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CLAYTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJRT) – Jim Koan has been growing apples here at Almar Orchards for 50 years. He says in the last 10 years, it’s been a lot harder to find local talent.
“The challenge is the skill that it takes to pick an apple,” he said. “People don’t realize. They think they can just pick an apple off the tree, but understanding to do it 8 hours a day, 5-6 days a week.”
When local workers stopped applying, Koan turned to the H-2A visa program to bring in overseas workers to help keep his orchard alive. He says it takes 20 of these temporary workers to completely harvest his crop each year.
“It’s only been 8-9 years old, and I got in at the second year. It was really expensive then. But now, oh my gosh, unbelievable,” he said.
Koan estimates that labor makes up 80 percent of the cost to produce his apples. That’s largely due to federally mandated pay increases for his temporary workers.
“We can’t pick and choose how much we are going to pay. They tell us how much we are going to pay,” he said. “And then on top of that, you’ve got the hidden costs: Transportation, licensed housing.”
Koan says some of those hidden costs include the $5,000 required to submit the paperwork for the contracts.
In the last 6 years, wages alone for these workers have gone up 34 percent, rising from $13.54 an hour to $18.15 per hour. Over the same span, the regular minimum wage in Michigan has only increased 12 percent.
“There used to be more profit in it, but every year they keep raising our price 15-20 percent, and in this last seven or eight years it has more than doubled,” Koan said.
Even though wages are increasing, Koan says he can’t increase his prices. The U.S. imports 60 percent of it’s fresh fruit supply, forcing him to keep prices down to remain competitive.
The increases are simply unsustainable for his industry.
“We’ve got people left and right dropping out of the business, [and] selling their farms,” he said.
Koan is one of 1,425 farmers that have signed a petition to ask the federal government to take a closer look at the amount the wages increase each year.
“Every year, we’ve said you need to do something here because we’re bleeding to death here very slowly. We’re bleeding to death,” he said.
He’s hopeful a new Trump administration will help lower these costs. If not, he’s afraid he’ll be the next to lose his farm.
“I know. I’ve got only a couple more years. Unless I have a pot at the end of the rainbow coming in and I know that’s not going to happen,” he said.
You can find more information about the petition here: https://www.protectourproduce.com/