate to have a trained and willing workforce of 30,00040,000 people who often cross the border from Mexico daily to make our farming and harvest activities successful.

There is no such thing as unskilled workers in our produce industry. For example if you are hoeing a young lettuce field, decisions as to which plant is the strongest, proper spacing of plants, removing weeds and not injuring the selected plants in the row are all part of your responsibilities. If you are harvesting an iceberg lettuce field, you determine if the head is suitable for packing by size, weight, cleanliness and appearance.

Consumers buy produce with their eyes, so the more perfect the harvested heads are, the better they will sell.

Your job now includes food safety so you look for animal tracks in the field, bird damage, oil or other fluids from the tractor or harvest aids. In addition, insect damage and litter in the field are unacceptable.

Workers follow strict food safety protocols to assure that the harvested crop is the safest and highest quality. It is a constant challenge for growers, packers and shippers to have enough employees to do the needed work.

There are always new challenges for our agricultural industry. The diminishing water supplies, changing weather patterns, politics and changing technology now become increasingly important to farmers.

Luckily, 95% of the farms in Yuma County are fourth- and fifth-generation family farms, and while they haven’t seen it all, they have met many challenges successfully over the past 80-plus years and plan to continue farming.