“We emphasize saving farmland but now we need to save farmers and farmworkers. All the land in the world is no good without people.”

The workday at Ralph’s Greenhouse starts with stretching.

作为穿着泥泞靴子的工人, warm hats and weatherproof clothing gather in the farmyard, owner Ray deVries strides into the center and says hello. He raises his arms up, back, forward. 其他人也一样. Arms up high, he leans his body left and right. Everyone bends over, then stands up to gently roll necks and shoulders. Wrists, elbows, fists and fingers are flexed and straightened. 早上热身结束的时候, all present are making chopping and cutting motions they’ll use throughout the day.

下一个 on the agenda: the day’s tasks.

People are needed to move sand to the goat pens. The cabbage crop is in its final days and some are beginning to yellow. “Be picky,” he tells workers who wash and pack produce. With the winter harvest winding up, work will slow for the next few weeks. Tomorrow will probably be a four-hour day. “好吧，就这样.”

Men and women walk to the processing area or board a fleet of vans and a decommissioned school bus for fields where, 二月底, 有韭菜, 防风草, 胡萝卜, 还有羽衣甘蓝.

The vans and the school bus are old. So are the tractors and cultivators. Water from the final produce wash line is used again to blast mud off vegetables coming in from the field. Another conveyor belt takes yellowing cabbage to the compost pile.

生产 too homely to sell goes into a free bin for staff. There are cloth towels in the bathroom. “We don’t want to waste paper and cloth is pretty nice,雷说, who often rides from field to field on a bicycle.

Growing up as an immigrant from the Netherlands, “you learn to make things work without having to spend a whole lot,他说.

Once someone suggested he needed a nice big pickup. 不，谢谢，他回答. 而不是支付24美元,买一辆新卡车, he could get a minivan for $1000 and pay 24 thousand-dollar bonuses.

“On the farm there’s money for two out of three things: farmland, 设备, 和工资,他解释道. “I decided I could buy land and pay our people well, and we’ll make do with used 设备 that doesn’t cost as much.”

People are key to the success of Ralph’s Greenhouse. Founded by Ray’s father in the 1980s, the 250-acre farm grows about 20 crops, 全部有机认证, 都是手工耕种和收割的.

“Farm laborers are skilled workers,雷说, who has been farming for 32 years. “They know what they are looking for when picking, and how to run machinery. They are very hard to replace, and we as farmers need to take really good care of them.”

Unlike seasonal agricultural businesses like tulips and berries, Ralph’s Greenhouse needs workers year-round. “I didn’t know that you aren’t supposed to harvest in the winter because I never went to ag school,他解释道. “So we plow in January and February, 四月灌溉, and are out of sync with the rest of the world.”

In summer the crew swells to 110 people who help turn a bushel of carrot seed into a plateful of rainbow 胡萝卜. They grow starts in greenhouses; plant, 杂草, irrigate and harvest vegetables; drive tractors and vans; and wash, 准备, 并为运输包装产品.

图片来源:Craig Barber

They work in all kinds of weather. On cold, dark days the Ralph’s Greenhouse crew may start at 10 or 11 a.m. and cut leeks under klieg lights before an overnight freeze. If daytime temperatures are so cold that nothing in the field can thaw, they stay home. In hot weather, shifts start at 6 a.m., with frequent juice breaks to ward off heat exhaustion.

在拉尔夫，人们也在成长. Someone interested in becoming a mechanic or moving into management can give it a try “and if they like it, 我们会再训练他们的,雷说. 在早春经济放缓期间, he promotes the free evening English classes at Skagit Valley College. “I remember what it’s like, when on the first day of school I discovered nobody spoke Friese.”

Would-be farmers can join the crew and find out whether farming fits them, or just pick Ray’s brain about crops and markets, 土地和设备. “开农场很困难, 我相信这是老人们的工作, established farmers to help younger ones get going,他说.

“We emphasize saving farmland but now we need to save farmers and farmworkers. All the land in the world is no good without people.”

障碍无处不在. Once, about 32 cents of every food dollar reached the grower. Today, only 15 or 16 cents do, with the rest going to processors and distributors. “That makes it harder to pay good wages,他说. Overtime laws recently implemented in Washington were well-intentioned, 他认为, but affect crew members who ask for longer shifts and Saturday work. “Now the people who want to work more don’t have the option of working extra hours unless they find a second job someplace else,他说. “We can’t sell overtime vegetables in the grocery store.”

“We need to pay farmers more so they don’t need to flip over their dime twice,他说. “This is why you see farms that can’t make it.”

但是拉尔夫温室 is 使它. Many workers have been with the farm for over 20 years, 以及像全食超市这样的顾客, 查理的温室, 普吉特海湾美食中心, and local food coops keep coming back for leeks and other specialty vegetables.

“My dad always said, grow vegetables, people can’t eat flowers!”

———

经许可转载 Skagitonians保护农田

Farmer Feature: Ralph's Greenhouse