Firms that had made investments that led to higher worker productivity should have wanted to advertise that information in order to convince workers that they should accept a lower piece rate, while firms that had not should have wanted to hide the fact. Newman and Jarvis also found that piece rates were adjusted in many packing sheds if the quantity and/or quality of the grapes being processed changed. Although strikes were legally prohibited, female workers were able to “stop” production and successfully negotiate an increase in the piece rate, and the reverse was also true. Indeed, several male shed managers said that they found it easier to negotiate a “fair” piece rate with women than to negotiate pay with men. The evidence in Newman and Jarvis suggested that women workers were both aware of the importance of firm-influenced productivity differences and able to obtain information about what firms actually provided. Thus, there was evidence that female workers operated within and were part of a highly sophisticated labor market in which firms and workers obtained and used information regarding about their heterogeneity. Neither workers nor firms thought that firms or workers were homogeneous.Each worker was asked how many months he/she would have liked to work during 1991 and 1992. The mean response by females was 11.1 months and 9.7 months, respectively. The responses were surprisingly high, round flower buckets given that most women had worked much less than this in 1991. The question did not specify a wage at which they would be employed, but the responses suggested that most women wanted to work most of the year.
To further explore workers’ preferences for seasonal as opposed to permanent employment, including a specified wage, each worker was asked to indicate her/his preference for one of three employment options: 1) 3 months employment per year at100,000 pesos per month, 2) 6 months employment at 60,000 pesos per month, and 3) 12 months employment at 35,000 pesos per month. Option 2) required twice the time to obtain an additional 60,000 pesos of annual income, as did option 3). When the options were designed, it was believed that most women preferred to work only the summer months and thus would choose the first option. In fact, 50% of workers chose permanent employment as their preferred option and an additional 25% choose the 6-month option. Only 25% choose the 3-month high-salary option, even though its 300,000-peso salary turned out to significantly exceed the mean annual earnings of workers. What do these answers mean? We believe, based on respondents’ anecdotal comments, that most female temporary agricultural laborers want to work most of the year. First, most women wanted to earn more, even if the marginal earnings associated with longer employment were low. Second, some women expressed a desire to spread their income throughout the year and thought that a permanent salary would help achieve this. They commented on how hard it was for them to adequately carry funds from one month to the next given a lack of accessible savings institutions1 and constant pressure from friends and relatives for loans and assistance. Third, many women said that they enjoyed working, particularly as it allowed them to feel productive, benefit economically, and have greater social contact with others. When asked what they liked about their work, some women responded simply that they enjoyed it. However, most provided additional insight into what the work experience meant for them. Some responded that work allowed them to financially help their families, others that they enjoyed socializing with other women, having an opportunity to talk about their problems, possible solutions, and simply their concerns, and to form personal connections that they could not otherwise make.
Others were glad simply to feel useful. Having said that women wanted additional employment, they were not idle. Combining employment and family responsibilities placed a harsh demand on women’s time and energy. Their summer work schedule was especially grueling. They worked very long hours. Processing sheds began work at 2:00 p.m. and continued until all of the grapes picked had been packed. On average, cleaners worked 9.6 hours per day and packers 10.3 hours, not counting time waiting for the sheds to open, or for coffee breaks and dinner. Work commonly finished well after midnight and, during the seasonal peak, as late as 6:00 a.m. Many females liked beginning work in the early afternoon because it gave them time to take care of family responsibilities in the morning. Women also mentioned the burden that they faced in meeting these dual responsibilities. Some women indicated that their husbands did not want them to work and a few said they had obtained agreement to work only during peak season when earnings were high. However, more women indicated that their husbands appreciated their income, recognized that it improved family welfare, and supported their working. A few women said that their husbands had accepted some household tasks to help. All of the women interviewed worked at a task that was paid on a piece rate basis most of the time. Despite the increased pressure and expenditure of effort that piece rate work required, when asked their preference for summer work, 58% of workers expressed a preference for piece rate pay when working in a packing shed during the summer. The overwhelming reason for preferring piece rate pay was that it allowed the worker to earn more. Nonetheless, a significant proportion of these workers would have preferred a salaried job during the summer and most did not want piece rate employment on a year round basis. Indeed, 61% of workers preferred a fixed wage if they could get a year around job. Roughly half said they did not want to work at the intense pace required by piece rate work on a continuing basis. Others commented that they felt that they would earn more if working for a wage, including some who said that they would earn a higher rate for overtime, while others said their earnings would be more stable. The workers interviewed understood the advantages and disadvantages of their various employment options. Their decision to accept piece rate work depended partly on a lack of other remunerative employment during the rest of the year. Their relative poverty contributed to their desire to work hard when an employment opportunity presented itself. One might expect the supply of labor for temporary agricultural work on a piece rate basis will decrease if and when other employment opportunities materialize.Many women entered the labor force to supplement the income of other family members and/or to satisfy their own special needs. However, a majority of women in our data set were the major income earner in their household. Approximately 180 women lived in households that contained no male workers. Another 25% of women were the primary earner in their households even though their households included an adult male who worked at least part of the time. We lacked data to test whether women’s acceptance of temporary work in the fruit sector had improved household income. We only observed the households in which female workers resided, not the households they resided in prior to obtaining employment, plastic flower buckets wholesale and we had no information on rural families that did not have any members working in the fruit sector. It is nonetheless instructive to see how the income earned by women in our sample affected their current households.It is often tempting, after eating a particularly good orange or avocado, to plant the seed and grow your own tree full of these delicious fruit. Trees grown from these seed, however, may produce fruit that are not edible at all, or the trees may not bear fruit for many years.
The best way to produce good-quality fruit is to grow seedlings from them and then attach, by budding or grafting, material from trees that are known to be good producers. Budding and grafting can also be used to change or add varieties to mature citrus or avocado trees, a process known as top working. This publication is a brief introduction to budding and grafting for the home gardener. For more information, consult the materials listed at the end of this publication or contact your local Cooperative Extension office.To germinate citrus or avocado seed, plant them in a shallow container such as a nursery flat or a pan with drainage holes in well-drained commercial potting mix. Plant the seed two to three times deeper than their length. For example, a citrus seed about 1 ⁄4 inch long should be planted about 1 ⁄2 to 3 ⁄4 inch deep. Keep the seed in a warm place—between 70° and 80°F —and keep the soil moist. Covering the nursery flats with clear glass or plastic will help maintain the proper humidity. Avocado seed can also be germinated by suspending them in water. Place toothpicks horizontally into the seed near the top. Suspend the wide end of the seed in a small container of water with the toothpicks resting on the edge of the container. Place it in indirect light and refresh the water at least weekly. After germination , replant the seedlings into a larger container of good-quality commercial potting mix. Good choices for containers include a cardboard milk carton cut horizontally in half or a one-gallon can. Punch drain holes in the bottom of the container. The seedling will be ready for budding or grafting when it has grown to 24 to 30 inches tall.Budding and grafting are vegetative propagation techniques in which a single bud or stem of a desired plant is attached to a rootstock plant. In budding, a single bud with its accompanying bark is used as the scion. In grafting, part of a stem or branch is used as the scion. One of the most important keys to successful budding and grafting is properly positioning the scion on the rootstock. In order for the scion and rootstock to grow together, the thin greenish plant layer just under the bark of the scion and rootstock must be aligned so that they touch each other. If they do not touch each other, the bud or graft will fail. Within 10 to 15 days, a successful bud or graft forms a hard whitish tissue where the two cambium layers grow together. Always use sharp cutting or grafting instruments and make clean, even cuts. Options include a budding knife, a sharp kitchen knife, or a single-sided razor blade. Do not allow the cut surfaces of the scion or rootstock to dry out: immerse cut scions in a pail of water, wrap them in plastic, or graft them immediately after cutting. Also, remove any leaves from scions after cutting to help keep the scions from losing water. Keep the scions in a cool place during the work.Budding and grafting are best done in the spring or fall when the bark is easily separated from the wood. It should be timed to be early enough so that warm weather will help ensure a good bud union, yet late enough so that the bud will not begin to grow and callus will not grow over the bud itself. Citrus budded or grafted in the fall must be protected from frost. Avocados are best grafted in the spring when the bark is easily separated from the wood.Budding is the standard method used to propagate citrus. Aside from being the easiest method, it allows a large number of plants to be propagated from a small amount of scion wood and is suitable for trees, rootstocks, or branches from 1 ⁄4 to 1 inch in diameter. Budwood should be taken only from high-producing, disease-free trees . The best citrus budwood is located just below the most recent flush of new growth; the best avocado budwood is located near the terminal end of shoots that have fully matured, leathery leaves.Cultivated alfalfa is a major forage crop that plays a key role in global livestock production. Alfalfa hay is a relatively cheap, high-quality forage which is high in protein and thus an ideal feed for ruminant animals . Often referred to as the ‘Queen of forages’, alfalfa is one of California’s most important crops, driving production of the state’s most significant agricultural enterprise: dairy . In 2022, 200,000 hectares of alfalfa were harvested for hay and haylage with a total value of over $1B .