These firms place emphasis on developing and conserving their human
resources over time rather than just using them in the short run. As
technological change comes to the agricultural workplace, many of
these workers are able to change with it.
While “harvest of shame” conditions have received widespread pub-
licity, relatively little attention has been given to progressive labor
management practices that exist in agriculture. The results of a recent
series of case studies of existing practices made for USDA are illu-
minating.
A Pennsylvania apple grower has shown that it is possible to develop
a skilled, dependable harvest work force that can be counted on to
return each year. This employer’s returning workers are significantly
more productive, so fewer workers are needed. And the workers, in
turn, have dependable remunerative employment, earning an average
of more than $7 per hour plus fringe benefits during the 1982 season.
Even more impressive, this grower is located in an area where most
of his neighbors find they have to go outside the U.S. to find workers.
And he is able to accomplish this while paying a piece rate per bushel
that is competitive for the area.
A vegetable grower in Florida has shown that through careful plan-
ning it is possible to offer steady and remunerative employment through
the harvest season. His workers have responded by providing a reli-
able labor supply with little turnover during the season and a high
return rate from season to season. The same firm spent more than $2
million on a model seasonal agricultural housing village. The employ-
er’s experience demonstrated that the workers responded with higher
productivity and even lower absenteeism and turnover than the al-
ready good record of his regular workers.
An association of vegetable processors in Wisconsin, facing serious
shortages of skilled labor, established a training program to upgrade
seasonal field workers into skilled year-round cannery maintenance
mechanics.
A California lemon harvesting cooperative has had 20 years expe-
rience with upgraded labor management practices. In the early 1960s,
this association hired a professional personnel manager to manage the
labor force on a systematic basis. The results have been impressive:
• Worker productivity more than doubled from 4 boxes per
hour to 8½ boxes per hour
• Inseason turnover declined and season to season return rates
improved
• Fewer workers were needed (the number of workers required
to produce an equivalent output declined by 80 percent from
1965 to 1982)
• No labor shortages have been experienced (though other
growers in the area have experienced them)
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