Sun Valley Orchards, a former produce farm in Gloucester County, is fighting with the U.S. Department of Labor over heavy fines the agency doled out after an investigation.
Joe Marino, owner of Sun Valley Cold Storage, talks with Inquirer reporter Jason Nark along with Marino’s father Russell Marino Sr., 72, at his parents home in Swedesboro, N.J., on Wednesday, August, 24, 2022.Men in muddy boots gathered under a drab December sky last year, eyeballing the tractor tires and soil tillers, whole fields full of farm equipment the Marino family was auctioning off in Swedesboro, in South Jersey.
Earlier this week, Russell Marino Sr. , 72, Joe’s father, stood beneath the sun pruning tomatoes on a raised bed While prices had been driven lower in 2019 due to international competition, the loss of bulk sales from food-service accounts servicing restaurants, cruise ships, and hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic deepened the blow in 2020.“I told my brother, That’s it, we’re done,” he said. “We loved what we do and it’s all I ever wanted to do, but when it’s not there, you have to be smart enough to get out. You can’t go down with the ship.
The issue, Marino said, dates back to 2015, when they decided to use the H-2A visa program for the first time. The Marinos even hired a consultant to help fill out the paperwork. The H-2A visa program allows farms to bring migrant immigrant labor into the United States to fill agricultural jobs.
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