In its latest company update, Stemilt Growers shared a conversation between company President West Mathison and Joe Martinez, co-founder and CEO of Cierto, a contractor that assists employers with the H-2A guest worker program, on how Cierto works to improve the migration process for workers coming from Mexico to the U.S. to work for Stemilt.
“Before Cierto was born in 2014, there were approximately 2.1 million workers in agriculture in the U.S. and an estimated 1.6 million of them were undocumented,” Martinez said. “Seeing these numbers made me realize the produce industry is heavily predicated on a vulnerable worker population. I needed to know, why were there so many? How did they migrate here? What was it that led to contract abandonment and displacement when they came to work on U.S. farms?”
Martinez said he spoke to workers in the H-2A program and learned nearly all, 98%, paid a fee to come to the U.S. and took out loans to be able to work on farms. But he said workers told him it was worth the risk because they would make just enough money to go on an H-2A contract but not enough to repay their debt. Martinez said workers told him they would abandon their contracts to stay in the U.S. as an undocumented worker, moving from one farm to the next to send money home.
“In this situation, workers are no longer thinking about the job at hand; they are thinking about survival and paying off their debt,” he said. “Therefore, they will say whatever they need to get paid because their focus is not on supporting the work in front of them, but on making sure they can support their family.”
Stemilt started working with Cierto to support 300 of its farm workers. Cierto’s process includes a 10-module training — what Cierto calls a life plan, or “Plan de Vida” — for every worker who passes an in-person interview. The module helps the worker understand their value in the supply chain.
“The life planning aspect of Cierto is really powerful because it connects the work farmworkers do to break the cycle of poverty in agriculture,” Martinez said. “The work farmworkers do with us is not as day traders just hoping they get the same opportunity next year. They can plan their lives with Cierto.”
All of Stemilt’s H-2A workers go through the Cierto program. The company said this helps with a 95% return rate. Stemilt said one employee opened a bounce house rental business, another opened a line of branded clothing and textiles and another opened creperie stands.
“The beautiful thing about this partnership with Cierto is we share identical values and exist because of our farmworkers. We recognize the value of each individual and the vital role they play to help us produce fruit,” Mathison said. “We know these farmworkers are making a sacrifice in their own lives to collaborate with us, and Cierto helps prepare them with the tools they need to feel comfortable and to be able to focus on the task at hand.”
Mathison said Cierto reinforces the Ethical Charter on Responsible Labor Practices, which Stemilt also adopts.
“The Ethical Charter Implementation Program is a collaboration among retailers, buyers, and grower-shippers like us to recognize and strengthen engagement around labor practices in the fresh produce industry,” he said. “It aims to highlight existing best-practice efforts and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.”
