Hops growers in Yakima Valley face worker shortage

  • Associated Press
  • Monday, September 15, 2014 1:07pm
  • Business

HARRAH — Normally, Joel Cervantes would be plowing hop yards, repairing equipment or watering down the dusty roadways of Double R Hop Ranches.

But with seasonal workers scarce across the Yakima Valley, Cervantes last week unloaded hop vines by hand into the picking machine, an exhausting, dusty, entry-level task.

“Last year it wasn’t this bad,” said Cervantes, 25. “I didn’t unload last year.”

The Yakima Herald-Republic (http://bit.ly/1uDYG4u) reported Monday that the scarcity of agricultural workers, many years a headache for the apple industry, now is affecting the Yakima Valley’s plentiful hop harvest.

To keep up with the surging growth of a national craft beer industry that opens a brewery a day, Washington commercial growers, located exclusively in the Yakima Valley, boosted their hop acreage by 7 percent and expect the largest crop in five years. That means more vines to cut and cones to process.

“I guess I consider the largest hurdle right now labor,” said Kevin Riel, a fourth-generation partner in his family’s hop farm, Double R, which he manages with brother Keith and cousin Steve.

Riel has about 55 workers, five or 10 shy of what he would consider a full staff for his acreage that increased 5 percent over last year. To keep up with the work, he asks his foreman and other experienced veterans to perform more mundane tasks usually assigned to new hires. Riel also leaves the office to drive tractors and dump hops into the kiln.

That’s fine for a while, but Riel and his seasoned employees eventually need to prepare for next year by disking fields and repairing equipment.

To attract help, Riel has raised wages and offers bonuses for those who stay throughout the harvest. During full production, a baler — who presses dried cones into bales for shipping — makes more than $300 per day.

The incentives help, but Riel is still short.

“Higher wages don’t always fix this,” he said.

Orchardists have been complaining for years about the scarcity of seasonal workers.

Last September, farmers reported an 8.5 percent shortage of employees in a survey by the state Employment Security Department. Most industry officials expect the demand to be even higher this year, especially after apple growers forecast a record crop of 140 million boxes.

Yakima Valley growers, who produce 77 percent of the nation’s hops, are expecting a 55.3 million-pound harvest this year, the highest haul since production peaked in 2009 at 75 million pounds, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey.

The hop workforce hardly holds a candle to the massive number of people required to harvest apples. In 2012, apples had 45,000 seasonal workers, about two-thirds of the state’s entire seasonal agricultural pool. Hops employed 2,337 workers.

Fruit growers can offer prospective workers’ certain perks, such as housing, that many hop growers can’t.

As a result, few hop growers employ foreign workers through the federal government’s H-2A temporary work visa program.

Making matters worse, brewers nowadays order hops that have a shorter harvest window, said Anne George of the Washington Hops Commission.

The craft beer industry grew by 20 percent in 2013 when measured in retail sales, and new breweries opened at a rate of one a day in the United States, according to the Brewers Association.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.