Adolfo Alvarez is out of options.
After three years of poor returns on his crops, the Grandview farmer isn’t eligible for more loans or lines of credit. He has no more equity to leverage, no government program to come to his rescue.
Without a profit on this fall’s apple harvest, Alvarez said he’ll lose everything.
"It’s a disaster," said Alvarez, 55, who also grows organic cherries, alfalfa and Concord grapes on 200 acres. "What is the government doing for us? Nothing. In fact, I don’t think they know."
Alvarez’s plight mirrors that of many other farmers who desperately need capital to remain afloat.
Private loans have become more difficult to obtain due to new and stiffer federal banking regulations.
And while the government offers plenty of financial aid for start-up farmers and large ag-related operations such as warehouses and processors, help for small farmers trying to hang on or to expand is more difficult to obtain.
"My frustration is gone now. I’m angry," said Alvarez, who has owned his farm nearly 25 years and employs more than 120 people during harvest. "Little towns can have three or four million (dollars) to fix the streets and freeways, but farmers can have nothing. Congress should put attention in farming and they are not doing it."

The issue is especially critical for Latino farmers, whose numbers have increased nearly fourfold in recent years in Yakima County.
"Look around. We’re Latinos. We’re the next statistics," said Sunnyside farmer Joe Cervantes, chairman of the Washington State Mexican Fruit Growers Coalition. The group, consisting of nearly 60 members, formed a year ago in response to the financial crisis and employs from 4,000 to 5,000 people during peak harvest.
Nationwide, Latino farm operators grew by 14 percent in the five years ending in 2007, for a total of 82,462, according to U.S. Census figures.
The growth in Yakima County has been more dramatic. During this period, the number of Latino farm operators grew from 576 to 840, a 46 percent increase. The number of white farm operators dropped 2 percent, from 5,206 to 5,077.
"These guys have come out of the fields, bought some ground and are farming," said Kevin Gay, owner of a 1,400-acre fruit orchard in Zillah.
"A lot of these guys are first generation. They have citizenship, but they have no support group like other, long-time families," said Gay, who is Caucasian but joined the Mexican Fruit Growers Coalition to support his workers, many of whom are Latino and aspire to own their own farms.
Last week in Yakima, the coalition brought together more than 50 growers, bankers, lawmakers and government agency officials for a forum on the issue.
Organizers emphasized two points: The problem is severe, and help is needed for all small farmers, not just Latinos.
Without more programs, many of these farmers will be forced out of the business within a few years, Gay said.
"They hit a bump in the road and they are gone," he said. "We want another program to sustain family farms and have people — white or Mexican — be able to farm and go up the ladder. We are just trying to keep the American Dream alive."
There was also general agreement that there is no easy fix.
Bankers at the forum lamented that they have money to lend but are handcuffed by regulators.
The federal Farm Service Agency has loan programs for farmers who can’t obtain bank financing, but the amounts — which top out at $1.1 million — are considered insufficient by farmers. The money can be used to buy equipment and to pay for soil and water conservation, refinancing debts and annual operating expenses.
Longtime growers want federal legislation giving them access to the larger loan programs available to fruit warehouses, food processors and dairies — such as the $25 million Guaranteed Business & Industry Loan available to warehouses by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"What we’d like to see is the FSA side mirror the USDA side," said Gay. "We have just as much investment as a warehouse or distributor."
"You are putting small producers in a box and they can’t get out," added Luz Bazán Gutiérrez, president of the Yakima-based Rural Community Development Resources, an umbrella organization for programs assisting minority-owned farms and businesses.
Gutiérrez’s organization can act as a quasi-bank, in that it gives loans to small businesses. But farms don’t fit this category, at least until the federal Farm Bill is amended, she said. She also favors creating a loan program where banks could pool their money to help farmers.

Among those at last week’s meeting was state Rep. Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney, D-Seattle. The child of migrant farm workers, the former Lower Valley resident now chairs the House Committee on Community and Economic Development and Trade.
Noting the role of agriculture in the state’s economy — it accounts for $38 billion and 160,000 workers — the industry needs capital, she said.
"I think we need to look at ways to provide assistance and incentives to growers, especially our fruit growers. We need to take action on that," she said.
Kenney wants growers to be compensated faster for their goods, instead of waiting months for warehouses to make sales. The longest wait is for apples. Farmers can wait more than a year between harvest and when a warehouse sells their crop.
She also wants to give growers assistance at the state or federal level — a goal she knows will take time to achieve. To start the process, Kenney is working with growers, lawmakers and other interested parties to establish a task force that will study the financing struggles and propose solutions.
"We need to be more informed on what’s happening with the small growers," she said. "Banks need loan guarantees. That’s where the federal government steps in. We need to do that."
In an e-mail to the Yakima Herald-Republic on Friday, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, said he is committed to finding ways to increase the availability of agricultural financing.
Realistically, though, he said the next opportunity to make changes at the federal level would be during discussions on the next Farm Bill in 2012.
"The bottom line is that improving the economy and putting people back to work is the best way to increase the availability of credit for agriculture loans," he said. " ... In the meantime, I will look into ways to increase the availability of agriculture loans without adding to the deficit, and would encourage any local farmers to contact my office for information about grant eligibility and to see if there are other ways my office can help."
Jay Clough of Kennewick, a Democrat who is running for Hastings’ seat, said investing in agriculture should be a priority of the federal government. The Farm Bill is an avenue where permanent solutions can be found, but Clough said something needs to happen now to help farmers.
If elected, he said he would work to increase sales of Washington fruit overseas — where growers could receive premium prices.
"We have a golden opportunity to market those products in a more aggressive way," he said. "If we package the products correctly, you could get a lot more for them. We need to move into markets that offer the most amount of money."
These ideas are all well and good, but Alvarez still fears for his livelihood. He supports education for growers, to let them know what resources are available. But he said what they need most is money. Now.
"It’s not up to farmers to do better. We do what we need to do," he said. "We just don’t get paid."

• Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 509-577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.