Apr 6, 2009
Teenagers Tackle Tons of Tedious Tasks

Thinking about hiring high school or college kids? Worried about potential difficulties?

Well, don’t worry too much. There are advantages and disadvantages, of course, but hiring teenagers isn’t as troublesome as one might think, according to Tami Sakuma.

“You will anticipate more problems than there really are,” she said.

Tami was speaking to an audience of farm marketers during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO last December. She described her farm’s work program for local youths age 12 and up and its importance both to her family’s business and the surrounding community.

Tami, her husband Richard and several of Richard’s cousins own Sakuma Bros., a multidimensional fruit company based in Washington state’s Skagit Valley, about an hour north of Seattle. Sakuma Bros.’ Web site lists the three main branches of the company: Sakuma Brothers Farms, the fruit- and vegetable-growing operation; Sakuma Brothers Processing, which processes crops from the family farm and other farms in the region; and Norcal Nursery in Red Bluff, Calif., which sells hundreds of millions of berry plants every year to customers around the world.

Richard and Tami manage Sakuma Market Stand, the farm’s direct-retail outlet. Tami also manages the teenage picking crew program.

The Sakumas have used teenage berry pickers for decades, but there came a point when they considered dropping the program altogether. Local teenagers had become so busy with longer school years, sports and other activities that they couldn’t devote as much time to picking. However, the Sakumas decided they didn’t want to lose the program. It was too important, not only to themselves but to the surrounding community of Burlington, Wash., Tami said.

“The community is so supportive of the program,” she said. “Parents are very appreciative.”

That’s probably because a lot of the parents picked berries when they were in their teens. Working for the Sakumas has become a tradition for some local families – a generational passing of the torch. It’s also a good way to create future customers, Tami said.

Every teenager they hire has to start by picking berries. This gives them a bottom-up view of the Sakuma business and an appreciation of how difficult a job picking can be before they move on to the retail market or some other part of the business, she said.

By the time school gets out in mid-June, there are up to 200 students picking berries. Their parents bring them to the field at 6 a.m., and by the time they’re done picking at noon, many of their friends are just waking up. The teen pickers are paid by the piece, not by the hour. Before they get hired for hourly jobs in the market or elsewhere, they have to prove they’re reliable, trainable workers, Tami said.

“It’s a good system,” she said. “It creates a built-in labor pool for our market.”

Roughly 90 percent of her retail staff is high school and college students who’ve been working for her for years.

“I have these kids from about 12 to 23,” Tami said. “They come back every year.”

Part of the reason they keep coming back is because the Sakumas are so flexible when it comes to scheduling. Students lead hectic lives nowadays and need an employer who can work around them.

Trying to work around hundreds of chaotic schedules leads to a lot of headaches for Tami, however. She has to juggle them every day, and can’t schedule things too far in advance. It’s worth it, though, because the kids are great workers who want to do a good job, she said.

Motivation isn’t everything, of course. It takes a lot of training and a lot of patience to mold a motivated youngster into a good employee. Senior employees are a great help in that area, she said.

Tami doesn’t advertise the picking crew jobs. Students must have the initiative to apply on their own.

“If they are not willing to call and sign up themselves, that’s not the kids I want,” she said.

The teenage pickers are just one part of the Sakuma organization, which employs thousands of people among its three main branches.

Strawberries are the Sakuma farm’s bread and butter. Thanks to tools like hoop tunnels and a diversity of varieties, the Sakumas can extend their strawberry season from mid-May to early November. They grow other berries, too, including raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. They also grow apples and vegetables in the fertile Skagit Valley soil. There are 1,500 acres of crops in all, sold both wholesale and retail, Tami said.

The Sakuma farm is one of only two commercial tea plantations in the United States. Up until this year, the tea was processed by hand, but the family bought processing equipment from Taiwan and China last year and will start using it this year, she said.

During her EXPO presentation, Tami said the farm’s ideal customers are “yuppie baby boomers with disposable income.” The retail market sits in the middle of a 40-acre stretch of the farm, so customers can watch crops being harvested. The Sakumas use that setting as an educational tool, combined with field trips, tours, talks and tea tastings. Customers can pick their own fruit, too.

The sundaes, shortcakes, ice cream toppings and award-winning milkshakes sold at the market are all made from Sakuma fruit, she said.

“We’ve kept true to being berry farmers,” Tami said. “We want to share that experience with everybody.”

The market has evolved over the years and lately has been taking advantage of the buy-local surge.

“Grocery stores want to be us, but we do it better.”




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