Increasingly, state relies on Hispanics

By CHRIS POYNTER, The Courier-Journal

Two months ago, when the Tyson Food chicken plant in Robards, Ky., had a safety seminar for its 1,400 employees, one group of workers gathered on the front lawn, hearing the message in Spanish.  Hispanic men and women are a growing part of Kentucky’s agribusiness industries, taking jobs cutting and housing tobacco, working on horse farms and de-boning and packaging chickens at poultry factories in Western Kentucky.  They help businesses and farmers fill jobs that domestic workers simply don’t want in such robust economic times.

About 7 percent of Tyson’s work force at the Robards plant and 3 percent of the 700 workers at the Perdue Farms chicken plant in Cromwell, Ky., are Hispanic. In addition, the state Department of Agriculture estimates that about 88 percent of the 25,000 people who labor in Kentucky’s fields are Hispanic, the majority of them undocumented workers.

“Without migrant workers, we would not be able to get in our tobacco crop,” said Alice Baesler, who tracks labor and migrant issues for the Department of Agriculture. “We have become so dependent on this seasonal work force.”

Ed Nicholson, a spokesman for Tyson Foods at the company’s headquarters in Springdale, Ark., said Hispanic workers help fill the gap when the company cannot find domestic workers. Although Hispanic workers do not make up a significant percentage of workers in Robards, other Tyson plants in the nation have large percentages of Latino employees, he said.

Tita Cherrier, a spokeswoman for Perdue Farms, said the number of Hispanic workers at its plant in Ohio County has remained constant since the plant opened in 1996. Plants in other states, however, have Hispanic work forces topping 30 percent.

Perdue and Tyson both post Spanish-language job fliers in stores and convenience marts. However, many Hispanics hear about the job openings by word of mouth, Cherrier said, adding that once Hispanics landed jobs at the factory, their family and friends followed.

It’s nearly impossible to know exactly how many foreign-born residents work in agriculture because many farmers hire undocumented workers, who float from job to job and state to state.  But the trend is reflected in the number of workers in Kentucky who have special agricultural work permits. The visa program, known as H-2A, began in 1990 with 16 farmers bringing 43 migrants to Kentucky. Those numbers grew to 401 farmers last year bringing 2,650 migrants, most of whom work in tobacco.

Baesler said vegetable and tomato farms also are increasing their reliance on Hispanics.  Steve Esterle, a supervisor for Korfhage Landscape and Design in Louisville, has 14 Hispanics working for him. Natives of Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico, he said, they do everything from drive trucks to plant trees and shrubs. He hired his first Hispanic employee about four years ago.

Carlos Navarijo has been working at Korfhage since 1998. He came to the United States 11 years ago, making his way from his home in Guatemala City, through Mexico, then to Arizona.  He said he likes being outdoors, and he learned about plants and gardening from his father, so landscaping was a good fit. Navarijo’s wife and niece also work for the company.

Korfhage has about 80 employees, Esterle said, and without the migrant and immigrant labor it would be difficult to get all the work done.

Esterle took four years of Spanish in high school 30 years ago, but hadn’t used the language until hiring Spanish-speaking workers. He said the language came back pretty easily, and he keeps a Spanish-English dictionary in his desk.  “Most of the time I don’t have any trouble understanding what they are saying,” he said.  Greenhouses and nurseries nationwide are relying on foreign workers because the labor market is tight, he added.

Baesler said she thinks that Kentucky’s reliance on foreign-born workers will increase, especially as farmers diversify their crops from tobacco to other products.

Tobacco is the most profitable per-acre crop grown in the state -- so when farmers branch into other areas, such as tomatoes or vegetables, they’ll need larger fields and therefore more workers. She noted that there are several large tomato farms in Kentucky that rely almost solely on migrant workers.  “This is very seasonal, very intense work,” she said of agricultural business. “A lot of domestic workers would rather do other jobs.