Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/107279
NEWS OF GRAPES AND WINES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA Vineyard Enlists Amish Work Crew Pennsylvania grower secured grant to train local Amish men for vineyard work C oatesville, Pa.—Vineyard manager Brian Dickerson was running into a problem familiar to grapegrowers across the country: finding sufficient labor. Heading into the 2012 season, Dickerson, who also has a career in real estate, was looking for a reliable crew he could train to his standards to help him manage the 9-acre Mica Ridge Vineyard from spring through harvest. Migrant labor wasn't always reliable, and since the recession there were far fewer available workers. "We had a lot of challenges," he told Wines & Vines. "I thought well, why don't we reach out to the Amish community?" Dickerson made some inquiries among the local Amish population and discovered there was strong interest. Because fastgrowing Amish communities outpace the available work on their own farms, men must seek employment in the non-Amish world. Dickerson placed an ad in a local newspaper and quickly had a pool of job applicants. While the Amish were willing to work, Dickerson wanted to make sure they could do the job well. He applied for and received a $5,000 grant from the county's economic development council to establish a training program. Mark Chien, a viticulture educator with the Pennsylvania State University Cooperative Extension, helped organize viticulture classes. Following a few sessions about the fundamentals of pruning and other vineyard work, Dickerson said his crew of four Amish—two men in their 20s and two older gentlemen—got to work. It quickly became apparent that the biggest hurdle with an Amish work crew was transportation. Dickerson ferried his workers to the job site until he found an out-of-work surveyor who was willing to help him with vineyard work and pick up the Amish as well. That worked out well until the surveyor found work at another job near the end of the season, and Dickerson had to finish harvest driving the Amish workers himself. Dickerson just secured a lease on another 15 acres of vinifera vines, and he's currently deciding how he wants to staff his vineyard operations for 2013. Mica Ridge Vineyard manager Brian Dickerson discusses vineyard practices with the four Amish workers he trained to tend the vineyard in 2012. Finding transportation for the workers proved challenging. The Amish do excellent work, Dickerson said, adding that transportation is an issue and the Amish tended to work slow. "They are much slower than many of the other crews out there," he said. Dickerson said he has certain benchmarks for how vines should be worked and how many rows he expects a worker to finish in a shift. While the Amish did an winesandvines.com excellent job and completed everything to Learn more: Search keywords Dickerson's standards, they never met the "Amish crew." benchmarks for time. And no matter how much more experience they gained, they never managed to work quicker. Eventually, Dickerson came to understand that it was a cultural difference. "One will not outwork another," he said. "They work only as fast as the slowest man." —Andrew Adams NEWS p71 WINEMAKING p73 Win es & Vin es F EB RUA RY 20 13 71