Cherry Crop in Oregon Imperiled; Amnesty Law Confusion Blamed

Farmers who have begun harvesting a bumper cherry crop with a fraction of the pickers they need said Wednesday that they fear losses may approach those of Oregon’s devastated strawberry crop.

A warm spring and confusion over the new immigration-amnesty law have left Northwest producers dramatically understaffed. About a third of Oregon’s $30-million strawberry crop is rotting in the fields, and cherry growers fear their fruit could meet a similar fate, Rick Stevenson, a spokesman for the Oregon Farm Bureau, said.

For example, Bryce Molesworth began his cherry harvest in Mosier, Ore., Wednesday with 10 pickers. He said he needs at least 170 to pick the fruit from his 150 acres in Wasco County, near the Columbia River.

“Here in the mid-Columbia Valley, we’re looking at the largest crop we’ve ever had,” he said.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Washington, growers needed more help with asparagus picking and in apple and pear orchards. In Washington, D.C., Rep. Sid Morrison (R-Wash.) planned to meet today with Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, hoping to speed the process of getting more farm workers across the U.S. border, an aide to the congressman said.