New farm labor: inmates

Crapo co-sponsored Smith's legislation eight years ago.

He said Friday he'd work with Craig.

"Even though the particular bill on the floor was rejected, that doesn't mean that a majority — a very strong majority of senators — don't think we need to do something," Crapo said.

Farmers from Washington state to New York lament labor shortages that have cost them millions, ranging from orchard owners who left thousands of trees unplanted to unpicked asparagus. The Western Growers Association, which represents 3,000 fruit and vegetable farmers in California and elsewhere, estimates labor shortages of between 20 percent and 30 percent across California.

More than half of the nation's 1.8 million farmworkers are estimated to be here illegally.

"We want a legal work force, and the only way we can get that is through immigration reform," said Jasper Hempel, a lobbyist for the Western Growers Association. "While we're not pushing for AgJobs as a separate issue, we'll consider it, if that was the only thing we could get."

Meanwhile, states such as Idaho that have bolstered farmworkers with felons say it's a temporary solution. Their prisons are virtually tapped out.

Six years ago, Idaho had 18 inmates from the St. Anthony Work Camp at potato plants. Today, there are 120.

"The reduction in the labor pool of migrant workers has increased probably 10-fold the use of offenders," said Idaho Correction Department Lt. Jim Woolf, who oversees inmate workers. "I've got several potato warehouses that would love to have a crew of 15 to 20 inmates to offset the labor shortages. We don't have enough inmates."