Labor finders address growers' convention

2/7/2002

A new trade organization to help farmers and nurserymen find foreign laborers and understand regulations for such migrant workers is making its pitch at a convention expected to draw up to 2,000 to downtown Toledo this week.

“We will be an advocate for the employers, no doubt about it,” said John Wargowsky, executive director of Mid American Ag and Hort Services, Inc., based in Columbus. The group, started last year, initially will focus on the nursery industry, which has been the primary user of foreign workers. The group has a contract to bring as many as 500 Mexican workers to Ohio and Indiana on work visas, under a special government program.

The Ohio Fruit Growers Society and the Ohio Vegetable and Potato Growers Association, which opened meetings yesterday and will be in town at SeaGate Convention Centre through tomorrow, are among the sponsors of the new group.