When agricultural workers don’t have enough to eat: Our town rallied around to give food to hungry cherry pickers this week(Image from a public domain photo by condesign/Pixabay)
Cherries are one of the most important products of the region I live in. This part of BC has a good deal of agriculture and is particularly known for its fruits. But the cherry orchards are the big deal in our little valley. So much so, that hundreds of young people travel across the country to spend the summer cherry picking in the local orchards.
Our cherry pickers are only in town for a matter of weeks, but they make a significant contribution to the economy of both the town and the region. Without them, many of the orchards would be unable to harvest their fruit before it spoiled. We would lose the harvest, and any economic benefit the community sees from the orchards.
Many of the young cherry pickers come into town without a place to live or a job to go to. They have just enough money to make the trip, and maybe to pay some small expenses in the early days after they arrive. But essentially they are homeless, and they often have to do some rather desperate things to survive until that first pay comes in.
Most years, our local food bank will supply a small bag of groceries to the young cherry pickers who are hungry when they first arrive in town, but this year they weren’t able to spare the food. Between that and the wet weather we’ve been having, the economic situation isn’t so good right now for people whose livelihood depends on the cherries.
Some of the local folks discovered that the cherry pickers were going hungry, so they quickly organized a meal for some of the young people who were living rough by the river just outside of town. When more people heard about it, they came back the next night and made plans for yet another night of distributing free food to those cherry pickers who are in the greatest need. The news tonight was that this small group of people fed almost 200 hungry agricultural workers a hot meal. And it was very much appreciated!
Does your region depend on migrant workers to do seasonal jobs? Is their situation secure once they arrive, or do they sometimes have to rough it like our cherry pickers? Have you ever had a job like cherry picking? I’d love to hear about your experiences!
Original content © 2016 Kyla Matton Osborne
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What a wonderful community that came together to help! It would be a good thing to have a place for the workers to live and they pay before they left, after working the cherries.
No I think the people that live here do the working at harvest.
Andria, most of our ag work is done by migrant workers and a few of the local teens. It's rare to see local adults getting involved in the harvesting, though there have been times when older adults (retirees) would step in to help with office work, sorting, packaging, etc. during a very busy harvest season.
My father sorted cherries one summer, for a few weeks. It's hard work too, but he was happy to have the extra money that year because he was making a trip back East to visit us at the end of that summer.
This is such a noble deed. I live in Punjab where agriculture is a major occupation and Bihari migrants often come here to work as labourers in the fields. Their food is taken care of by the farmers who employ them.
@swalia Apparently, many of the orchardists here do provide some food (snacks were mentioned, as well as advances on the first pay) when they hire the cherry pickers. I think the bigger problem right now is that we're having a lot of rain that interrupts the harvest. And that means the workers can't pick cherries, so they aren't able to earn.
It's very good that the locals are able to help, as it's been a very difficult year in Western Canada. Much of what would normally go to the local food bank and other charities, has been sent to Alberta to help the victims of the fire in Fort McMurray.
Indeed, such noble causes are laudable.
Unfortunately, we don't any farms that could produce cherries in the country. All I can remember is I had created cherry juices when staying Central Asia. Since it is my first to see cherries being harvested by the local people. I took the chance to extract it and have home-made cherry juice.
@shavkat Cherry juice is very tasty! I'm glad you got to enjoy it. A lot of the cherries from our valley are exported to Japan, as there is a big demand for them there.
Nice Ruby, but i am only good at eating fruits and whatsoever our body needs. There is no one to manage the planting.We are all having active jobs plus my siblings never like to dirty soil.
@lovern My father used to be the same way. He helps a lot with the yard work now, but he's never been much interested in the gardening - unless it's planting a tree! Growing food is not his thing...
Nice article! Actually, I love eating fruits but unfortunately not many people will like going to agriculture and/or farming because of its tedious state. Nevertheless, this article goes a long way to encourage those in the field. Thanks for posting this wonderful article.
We also have trouble finding people willing to do the harvesting work. It is very difficult and tedious work, and because it's seasonal a lot of the locals don't want to do it. We're very fortunate that we attract cherry pickers from outside our province.
Yeah because sometimes some people don't find it fascinating doing it anyway. But the truth of the matter is that its still a wonderful way in which most locals earn their living.
Here, most of our locals are not involved in the harvesting unless they make a full-time job of doing agricultural work. We have a lot of smaller homesteads that grow cherries, apples or grapes, and they will hire workers just for the harvest.
But many of these businesses can only afford to have seasonal help. And because it's seasonal, most of our locals choose to look elsewhere for work. They need something that will carry them throughout the whole year.
Itinerant farm work is hard, hard, hard, and I'm grateful there are still people willing to do it. I'm also grateful there are still people, like those in your community, who step up when they see someone in need. It would have been so easy to ignore those workers' hunger and assume "someone" would take care of it but, instead, they pitched in and made sure hungry bellies were filled. I love people like that.
These people who stepped up are very special indeed! A lot of folks here figured the cherry pickers ought to come prepared to feed themselves until they get paid, but I don't think anyone warns them about this and they are often very young. They probably expect to be housed and fed on the job site. What a terrible surprise to arrive and discover they often can't even book a campsite!
It is really tough work, and I'm glad some of our locals are wanting to help. These young migrant workers sure help us!
When my husband lived in Canada he had a summer job picking strawberries, but he lived at home.His father wanted him to now what sorts of jobs one did if one had no education. This was to encourage him to take school seriously. He found out what hard work was, for little financial reward.
I now live in wine country and I sometimes see the grape harvests. I'm not sure how much the workers are paid, but most I've see are adults. I think some come in from Mexico and some live here now. I'm not sure how they get their food, but I've not seen teens in the vineyards unless they are related. Of course, I only watch a couple of vineyards closely.
Barb, our young cherry pickers are university students who mostly come from Quebec. So they're probably about 19 at the youngest, and more would likely be in their early 20s. We do get a few local teens who help with the harvest too, often starting around the age of 15 or 16. But like your husband, they live at home while working.
The agricultural work here is regulated by the same government agency that sets the rest of our labour laws. The workers get paid by the amount they harvest (in pounds, bushels, or whatever measurement is commonly used for the specific food item they're picking.) Best I can tell, the minimum piece rate for cherry picking in BC is $0.228/pound. I think some orchards do pay the cherry pickers a better wage than others, though.
I know one of our local gentlemen was saying just the other day that his slowest picker earned $100 that day alone. I hear that some of the pickers are fast enough to make up to $500 in a day. That's an awful lot of cherries to pick in a day!
That wonderful. The truth remains that those who are serious and love what they do will always get the best out of it.
That's for sure! If you love your job it will never seem like work :)
Yeah. Truly. Because most times, you see it as hobbies and not work because of the love and passion you have for it.