WAFLA's annual conference (now WAFLACON) is one of the events I look forward to every year. It's a day packed with practical information on H-2A, farm labor, HR, safety, and compliance, and I always leave with a list of things I want to build into Harvust.
We've partnered with WAFLA for years because, in the heat of the HR moment you're not going to remember everything you learned at a conference. But your farm's HR software should, and Harvust will. I attend so we can take the best practices taught by experts and build them directly into the software our growers use every day.
Here's what I'm looking forward to most this year:
Oregon
November 12, 2026
Salem, OR
- When Safety Fails: The Real Cost of an Injury - Jeff Lutz / Enrique Gastelum
- Safety can sometimes get reduced to trainings, checklists, and whether the right paperwork got signed. But when somebody actually gets hurt, the consequences ripple through the entire operation, the worker and their family, the crew, management, workers' comp costs, lost productivity, and potentially the reputation of the farm. That's why we've invested so much in safety at Harvust, from tracking trainings, to accident reporting, to making sure the right follow-up and documentation actually happens afterward. Jeff was also one of Harvust's very first advisors, and he's still one of the people I go to when I have questions about farm safety or how something should work in the real world. I'm especially interested in what Jeff and Enrique think separates a truly strong safety culture from one that is simply "compliant," and what we can take back and build into Harvust.
- Enrique’s Insights: Reflecting on the Past Year and Shaping the Future - Enrique Gastelum
- This should be an especially interesting one this year. WAFLA and the Growers League have come together, growers are facing greater economic headwinds, and we'll have fresh election results right around the corner. That's a lot of change happening at once. I'm interested in hearing Enrique's view of what WAFLA has learned over the last year, what the merger means for the organization, and how all of that could shape the environment growers are operating in next year. WAFLA sits in a pretty unique position between growers, regulators, attorneys, and workers, so this is always a good opportunity to zoom out and hear the bigger picture.
- What Could Be Next for Oregon Agricultural Labor Relations? - Dunn Carney LLP / Mike Gempler
- This one really caught my attention. Mike Gempler led the Growers League for years before it became part of WAFLA, so he's bringing a lot of history and institutional knowledge to a conversation about where agricultural labor relations could go next. The session will look at proposed regional legislation, lessons from other states, and the practical implications for employers. Labor policy tends to move slowly right up until it doesn't, so I want to understand what ideas are starting to gain traction before growers suddenly have to deal with them.
Washington
November 19, 2026
Wenatchee, WA
- FLC Compliance Essentials: Resources, Risks & Best Practices - Nikki Enerson / The American Association of Ag Labor Providers
- Farm labor contractors sit in one of the more complicated corners of agricultural compliance. There are a lot of moving pieces, a lot of people involved, and mistakes somewhere in the recruiting or employment chain can become a serious problem later. I'm particularly interested in what Nikki recommends around responsible recruitment, documentation, training, and the tools FLCs should be using to protect themselves. This feels like one of those sessions where I'll leave with a list of very specific things we can make easier inside Harvust.
- The AI Workplace Playbook - Stoel Rives LLP
- Obviously I wasn't going to skip this one! I spend a lot of my time thinking about how AI can make HR and compliance easier, but the more capable these tools get, the more important it becomes to understand the rules around how employers actually use them. I'm specifically interested in acceptable-use policies, privacy, security, and where attorneys see the biggest risks emerging. There's a huge difference between "using AI" and thoughtfully building it into an operation, and agriculture is going to have to figure that out just like every other industry.
- Building Trust That Speaks Up - Laura Flores
- An "open-door policy" doesn't mean much if nobody is actually willing to walk through the door. We've been thinking about this a lot at Harvust. Workers can leave anonymous comments, and our automated monthly workforce check-in reaches out directly to employees to ask how things are going and solicit feedback before a problem becomes a crisis. But the technology only works if workers trust the process enough to use it. I'm interested in what Laura recommends for building that trust, getting employees comfortable speaking up, and making sure managers respond in a way that encourages them to keep doing it. If we can reinforce those behaviors through Harvust, we can help surface problems while they're still small.
If you're interested in learning how Harvust can save you time by combining the expertise learned from WAFLA with technology, track me down at the conference and let's chat! I'll see you there!
Oh and if you still haven't registered, here's the link:
