Survey: Many Wash. farmworkers indigenous Mexicans

from the Wichita Eagle

A quarter of the farmhands in Washington state are Mexicans according to a new survey. Many came to the states because their small farms could not compete with the bigger ones up north.

By MANUEL VALDES

The survey - "A Sustainable Bounty: Investing in Our Agricultural Future" - was conducted by the Washington State Farmworker Housing Trust and released last week. More than 2,800 farmworkers in 14 Washington counties were interviewed for the survey in 2006.

The number of indigenous workers "shows the dire economic situation for indigenous people in Latin America," said Rosalinda Guillen, one of the survey coordinators.

She echoed an argument suggesting that an overflow of American goods - specifically corn - drove the indigenous from their lands after many could not compete with cheap goods from the north. Many were self-sustainable farmers, working small plots of land.

The survey also found that nearly half of the workers say they don't know if they'll continue working the fields, citing sub-par housing conditions plagued by mice, cockroaches and lack of electricity or water.

Moreover, workers have an average annual household income of around $17,500 - below the federal poverty line. Nearly 6 percent of the 2,800 workers described themselves as homeless, living in cars or sheds. That figure jumps to 15 percent for those workers who migrate from community to community in search of work.

"Recruiting and retaining a stable and skilled work force is becoming increasingly difficult," said Brien Thane, trust executive director. "The survey makes it clear housing is a key factor in stabilizing and sustaining that work force."

For the state's key crops - such as apples and cherries - a lack of hands to pick would mean lost harvests. The state has already seen periodic labor shortages.

The survey reports 91 percent of those questioned said better housing would encourage them to continue working in the fields. They also detailed problems with current housing: 32 percent live in overcrowded units, 23 percent reported rodent infestation and others reported lack of heat and poor water quality.

The issue of farmworker housing is contentious. Some farmers and local government officials want the state to relax housing regulations. The state, meanwhile, has to inspect hundreds of housing units and respond to calls of unlicensed camps.

In Douglas County, more than 350 cherry pickers live in military-type tents in a field next to the airport in East Wenatchee.

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