Non-Immigrant workers in the U.S. It 's 5:00 am, and the sun’s light is just breaking over the crest of the Birch Mountain. The air is cool and crisp, and the grass is still damp from the morning dew. “This summer is going to be the best summer yet”, I thought to myself. It was the starting day of my first cherry season, and I was as giddy as a kindergartener on the first day of school. There is no great mix of joy and satisfaction than working outside and the feeling of self accomplishment. That is what working outside did for me. Unfortunately, that orchard is no longer producing fruit for the market. This particular orchard owned by Jim, one of the nicest farmers you will ever meet, was a smaller scale operation. To Jim, this orchard was more of a hobby, or a little extra money at the end of the year to help provide for his family. The sad truth is many small farmers are being forced to leave a shockingly large amount of fruit on the trees at the end of the season. This is due to the major shortage of labor in our state. While H-2A contracts temporarily solve problems for some farm operations, it …show more content…
The US Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Worker Survey (NAWS) talked to a vast number of agricultural workers (excluding H-2A workers). The survey estimates that 50% of the US crop workers are here illegally. My Uncle of Grigg & Sons Farms, was telling me about a raid that took place on their onion shed a few years back. Right in during the peak of the season the government came in and took a major part of his working force because the workers were not legal. This isn’t an easily avoidable problem, as an employer my uncle is not allowed to doubt the numbers that the workers give him, and he can’t try and prove they are illegal. H-2A could solve this problem, but on the other hand, it doesn’t work for