Industry insiders say the agreement between legislators and labor unions to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 in California “could lead to job losses throughout agriculture, escalate the push toward mechanization and send some farm operations out of state,” said Capital Press.
The minimum wage is now $10 an hour. The California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) said it would be impossible for growers of labor-intensive crops such as stone fruit, berries and vines to compete in the global marketplace unless they find a way to harvest with fewer workers.
The California Senate approved the wage bill, 26-12, following passage by the Assembly, 48-26, clearing the bill for signature by Gov. Jerry Brown. reports the Los Angeles Times. The bill would obviate a statewide referendum for a $15-an-hour minimum wage in 2021. California would have the highest minimum wage in the nation, topping Oregon, where a new law would raise the minimum wage in Portland to $14.75 by 2022 while the rate would rise to $12.50 in rural areas, said Capital Press.
“You’re going to see an accelerated trend toward crops that use less labor, and a trend toward more research of mechanization,” the head of the CFFA told Capital Press. The website said growers are trying to integrate technology into field work now performed by hand. It cited a UC-Davis report saying one-fourth of the raisin-type grape land was harvested by machine in 2014. A large strawberry grower told the CFFA that if it expands operations, it will be in Mexico.
“Many California farmworkers already earn well above the minimum wage, largely because a labor shortage in recent years has given workers leverage in negotiating with growers,” said Capital Press.
The National Geographic reported that consumers would see a nominal impact — about $20 a year — if the minimum wage for farmworkers was $15 an hour, according to UC-Davis agricultural labor economist Philip Martin. “Farmers don’t get much of the retail dollar, and then of course farmers don’t give everything they get to workers. So it’s fractions times fractions, and you get down to a relatively small share for farmworker wages in retail food cost,” he said.
The math is American households spent $515 on fresh fruit and produce in 2014; farmers got 28 percent of that, and a third of it, or $45, sent to farmworkers, says the Geographic.