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Biz news: home sales down, fewer farm workers

-May 1,2019-

State home sales down in March

Screen Shot 2019-05-01 at 6.54.48 AMSingle-family home sales dropped across California in March says the California Association of Realtors. Statewide home sales were off 6.2% from a year ago. LA area sales were down 12% and Bay Area home sales were off 10.8%.
In our reading area San Luis Obispo existing home sales declined 11% year over year while in the Valley – Tulare County sales bucked the trend with sales higher by 5%, virtually the only bright spot the SJ Valley itself.

State regulation governs industrial hemp

Production of industrial hemp in California has moved closer, with approval of state regulations for farmer registration. The state Department of Food and Agriculture announced approval of the regulations Tuesday. Farmers who want to grow industrial hemp must register with a county agricultural commissioner. About two-dozen counties have placed moratoriums on hemp production until state rules have been finalized. Regulations for sampling and testing remain to be completed. The crop is now being planted in Kings County.

Farm Bureau cites worker shortage

California farmers having trouble finding workers this spring says the California Farm Bureau.Farmers said they have raised wages, changed farming and cropping patterns, used automation and other tactics, but 56% of farmers reported being unable to fill all their jobs. The California Farm Bureau Federation conducted the survey in collaboration with the University of California, Davis.

Some 70% of farmers surveyed are saying they had more trouble hiring people in 2017 and 2018. It’s not for a lack of trying, CFBF President Jamie Johansson said.
“The survey shows farmers have tried and are trying all the tactics available to them, such as increased wages, changes in farming and cropping patterns, use of the existing H-2A visa program and automation where appropriate,” Johansson said. “The missing element is an improved agricultural immigration system, to match willing employees with farm employers.”

In a related matter farmers are paying higher wage rates in there So Valley says Lee Cohen of Setton Pistachios, based in Terra Bella. Rural Migration News reports that workers employed by a farm labor contractor harvesting mandarin oranges at Wonderful went on strike in January 2019 after the bin rate was reduced from $53 to $48. Wonderful said the bin-rate drop reflected a switch from harvesting smaller clementines to larger mandarins. Wonderful has 14,000 acres of mandarins, and workers who pick two bins in an eight-hour day earn $106 or $13.25 an hour. Wonderful, which has been paying its directly hired workers at least $15 an hour since January 1, 2019, restored the $53 bin rate after the four-day strike.

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