The fight over immigration in the US is hitting vineyards in California, with many finding it increasingly difficult to get seasonal workers who can help to harvest this year’s crop. Competition from other local industries, such as construction, is also increasing the problem for winemakers.
The majority of farm workers in California were born overseas, with a large number being Mexican, but a report from the Pew Research Center in 2015 found that there are more Mexicans leaving the US than entering. Vineyards that hope to be able to make use of more immigrant workers from Mexico have to use a federal program called the H-2A US visa, under which they must offer transportation from Mexico, as well as seasonal housing, which not every winery is capable of doing.
Vineyards are starting to increase wages all year round but especially during harvest time to up to $30 per hour to make the jobs more appealing to both local and seasonal workers who are being courted by construction firms that are able to offer to pay all year round.
But, it has proved difficult to find Americans interested in such work and changes to immigration policies have caused problems for Californian farmers for more than a year now, with crops left to rot on the vine last year due to the shortage of immigrant workers having a massive impact on the vegetable harvest of 2017.