Rouge River Farms, a sweet corn grower in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Ontario, has all of its U.S. operations certified by the Equitable Food Initiative.

With two minimum wage increases in the past year for Ontario growers and another likely for next year, higher costs for labor have slowed any expansion ideas, some say.

Though the H-2A guest worker program has helped soften the crisis, farm labor remains a top issues for Santa Maria growers.

Salinas, Calif.-based D’Arrigo Bros. of California signed a new contract with the United Farm Workers union that will cover more than 1,500 farm workers, according to a news release.

Just as immigration reform continues to elude lawmakers in Washington, D.C., a stable workforce continues to elude grower-shippers in California’s Salinas Valley.

Local food is maintaining its strong appeal in the Twin Cities, but tight and expensive labor make it a challenging business environment for growers.