In Our Own Little World

Jennifer Zurko

Back in April, I was in D.C. working on my story on neonicotinoids for the July issue and I got to spend a few precious minutes talking with Craig Regelbrugge. (If you don’t know who he is, you should, because he’s one of the people fighting for our industry on Capitol Hill.) Between meetings with state representatives and members of Congress about immigration reform, Craig and I met on the balcony of the new AmericanHort office in D.C.

We spoke about the state of immigration reform (it seems to be a perpetual uphill battle). Then Craig mentioned something interesting: He said that he’d been telling some growers that if they’re struggling to find a good, reliable workforce to try and see if there are any local refugee resettlement programs, which is something that I had never thought about before.

We kicked around the idea of doing an article on using refugees as labor for a few months and I finally decided to start doing some research. Learning about what some of these people go through to seek asylum in the States and speaking to the growers who’re able to hire them was extremely eye opening. I found my eyes misting a bit as I read about children being forced or sold to the military, the amount of human trafficking and the atrocities against women in some of these countries. I shared some of the information with Dr. Marvin Miller, Ball’s “hortistician” and my confidante with many of my more “hardcore” stories. We were both appalled at what we read.

It made me proud and relieved to be lucky enough to be born in the United States. Despite the many flaws of our government and even some of our citizens, nothing compares to what the people of Burma, Bhutan, Africa, etc. live through every day. We’re so sheltered in our own little world that it does us good to learn what’s happening in other countries so that we can appreciate ours all the more. All three growers I spoke with said that hearing the stories from their refugee employees allows their American workers to see their foreign-born co-workers in a new light. You can read about it starting on page 48. 

If you hire refugees in your operation, I commend you. You’re doing a great thing. If you’re lucky enough to have a decent pool of local workers to choose from, you’ll still be able to relate. Regardless of whom you hire, the monetary and personal costs of labor are something that all of you know and understand. GT