“You can see when you’re down there how their money is being used and how it makes their families, and extended families, and extended-extended families, just have a better life,” Mike said. “I think they said they’ll work 10 to 12 hours a day in Mexico and make around 6 to 12 dollars a day, and here they’ll work 10 to 12 hours a day and make [the prevailing American wage for their position]. So they kind of say three years of wages in Mexico is nearly nine months of wages in the United States.”
Wade Wilbur (left) visits H-2A employee Lalo (right) in Lalo’s own home in Mexico. Lalo works construction with his father during his winter break.
Mike recalled walking into one home where he was greeted by the employee’s mother who was crying. He turned to the interpreter to find out what was wrong. Te mother told him she’d never seen an American boss come to
Mexico to see their workers and couldn’t believe he was in her kitchen. He told the mother that’s why he was there, to thank her for allowing her son to come work for them. Mike said almost every family had a reaction like hers, of pure shock that an American businessman came to visit H-2A employees and their families.
Mike said while the H-2A employees are really appreciative of what Sod Shop does for their lives, on the other hand, Sod Shop management is really appreciative of the work the H-2A employees do because they wouldn’t be able to do what they do without them.
Rewarding
Wade said it was rewarding and put a lot of meaning into why they run an H-2A program when they were able to see what their paychecks are being spent on to support the families in Mexico. Wade said it was very humbling to see homes in various construction phases and hear how proud they were to be able to afford a new home with what they made while working in America. Mike said it was pretty surreal traveling for two weeks to meet their employees' children, parents, friends, and even meet potential employees for other sod farms or farmers in the U.S. that he personally met and vetted their experience.
“It makes you realize they’re taking nine months away from their families and they’re so appreciative because of what they’re able to go back and do, like buying a vehicle for
56
Tis is an inside view of the house that Luis built, putting the wages he earned in the U.S. to work for his family in Mexico.
their family who’s never had a vehicle,” Mike said. “Some of their parents are in their 60s and they’ve never owned a car. Four of the guys have actually started building their own homes now and are slowly working towards that.”
He encourages any business owner utilizing H-2A or visa employees to take the opportunity to visit their home countries and meet their families. Mike agrees with Wade that it’s not just life-changing for them, but it also puts into perspective how it impacts a specific employee's family and life back home. “It allows them to see how it makes the life that they know 20-fold better. You can go into these communities and almost see the American dollar at work,” Mike said. He said driving through a town, they’d suddenly see a house that their employee had put their hard-earned money into fixing up by painting it or adding doors and windows where there were none before. He said it’s amazing to see what it changes for their families and how it helps them.
Mike Howard (in Te North Face tee shirt) joins in harvesting with Lalo’s family. Tey grow agricultural products such as alfalfa, carrots, and peanuts.
For more information about Sod Shop, go to the link that follows.
https://sodshops.com/lawrence-kansas-city-area/.
Cecilia Brown is media and content manager for Sod Solutions. This article was developed for the company’s Producers Update series and is posted on their website,
SodSolutions.com.
All photos courtesy of Sod Shop. TPI Turf News July/August 2022
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
