05/01/06 Crop Harvesting

Getting the crop harvested. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. It's early in the growing season but all the signs are that this could be a bumper crop for fruit growers in the Pacific Northwest. That's the good news. Overshadowing that news is the uncertainty of the labor force needed to bring that crop in. Field manger for Holtzinger Fruit, Gip Redman knows there could be problems this year. REDMAN: The last two years we have had some instances of not enough labor. I think it's a real concern and I think the guys aren't talking about it as much until they see the crop but it's in the back of everybody's head. I think there's the potential for not having adequate enough people out there to harvest. Consequently you're going to pay more to get it harvested. So that's going to drive the cost up. Apple growers, there's a lot of them that have been marginally getting buy. It's been tough the last few years so, the cost of fuel has gone up, the cost of fertilizer has gone up. And what if the labor force is not there? Redman says there are crop loss insurances available but they are very expensive. But what about the possibility of federal aid? REDMAN: My inclination is federal aid, since it would be scattered, since it would be this guy that got hurt or that guy over there that got hurt but everybody in between did okay; they would find a way to get around it. Bottom line? REDMAN: I think that we need to maybe be starting to sound the alarm to our legislators and see what they can do. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.