Every spring, both Carlson and Westward orchards welcome several Jamaican farm workers to town who provide invaluable help during the busy seasons in the orchards. Throughout the spring, summer, and fall months, they work hard doing everything from pruning trees to picking fruit.
Carlson Orchards and Westward Orchards, along with many other growers in the area, are part of the New England Apple Council, a nonprofit marketing organization for the apple industry in this region. Through this organization, the orchards are able to hire farm workers from Jamaica, often hiring the same group of people each year.
In an interview with the Press, Frank Carlson, one of the owners of Carlson Orchards, explained the process of bringing migrant farm workers to the U.S. He said that agricultural workers come to the U.S. on H-2A visas, which the New England Apple Council helps to organize for the orchards. The council also has a contract with Florida East Coast Vegetables, which allows the workers to fly from Jamaica to Florida and stay overnight before flying or taking a bus up the coast.
Stephanie O’Keefe, the store manager at Westward Orchards, further explained the process, noting that 90 days before an orchard wants people to come work, they fill out applications and paperwork through the council, and then 30 days prior to arrival, the state inspects the buildings and dormitories to make sure everything is ready and up to standard.
Once here, farm workers often stay for as long as six months at a time, and many of them come back year after year. For instance, Audley Gentles, who works at Carlson’s, has been there for 33 years now, first coming in 1987. “It’s a good opportunity to work,” he said in an interview.
Winston Taylor thins fruit on apple trees. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Winston Taylor, who also works at Carlson Orchards, has been there for 12 years, but has been coming to the U.S. to do farm work for a total of 40 years, having been employed in a few different places before. Taylor explained that their jobs entail a wide variety of farm labor. “It’s work that you would do on any farm,” he said. “We try to do everything … we pick fruit, we pull weeds from the tree roots, we thin fruits from the trees when the trees are too heavy.”
Carlson praised the orchard’s group of six farm workers. He explained that they work extremely hard each day and always do a good job, particularly as many of them are farmers back home as well. “They’re good,” he said: “They’re here every day, they show up to work every morning, and we have to tell them ‘guys, the day is over, we’re going home’ … because they would work from dawn to dark every day. So, they’re very good workers.”
A win-win for orchards and workers
Carlson also touched upon what wages and hours look like for migrant farm workers in New England. Thanks to the adverse effect wage rate (the minimum wage rate for H2-A workers), they are paid more per hour than the state’s minimum wage, making $14.38 an hour for 60 hours of work each week. “They buy their own food, but they have no transportation costs to get back and forth, and no housing … we pay for that, so they do very well,” Carlson said. “If you go to Jamaica, the guys who come up here under the H2-A program live a class above their neighbor,” he added.
Allan Ferguson packs peaches for distributors at Carlson Orchards.
Despite the hard labor and the long months away from home, the pay the workers make from coming to the U.S. goes a long way in caring for their families back home. Leslie Banner, who works at Westward Orchards, has been working there for 36 years, first coming in 1984. “It’s a good thing for me financially,” he said in an interview, “It helps my family back home and helps send my kids to school. It’s a good process for me—it’s hard, but it’s good.”
Banner said that he was able to send his four kids to college, and now one is a nurse in Arizona, two are teachers in Jamaica, and one is a farmer in Costa Rica. Like many others, Banner is a farmer back home in Jamaica as well. He said that on his farm at home he grows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, such as bananas, peaches, and cabbage, and also raises pigs and cows.
During their time off, farm workers at Westward and Carlson orchards take a break from work to relax. Sigis Mangrey, who has been working at Carlson Orchards for six years, said that music is one of his hobbies. “I will sit down and play my music because I’m a DJ,” he said. Banner added that watching television or playing games are pastimes as well.
Dowain Guscott looks for hail-damaged fruit as he thins a tree of cider apples.
Days off from work are also when they run personal errands. Carlson said that each week, the orchard provides transportation so workers can go shopping and stop at the bank to send money back home to their families. This year, however, the COVID-19 pandemic means they can’t go out as often. Now, errands are limited to every two weeks and no one can leave to visit out-of-state family and friends, Carlson explained. O’Keefe said that while there have been no big changes with the pandemic, she had originally been worried that Westward Orchards might not be getting farm workers this year, but their arrival had just been delayed slightly.
None of the farm workers felt that the nature of their jobs had changed much due to COVID-19, but, like many people, they said it has taken some time to adjust to new procedures. “We just have to adjust to the new environment to protect ourselves from the virus,” said Dowain Guscott, a second-year worker at Carlson Orchards, considering face masks and social distancing are now required, along with the new rules for outings.
