OWENSBORO, Ky. — About eight years ago, Sally Ellis said her father, J.C., could see a bleak future for the tobacco industry, and he decided it was time to diversify his crops.  Little did J.C. Ellis know, but his decision to supplement his farming income with vegetables would also help diversify the cultural makeup of the rural community surrounding his farm at 806 Kentucky 279 North. Along with broccoli, tomatoes, watermelons, squash, cucumbers and bell peppers, which have now replaced tobacco as a cash crop at Ellis Estates farm, Hispanics can be seen working the fields and integrating peacefully with primarily white residents who have lived in the area for generations.

The Ellises have been using immigrant Hispanic workers to tend to their crops, a decision they say has helped make their bold move into vegetables a more successful one. “We couldn’t make it without them,” said Sally Ellis. “You just couldn’t do it. It’s hard to get somebody to work in the field like that. They’re used to it. They’re used to the heat. They don’t mind it. They come here and they want to work.”

Sally Ellis said her father’s decision to hire non-Americans to tend his field “raised eyebrows” almost a decade ago, although some Hispanics had worked in tobacco fields before. “A lot of the farmers in the past few years watched us to see what was going to happen,” said Ellis. “My dad saw the future coming and was afraid tobacco was not always going to be here. He just had a feeling.”

Hispanics in Kentucky are paid $6.39 an hour from a federal H2A temporary agricultural program, which is how Ellis Estates legally hired the immigrants. That price per hour in America compares to just $4 for an entire day of work in Mexico, said Ellis.  In Indiana and Illinois, Hispanics are paid $7.62 an hour in the program, according to federal guidelines.

The H2A program, according to the federal government, enables agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring non-immigrant aliens to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature.

Before the INS can approve an employer's petition for such workers, the employer must file an application with the INS stating that there are not sufficient workers who are able, willing, qualified and available. Also, it must be deemed that the employment of aliens will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. The regulations provide for numerous worker protections and employer requirements with respect to wages and working conditions.  The INS supplies the workers and, as a result, monitors their living and working conditions on the farm, said Sally Ellis.

She said the farm has advertised in local newspapers regarding employment, “but we’ve never had any (local workers) to come fill out an application from that ad. It’s hard to get farm labor, it really is.”  She said the farm also tried to hire high school workers for summer work, “but they don’t really stay with it.”

A total of 45 Hispanics, mostly men, are employed at Ellis Estates farm throughout the year, said Sally Ellis.  “Most of the men are married and they send a lot of money back home, but they spend a lot of money here, too,” said Ellis. “We go to Wal-Mart every Sunday. We have a school bus, we take them out in the bus about 10 or 11 in the morning and we’ll park the bus and pick them up at 4 or 5 in the afternoon.  “They go to a mall, a Mexican restaurant down the street, grocery shop — they make a day of it,” added Ellis. “They love Nike tennis shoes.”

Housing and transportation are provided to the Hispanics by Ellis Estates farm. The Ellises have a dormitory that houses up to 48 workers. The dormitory includes eight rooms, bunk beds, a television, stoves, refrigerators, kitchen tables and other furnishings, she said.  About 15 Hispanics arrive at the farm to work in April; about 15 more arrive in May; and about 15 more come in August. Ellis Estates pays for their bus ticket to and from home.  She said some stayed as late as Thanksgiving last year to work on the farm.

The Hispanics’ workday at the farm begins at 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday. Ellis said she tries to finish work around 5 p.m., “but they say, ‘No no, we’ll go to 6 or 6:30,’” said Ellis. “They put in a pretty good 10-hour day, and they’re still not ready to quit. They’re ready to go.”

The first year Ellis Estates ventured into vegetables, it went all-out, employing 200 to 250 Hispanics, she said. “We may have gone a little bit too big to begin with,” said Ellis, noting even an established family farm such as hers had difficulty finding enough markets to supply vegetables.  “Trying to start a venture like this and getting into new markets with this stuff is hard,” she said.  “When you have (markets) who have been buying from the same people for years, we had trouble getting our foot in the door and letting them see what we had. And we only had a three- or four-month window to supply produce.”

This year, Ellis Estates has established a co-op, called Western Kentucky Growers Co-Op, based at the Ellis Estates Greenhouse at 6621 U.S. 60 West.  Farmers from McLean, Ohio, Henderson and Daviess counties this year will bring their produce to Ellis Estates Greenhouse, where it will be packaged and sold.

Ellis admits that tobacco farming was more profitable in its prime, but she thinks that vegetable farming will become profitable in the near future.  “I just have a feeling that a lot of these farmers are going to be left out with tobacco,” she said. “Especially the smaller farmer, he’s the one it’s going to hurt the most.”