YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Last week, Miguel Gonzales worked quickly to pluck apples from trees in an orchard north of Tieton before the snow season arrives.

"We work seven days a week, but that's good," Gonzales said after climbing down a ladder. "There's not many people, so we have to work harder."

Gonzales worked alongside several laborers hired by local grower Apple King to harvest a crop belonging to another grower — apples that otherwise wouldn't have been picked.

Unable to find enough workers in an increasingly competitive labor market during prime harvest time, the grower told Apple King it...