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"With tighter border security and immigration reform discussions continuing, farmers in the San Joaquin Valley said Thursday they're experiencing a tough time finding workers.Joe Cotta, of Rhythm &amp; Blueberries, told KCRA 3 someone came to his property to try and steal his workers.The upside to all this is that farm workers are seeing an increase in pay because their skills are needed. Some are getting paid double what they would normally receive.Cotta runs a 3-acre organic blueberry farm and a vineyard in Galt. He said he is getting by, despite the fact that his staff is half of what it used to be.Cotta said he pays his workers 20 percent more than usual, but added, he doesn't get to charge more for his product.The labor shortage will have an impact on prices at the grocery store in the long run, Cotta said, if the labor shortage continues.He said some farmers may decide to plant on fewer acres, because they know they won't have the labor and they don't want to see their crops go to waste if no one can pick them.Mark Mayer, with Mayer Vineyards Inc., said he has no choice but to adjust to the changes.Mayer said he's trying to offer workers year-round jobs, so that when it comes time to harvest, he'll have a reliable crew.But, he said, there's nothing he can do if they decide to go across the street because they're getting paid more to pick cherries.Cherry season is wrapping up. Workers are harvesting blueberries right now. Grapes and tomatoes are some of the crops farmers worry about harvesting in the fall.Cotta said luckily, he has machines that can harvest his grapes that will be sold to wineries -- otherwise, if they had to be handpicked, they'd never make it.Vineyard maintenance that helps foster the quality of the grapes is taking a back seat right now because of a lack of laborers, Cotta added.Farmers said they heavily rely on migrant workers because no one else will labor on the farm.Jobs have been advertised at the Employment Development Department to no avail.Tom Gotelli, who grows cherries and other crops, told KCRA 3 the fact is, a lot of people are sitting at home who do not want to work. \u00A0"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.kcra.com/article/farm-worker-shortage-leads-to-increase-in-pay-other-issues-1/6405518>