The life and perils of a Central Coast farmer

May 3, 2024

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

Family farms are disappearing across America including here on the Central Coast. That is because farming is subject to more risk than virtually any other sector of our economy.

Nonetheless, two organizations have published a “study,” read that an attack, on our local farmers contending that farm labor is a dangerous occupation, that farmworkers are not earning a living wage (while ignoring the seasonal nature of the work and insinuating racial inequity!), and that somehow, it is up to farmers to keep increasing wages to keep up with the inflation caused by “Bidenomics,” as if money is no object.

They also cite the lack of affordable housing – who isn’t complaining about that? And get this, they also complain about the costs associated with illegal immigrant status!

California farmers are subject to greater unique costs and risks than other farmers. California farmers have been forced to purchase new diesel-fueled equipment (trucks and tractors), and soon they will be required to replace their equipment again with electric trucks and tractors.

Along with the unpredictable costs of fuel, packaging, fertilizer costs and the like, weather patterns can destroy a crop overnight. Strawberries, for instance, cost some $40,000 per acre to produce. Do the math, a 1,000-acre strawberry farm has production costs of $40 million!

Farmers are also struggling with the same inflation that is hurting businesses and consumers alike. Ironically, California farmers are also struggling with the highest farm labor rates in the country! Regarding a living wage, as the “study” indicates, the majority of farmworkers come here from Mexico. Our local farmworkers, on average, earn more per hour here than they earn for an entire day in Mexico

Moreover, strawberry workers can earn up to $30 per hour by piece-rate compensation. Nevertheless, our farmers must compete with these and other foreign producers whose wages and production costs are orders of magnitude lower than ours!

What is completely lost in this discussion? Profit margins. Artificially raising the labor rates for farmworkers will have a greater disparate effect as the recent “living wage” for fast food workers, namely, companies going out of business!

That is because farmers don’t have the luxury to raise the price of the fruits and vegetables to keep pace with inflation because they are price-takers, not price-makers. That is, because of major chain grocery store consolidations, there are fewer buyers in the marketplace. Farmers are forced to take the price the stores are willing to pay, regardless of the costs the farmers incurred in growing the produce.

With respect to the dangers of farm labor, the one true risk assessment having to do with the dangers of any particular occupation is reflected in the cost of worker’s compensation rates. “Work comp” is the insurance employers must buy to cover workplace injuries. Whereas, the “study” would have you believe that farm labor is as dangerous as construction, the truth is worker’s compensation rates for construction are four times higher than farm labor rates.

Tragically, regarding the cost and availability of farmworker housing, farmers have been more than willing to construct housing, except for some “extenuating” circumstances. Here on the Central Coast, one farm housing project was burned to the ground by an arsonist during construction. A federal agency blocked another construction project in deference to tiger salamander habitat. Further, the county generally prohibits the construction of farmworker housing on ag lands because the land is not zoned for “development”.

Farmers could solve their labor costs and our area housing shortages by doing what others have done all over the state. They could sell their land to developers resulting in more homes and fewer farms and farm labor jobs, but who wants that?

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on News-Press Radio AM 1290.