Local growers press Oregon's Department of Agriculture

“We are not looking to be exempted from rules. Rules are important — it’s what keeps people safe,” said Lesley Tamura, a fourth-generation orchardist and chair of the Columbia Gorge Fruit Growers Association. “But those rules need to be made with the idea that we are the boots on the ground, and our voice and our opinion should carry some weight as to what is realistic.”

Top of mind was House Bill 2548. The legislation would have established an 11-member board of farmworkers, growers and government officials to set standards on pay, scheduling and other conditions across the entire sector, the first-of-its-kind in Oregon. Many farmers viewed the measure as stripping them of even more control.

“We are caught between the capitalistic supply and demand realities of the grocery industry and the well-meaning social agenda of the Oregon State Legislature,” said Jennifer Euwer, an upper valley grower and chair of Hood River County’s Board of Commissioners, who largely moderated the discussion.

Lawmakers instead opted for a scaled-back version, which Gov. Tina Kotek signed in July, choosing to study the experiences of farmworkers and the adequacy of existing labor protections before taking any action. Advocates said the board was necessary because farmworkers lack a formal avenue to voice concerns.

Tamura expects the original proposal to resurface during a future session, however, and she, along with Adam McCarthy and Ian Chandler, argued that Oregon’s regulatory climate is already making cherry and pear production unsustainable, especially on a small scale. While acknowledging that the problem is broader than ODA, and stressing how much they care for their employees, panelists asked the agency for better representation.

Costly, uneven regulations

Last month, Oregon State University’s Extension Service published a study that compared the total cost of regulatory compliance, everything from safety trainings to permits and required housing upgrades, across four cherry and pear growers, two large and two small, respectively.

Overall expense per acre varied from roughly $250 for the large cherry farmer to more than $700 for the small pear farmer. That accounts for 6.6% of the latter’s total income, which is substantial for someone like Tamura, who said labor accounts for about 85% of her income.

More likely to have administrative staff dedicated to regulatory compliance, and with fewer employees per acre, the study also demonstrated that large operations bear a smaller per-acre burden.

“I can pretty much assure you that us producers have passed none of these costs up the chain to consumers. We can raise our price,” said Adam McCarthy, manager of his family farm and treasurer for Columbia Gorge Fruit Growers. “We have eaten all of this, and a lot of these have come into play in the last 10 to 15 years.”

“There’s always an incentive for larger producers to get larger, just strictly based on compliance for regulatory costs,” he continued.

Tamura also pointed out that Oregon has some of the strongest labor protections on the books compared to other states. For instance, regarding heat illness prevention for farmworkers, Oregon uses heat index to determine when rules are triggered and requires a 40-minute break for every hour of work at the highest allowed threshold, whereas California relies on temperature and mandates 10 minutes of rest every two hours, according to Tamura.

Further, after a controversial bill passed in 2022, Oregon is one of few states that ensures overtime pay for agricultural workers. Altogether, Tamura said, these rules make farmers across Oregon less competitive because they’re still operating in the same market as growers in other states, and countries, with more relaxed guidelines.

“It’s not going to get better. It’s only going to get worse,” Tamura said. “I think we’re going to start seeing people going out of business in the region.” Another report from Oregon State University found that the share of fresh fruit imported to the United States increased by 129% between 2000 and 2019.

Chandler, who runs a cherry orchard in The Dalles and chairs Oregon’s Sweet Cherry Commission, noted how, beyond the economic impact, the complexity of regulatory compliance is a barrier in and of itself. Chandler talked about the experience of trying to help a longtime employee get an orchard up and running.

“He’s an immigrant from Mexico, came here, has worked his way up the ranks and finally achieved the dream of buying his own orchard, which is a pretty cool thing,” Chandler said. “But navigating the compliance burden at the federal and also the state level … it’s just not always very user-friendly, especially if you’re new to the industry or if English is a second language.”

He also emphasized that Hood River is one of the only places in Oregon where farmworkers can receive Spanish-language pesticide training, and that the federal government’s immigration crackdown is only making an already-pronounced labor shortage worse, as he did to Columbia Gorge News back in May.

Looking ahead

In closing, the panelists urged ODA to have more conversations with growers in hopes of finding a middle ground on some of the issues raised.

Chandler specifically called out national immigration reform and pressuring retailers to let more money trickle down as two potential avenues that would improve working conditions without hurting farmers’ bottom lines, or sacrificing labor protections.

“All we want are rules that are reasonable, that protect the people they’re meant to protect, but still allow us to do our jobs,” said Tamura. “I would love to pay my employees more. I work hard to pay them as much as I can. I literally have nothing left.”