Leaving fruit on trees because of a lack of labor has happened in the past in the Yakima Valley.

That is not going to happen this harvest season says Mike Gempler Executive Director of the Washington Growers League in Yakima. But he admits it is a guessing game from year to year and Mother Nature is in charge.

Gempler says weather has a huge impact on the number of workers available for the upcoming record apple crop in the Yakima Valley.

If you have a compressed harvest because of weather you need more people over a shorter period of time.

But if the weather is nice and growers can pick into the month of November, growers can hire fewer workers.

Gempler says he is working with growers to do everything they can to use local workers to stabilize the workforce. He is even advising growers to provide child care to families so more women can help in the industry.

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