Labor issues, pandemic pose challenges for North Carolina sweet potato growers
Growing sweet potatoes is a labor-intensive business from start to finish, and COVID-19 has made it even harder.
“COVID has made it difficult to maintain a normal workforce,” said Steven Ceccarelli, CEO of Farm Fresh, Faison, N.C.
“We understand that difficult decisions have to be made in these uncertain times. With the shutdown of schools and places of business during the pandemic, some workers have had to stay home to care for their children. Others chose to stay home in an effort to protect the health of their elders.”
To ease the minds of employees and the general public, Farm Fresh teamed up with WYN Technologies, High Point, N.C., to outfit its sweet potato packing facility with a thermal imaging camera.
“This technology allows for quick detection of increased body temperature, thus providing us with insight into the health of our employees,” said Ceccarelli. “Employee retention has now leveled out.”
Grower Brent Leggett, president of Leggett Farming Partnership, Nashville, N.C., and a shareholder in Nash Produce, has also been taking extra precautions and following protocols to safeguard workers. But getting labor to start this year’s season proved a challenge.
“We’re fortunate we haven’t had any labor issues,” Leggett said. “Many of our workers have returned for years, and they didn’t have any problem, but new H-2A workers who required an interview or updated documents were delayed somewhat because some Mexican offices were closed due to COVID precautions.”
Michelle Grainger, executive director of the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission, said N.C. agriculture relies heavily on H-2A labor, and many sweet potato growers leverage the use of their labor by growing additional specialty crops.
“The biggest challenge we have faced this season is labor, most importantly good labor,” said Charlotte Vick, partner in Vick Family Farms, Wilson, N.C.
“We have a good team, but as you grow you need more of those good employees and finding them is difficult,” Vick said.
“No one wants to work the long hours that farming produce requires. It’s a struggle today to fill every position, and I see things getting worse.”
The only solution she sees is mechanization, which isn’t always ideal.
“Mechanical harvesting bruises the sweet potatoes, therefore you don’t get the best quality when you pack them,” she said.
“With our soil type, and from what we have seen, mechanical harvesting does not work well here in N.C.,” Vick said. “Hopefully in the future it will be perfected.”
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