Fruit Left to Rot in WA Orchards as Immigration Crackdown Keeps Workers Away

The Farming Show

As the farmworker community grapples with the threat of the ongoing immigration crackdown, some Washington farms have been forced to leave fruit to rot, their workforces in some cases down by as much as 80 percent.

Erik Zavala, Director of Field Staff at Wenatchee-based Blue Bird, Inc., a grower-owned cooperative of small family farms, tells Dillon that not only are local workers worried about being targeted by federal agents, but many of the migrant workers who usually travel here from other states for fruit harvest are choosing to stay away.