Right now California is in the midst of its raisin season. Though the picking part of the process ends in mid-September, agriculturists continue on until as late as November to collect their entire crop.
Agriculturists are trying to grab as many laborers as possible, and, with the high demand of the 2011 year, local agriculturist Bob Pierce is trying to get the raisins off the ground before they no longer contain moisture.
“I want the raisins to be brought in when they have about 12 percent moisture,” Pierce said. “The process takes a long time, and so the workers are bringing them in with too little moisture.”
Pierce says that when the raisins contain this amount of moisture, agriculturists are paid more. He knows the year will bring in a larger crop than ever before because of the increased amount of production his vineyard has seen.
Workers will start picking up raisins from the ground as early as mid-September. They can begin as early as five in the morning. The groups work two tractors, with four men or more on each one. Each group individually goes into 22,000 rows and, by hand, collects the packaged raisins that are laying on its sides.
When the driver stops, two of the four workers hop off and grab the crop off the ground. The remaining two workers pull out the paper packaging and only the raisins, along with much debris, remain in the bin. After pulling out the paper, the workers stick it on a pole that is attached to the tractor. At the end of every three rows, workers are allowed to burn the paper.
“I typically don’t burn, I recycle,” Pierce said. “This year though, the process is so slow that to burn it would be faster.”
Each tractor carries about four trays and comes back to the warehouse each time the fill. Each row has 740 paper rolls and will bring in a maximum of three trays.
The workers are paid $45 a load and only work until 4 p.m. Some leave as early as midday.
“It really depends on how much experience the workers have doing this type of job,” Pierce said. “If they’ve been doing this longer, then they will be able to bring in more bins.”
After allowing the raisins to sit in a warehouse for a few days, Pierce will bring out a massive shaker. Then, about four workers will dump the trays into the shaker while others sort out anything that isn’t a raisin. The process takes about a week because the agriculturists are only able to sort through a maximum of 50 trays a day.
“When I pull out the shaker, I want the workers to be pulling out any rot or excess stems,” Pierce said. “Hopefully it will take only five days, but most likely a week.”
Even Pierce’s son Mark helps out during the harvesting season by transporting trays to the shaker and supervising the workers. After being employed on the vineyard for about 15 years, he admires the workers who are willing to do the labor.
“I’ve been helping dad for more than 15 years,” Mark said. “So I’ve gained an admiration for those who do this everyday.”
The Pierces are willing to go the extra mile to sort out their raisins in order to produce a high-quality crop. However, agriculturists who have decided to gamble with the weather are just picking up their crop in mid-October, something that Mark says will get them into trouble.
“Of course SunMaid has to reproduce the raisins. They have to refine the product that is sent in, so it still has a long way to go,” Mark said. “The poor guys who waited until now to finish their harvest are in trouble this year.”
Bob hopes that successful harvests, coupled with high prices, will continue in the years to come.
“He wants the same thing to happen next year,” Mark said. “This year we had an exceptional crop and we hope it continues.”
For more information on the Central Valley’s raisin production, read the Sept. 13 article, Agriculturist faces promising raisin season (VIDEO). For more information about agriculture, read the Oct. 10 article, Bees: Angels of agriculture Part III (VIDEO).
