Narrative: e. 1. A.

Assessment of Need: Maine’s Migrant Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFWs) cycle through various crop har–vests including blueberry, broccoli, field vegetable, apple, and poultry industry operations during Maine’s short agricultural production season. MSFWs also work off–season as it relates to holiday wreath making and seafood processing. The chart below shows the numbers of MSFWs that were provided with some level of service during 2014–15. This assistance includes job referral information, answering questions on worker wage deductions, provision of housing standards information and working conditions requirements and issues pertaining to discrimination. TABLE 14 SERVICES PROVIDED TO MIGRANT SEASONAL FARM WORKERS 2014–2015 2014–15 Registered In MJB (self–identified)* Referred to jobs Provided Services Referred to Supportive Services Case Man–agement Counseling Received Job Development Contact Contacted by SMA outreach July–Sept 2014 91 0 18 0 6 4 250 Oct–Dec 2014 216 0 34 1 9 7 36 Jan–Mar 2015 430 2 79 3 19 16 0 April–Jun 2015 507 5 113 7 25 19 140

The numbers above are based on service transactions provided to job seekers who register and self–identify as MSFW and are active on the Maine Job bank (MJB). Job seekers on the MJB that do not receive services for 90 days, become inactive. Returning job seekers who reactivate their accounts count as new registrants with new service transactions. Total number of services is always equal to or greater than the number of individuals served. The quarters above are ‘rolling–quarters’ in that services reported each quarter are an accumulation of the quarters preceding the reporting period.

Maine’s agricultural sector is large and diverse, contributing significantly to Maine’s overall economy. Data in the 2012 Census of Agriculture by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service lists 8,173 farms in Maine. Most Maine farms are small family–operated enterprises employing few people beyond family members; the median size of farms is 67 acres. The 2012 census lists 2,415 Maine farms reporting a total of 15,072 workers (hired farm labor excluding contract workers). However, 4,229 farms reported 10,698 un–paid workers (agricultural workers not on the payroll who performed activities or worked on a farm or ranch), essentially reflecting the number of family members working on farms and leaving 4,374 paid workers. In light of this, 125 farms reported hiring 2,706 migrant workers. In effect, nearly 62% of paid hired farmworkers reported by Maine farm operations are migrant workers. Comparing last year to this year, the State Monitor Advocate sees that increasing mechanization is causing a slight decrease in the annual number of MSFWs needed by the blueberry harvesting sector and a shift of workers to the freezing/packing plants. A good example of this is reflected in an ad–hoc survey of largest blueberry growers conducted in the fall of 2014 after the harvest. The nine employers surveyed reported hiring a total of 1,522 MSFWs for harvesting and processing purposes. Broccoli producers reported that their labor needs have remained constant and they do project the need for additional labor next year. Apple orchards and packing houses also report flat numbers and do not foresee increasing labor need. The larger Apple producers use the H–2A program for harvest purposes and rely on returning local seasonal and per–manent help in the packing houses. Throughout the state, a select number of growers of diversified crops, including vegetables, use foreign H–2A labor in small quantities to supplement the available returning local seasonal field help. Overall many sectors of Maine’s agricultural producers are hiring fewer workers even when it comes to local seasonal labor. This is evident in the conversion of family and larger farms turning to ‘agro–tourism’ and ‘pick–your–own’ systems as a strategy to sustain farms. The conversion to ‘pick–your–own’ also makes it unnecessary to plan for additional labor needs, with farms able to rely on a small static number of permanent and local seasonal labor. TABLE 15 SERVICE TRANSACTIONS FOR MAINE MSFWS

Crop Total MSFWs 2015 Agricultural Season April – November Projected MSFWs 2016 Agricultural Season April – November Blueberries 1652 1600 Broccoli 289 290 Seafood processing 25 30 Apple 172 175 Diversified Crop, mixed vegetable 93 100

Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC), the National Farmworkers Jobs Program (NFJP) grant operator in Maine (WIA Section 167) was awarded PY 2014 funding to help address the myriad of critical issues faced by farmworkers and their families. NFJP served 283 MSFWs during PY2014. The NFJP is a re–quired partner of the one–stop delivery system and is responsible for making the full range of services available through the one–stop nearest to farmworkers.