Immigrant farmworkers meet the Commander in Chief
Picking cherries, creating jobs, living the American dream
Photo caption: President Joe Biden eats a sweet cherry from Juana Miguel’s bucket during a July 3 visit to King Orchards in Antrim County, prompting laughter from (l-to-r), Sen. Gary Peters, Juana, her husband Pedro Francisco, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow. King Orchards staff were asked prior to the President’s visit neither to offer him fruit nor to stop Biden if he took it himself. Photos by Beth Price Photography.
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
President Joe Biden visited the Traverse City region on Saturday, July 3, as part of his administration’s “America’s Back Together” tour to celebrate the country’s progress in vaccinating citizens against COVID-19.
Within an hour of Air Force One landing at Cherry Capital Airport, Biden arrived at King Orchards, a fruit orchard in nearby Antrim County, where Juliette King McAvoy, the farm’s vice president of sales and marketing, led him, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, on a tour through groves of cherry trees.
They paused along a dirt two-track road as McAvoy shared with the President how climate change and its erratic weather is affecting the cherry crop in northern Michigan, and how she favors a transition toward renewable energy. Then the dignitaries turned a corner and McAvoy introduced Biden to immigrant farmworkers Pedro Francisco and his wife Juana Miguel, who stood on ladders picking Ulster sweet cherries and dropping them into buckets they wore with straps that hung from their necks.
“Hey Pedro, don’t jump,” the Commander in Chief joked before moving to the smaller ladder and greeting Juana with a cordial “How are you?” and shaking the hands of other pickers. McAvoy explained to Biden that Pedro and Juana had worked at the business for 35 years after leaving their native Guatemala and arriving in Antrim County as teenagers.
“They now have grandchildren here. Their children have gone to college, they are prospering and thriving. This is the American dream.”
“What they do for King Orchards is invaluable,” she added. “Our business is what it is because we have the skilled people, skilled laborers that are here …”
Known for his affable nature and desire to gab with people, Biden jumped in: “One of the things we’re proposing is that farmworkers who are here in the United States working who aren’t citizens can get citizenship.”
Though Francisco is a U.S. citizen and Miguel a permanent resident, McAvoy shared with the President that citizenship offers her farmworkers protection and security. “They can live their live and take advantage of opportunities,” she said.
“We are a nation of immigrants,” Biden declared to the small group gathered in the orchard—his words audible to journalists standing nearby. “Every one of us.”
Then the President reached into Juana’s bucket and grabbed one sweet cherry, which he plopped in his mouth. “I’m just doing this to make sure they’re alright,” he said, evoking hearty chuckles from his entourage.
Prior to Biden’s visit, White House staff had asked McAvoy and King Orchards staff not to offer the President any food, since everything the Commander in Chief eats must first be tested by the Secret Service. But, “if the President takes one himself, don’t stop him.”
The Ulster sweet cherry helped tide over President Biden’s appetite before he visited King Orchards’ gift shop, and later stopped at Moomers on Long Lake Road, west of Traverse City, for ice cream. (Biden ordered chocolate chip ice cream in a waffle cone, and later sent a staffer back to get him a helping of Moomers’ signature “Cherries Moobilee.”)
Air Force One left Traverse City late in the afternoon so Biden could celebrate the Fourth of July at the White House. His visit was the fourth by an American President to Traverse City—following Gerald Ford (1975), George W. Bush (2004), and Donald Trump (the night before the 2020 election).
Though Biden’s interaction with Pedro Francisco and Juana Miguel lasted less than a minute, the symbolism of their exchange spoke volumes.
A journey from the Mayan highlands to Michigan’s fruit belt
Pedro Francisco grew up in San Miguel Acatán, a rural municipality in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango, which straddles the Mexican border. The inhabitants, who speak the Mayan language of Akateko, are subsistence farmers. Many suffered atrocities at the hands of the U.S.-backed Guatemalan military during the country’s civil war that ended in 1996. More recently, the effects of climate change have decimated the coffee crop and other agriculture, sending droves of migrants from Guatemala’s western highlands to seek safety and livelihood in the United States.
As a teenager, Francisco left his rural roots and worked at a noodle factory in Guatemala City, where he learned Spanish. In 1986 he followed an acquaintance on the journey north toward El Norte, where he had an older brother who picked oranges in Florida. That same year, Francisco followed the crop season and came to northern Michigan, where he began picking cherries and strawberries for King Orchards. He was 18.
“We were the first workers for King Orchards,” Francisco beamed during a recent interview with the Glen Arbor Sun. “They liked how hard we worked.”
That first year in Michigan he met fellow Guatemalan Juana Miguel. They married in 1989 and had two sons and a daughter. But after 10 years of following the crops back and forth between Michigan and Florida, they decided to stay year-round in Antrim County.
“We were tired of my kids getting pulled out of school when we had to travel,” said Francisco.
For the last 25 years they have worked exclusively for King Orchards. He has become a foreman of sorts or the King family. Each year he recruits the dozens of migrant workers and H-2A temporary agricultural workers the farm needs to pick and harvest the fruit.
Francisco also takes care of the workers, helps them shop for food and supplies at TC Latino in Traverse City and send remittances back to their families in Central America. He and Juana now own a home in nearby Kewadin. Their two sons live with them; their daughter lives in Traverse City.
Meeting the President of the United States “felt good,” said Francisco, who appreciated Biden’s words, “We are a nation of immigrants.”
“Some don’t recognize how hard we work. They don’t know what we do [is] so important,” the immigrant farmworker reflected later. “But everything people buy from the market, it’s picked by us.”
Immigrants create economic value
Juliette King McAvoy’s father purchased King Orchards in 1980 with the hope of growing only tart cherries, which are mechanically harvested. He hoped the limited operation would allow him time to fish in the off-season. But in order to pay back the loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the family added apple trees, sweet cherries and other fruits and vegetables to the mix. That meant they would need workers. Pedro Francisco and Juana Miguel were among four who came to King Orchards from Guatemala.
“Without them, without their skilled hand labor, we wouldn’t be able to do any of the high value agriculture,” said McAvoy, who explained that King Orchards now farms more than 350 acres with a diversified lineup of crops that includes asparagus, strawberries, cherries, peaches, apricots, apples and raspberries.
“It’s only possible when we have reliable, skilled hand labor to do pruning in the winter, crop thinning in the spring, and harvest in the summer.”
McAvoy said that King Orchards employs approximately 80 people during the peak summer season, about one-third of which are “hand labor.” King Orchards sells its products at everything from local farmers markets to Whole Foods in Chicago. The farm is also a popular U-pick destination.
“The Franciscos and employees like them create additional employment,” said McAvoy. “Without them we wouldn’t employ more than just a few people. We are firm believers that having immigrants creates good economies. It creates value.
“For every hand laborer, we then can employ two high schoolers to work in a fruit stand, and truck drivers to drive our products around. We are so grateful we have people like the Franciscos.”
