GRAND RAPIDS, MI - As Michigan's blueberries, peaches and apples ripen for harvest, growers say the political rhetoric from the Trump Administration has had a chilling effect on their ability to get migrant workers to work in Michigan.

The demand for migrant workers is driving up wages and encouraging some growers to mechanize.

More growers also are applying for "H2A" visas to ensure there will be enough workers available for the harvest.

"I haven't heard anybody complaining they cannot find labor, but I have heard complaints that there's not enough labor," said Mark Longstroth, a Michigan State University Extension Service tree fruit expert based in Paw Paw.

Wages for migrant workers are rising in Michigan as growers compete for their services. An estimated 90,000-plus migrant workers arrive in Michigan every year to help with the harvest, which starts with asparagus in the early spring and ends with the apple crop in the fall.

Migrant workers in the Great Lakes region were being paid an average of $12.28 an hour this spring, a 5.5 percent increase over the same time last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics.

Growers who can offer their migrant workers free housing also have a better chance of getting the workers they need, Longstroth said.

H2A visas are granted to growers who can guarantee work, housing and $12.75 an hour in wages. Through July 1, nearly 6,000 were authorized, a big jump from nine years ago, when only 442 were issued in Michigan, Anderson said.

"It is not a cheap program. It is not a way to reduce your labor costs," Anderson said. But the H2A program does guarantee a grower will have workers on hand to harvest their crops, he said.

Generally speaking, fruit and vegetable growers in Michigan say they are expecting average yields.

"Generally speaking, the crop is going to be okay," said Larry Ensfield, CEO of MBG, a marketing organization for some 250 blueberry growers. "We're looking for a good year volume-wise and we're looking for a good year quality-wise."

Recruiting of migrant workers to hand-pick their blueberries has been "fair," Ensfield said. "I don't want to say it's plentiful, but it's coming in very evenly. There's enough labor to take in the crop."

Michigan growers may have a leg up on growers in other states this year because southern growers were hit with a late frost that did not hit most Michigan growers, Ensfield said.