TELFAIR COUNTY, Ga. — If you live in Telfair County, you may have driven by the old Workmore School on Workmore Road and noticed some renovations are happening.
"We purchased it with the intention of converting it. So, we are currently renovating it and converting it to be used as temporary housing for agricultural workers," said Victor Peña with Peña and Son's Harvesting, LLC.
Peña and Son's Harvesting, LLC., is a farm labor contracting company that helps provide labor to farmers whether it be mostly berries, watermelon or peas. They provide farm labor to farm owners who need workers to harvest their crops.
Peña told 13WMAZ the school had been closed for a while and this was a good location for where the 250 workers would be working.
"Normally, we rent housing from a hotel owner for just a temporary period of time for the actual work season but here, it was a matter of convenience so it's actually located within a reasonable distance of the farm location that we're going to be working at this year and years to come so it was the perfect spot," Peña said.
Peña says the migrant farm workers are here on a H-2A visa. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the H-2A program "allows U.S. employers or U.S. agents who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs."
Malcolm McCoy is the owner of Major League Blueberries in Nicholls, Georgia. As one of the largest organic blueberry farms in the United States, they need about 275 workers to pick their blueberries.
McCoy says without migrant farm workers, he wouldn't be able to have his farm.
"They are the people that pick this farm and make this farm where it is commercially viable. So we need them, we have to have them," McCoy said.
McCoy says when the temporary workers come to his farm and work, they make more money than they would back home. He says his workers are paid by the bucket and can make anywhere from $200-$300 a day. He says it's easier to hire workers outside the U.S. than it is to hire locally.
"If you hire locally, local people will come out to your farm and if they don't like the amount of fruit that you have on your plants they won't pick so they're very independent. Whereas the H2A they are dedicated to our farm," McCoy said.
McCoy says getting workers through Peña and Son's Harvesting is good for him because he knows it's legal, the workers are willing to work and they can get the job done.
Peña says they will have another plan for housing in the same area at a motel not too far from the school and more.
"Right on that same property where that motel is, that is going to be where we are tending on converting that little spot into either a restaurant or some like little store. So it was used as a store restaurant in the past from what I understand, but we are planning on at some point in the future, converting it into a small Mexican restaurant," he said.
Peña says they would like to have the renovations done by April if different agencies approve them and regulations are met. He say the workers will begin working sometime in April and be here until the summertime.