South Florida was thirsting for rainfall prior to last weekend. The abnormally dry conditions were alleviated a little bit with steady moisture that soaked the region, says Gene McAvoy, University of Florida/IFAS Regional Vegetable Extension Agent IV Emeritus.
US Drought Monitor graphic shows how dry Florida was last week prior to the rainfall last weekend.
“We got about an inch and a half down around Immokalee (Florida). Some places were a little better,” McAvoy said. “It was a nice soaking rain, exactly what the doctor ordered.”
The dry weather created dire conditions for vegetable and specialty crop producers in the middle of their production season. According to the US Drought Monitor, most of the South Florida and Central Florida regions were abnormally dry last week. Some counties, like Collier County where McAvoy is located, and Monroe County, Palm Beach County and small parts of Broward County and Hendry County were classified in a moderate drought.
“We were starting to get awful dry around here. I’ve been hearing problems with things like blossom end rot and some of those issues that you see when it does get dry and it’s hard to keep the soil moisture constant,” McAvoy said.
What does the technological future look like for vegetable and specialty crop producers? In an era where they compete in a global marketplace against rising imports, producers can no longer rely on cheap land or labor; they must compete on the basis of technology and innovation.
What does that future look like? Come find out at the Ag Tech Expo, hosted by the UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center on May 10-11. It is a virtual event, but farmers can click here to register.
Conference Registration is $100. Student Registration is $25. The price for trade show vendors is $250.
Agenda
DAY 1 – Monday, May 10, 2021
Opening Remarks – J. SCOTT ANGLE, PH.D. , Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources , University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS)
Keynote Speaker – DR. RANVEER CHANDRA , Microsoft – Data-driven agriculture: How the Cloud and AI can help reimagine food from seed to plate.
10:00 am Scott Berden /Miquel Clavijo, US Sugar – Leveraging IoT and Remote Sensing Technology at US Sugar.
10:30 am Louis DeMaso, Lipman Family Farms – Sustainability Case Study: Precision Agriculture for Maximum Resource-Use Efficiency.
11:00 am Dr. Sanjay Shukla, UF IFAS SWFREC – Streamlining growing environment for fresh produce with compact bed geometry system.
11:30 am Tony Mucciardi, Tree Radar – TRU GPR and IR imagery for root morphology maps.
UAV Session (Monday a.m.)
10:00 am Nathan Stein, pix4d – A good map is the first step in digitizing your field.
10:30 am Dr. Spyros Fountas, AUA, Greece – The role of UAVs for crop yield estimation.
11:00 am Dr. Yiannis Ampatzidis, UF IFAS SWFREC – Agroview: AI-based technology for precision agriculture.
11:30 am Drew Baustian, Micasense – Image Classification, Irrigation Monitoring & More Using Multispectral & Thermal Imaging.
Genomics Session (Monday a.m.)
10:00 am Dr. Tong Geon Lee, UF IFAS GCREC – CRISPR: A technical breakthrough for crop research.
10:30 am Dr. Samuel Hutton, UF IFAS GCREC – Applications of Marker Assisted Selection in the UF/IFAS Tomato Breeding Program.
11:00 am Dr. Vance Whitaker, UF IFAS GCREC -Genomic Prediction in Strawberry Breeding.
11:30 am Dr. Marcio Resende, UF IFAS Department of Horticulture – Genomics and phenomics applied to sweet corn breeding.
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Break and Technology Show – Virtual Trade Show
2:00 PM – 4:00 pm – Afternoon Sessions
Robotics Session (Monday p.m.)
2:00 pm Dr. Pal Johan From, Saga Robotics – Thorvald – and autonomous multipurpose platform for agriculture.
2:30 pm Bob Pitzer, HCR – Robotic strawberry harvesting.
3:00 pm Dr. Stavros Vougioukas, UCDavis – Human and ag-robot collaboration for fruit harvesting.
3:30 pm Dr. Manoj Karkee, WSU – Tree fruit harvesting: Accomplishments and challenges.
Protected Ag Session (Monday p.m.)
2:00 pm Dr. Kevin Folta, UF IFAS Department of Horticulture – Closed Controlled Environment.
2:30 pm Jennifer Waxman, Executive Director, The Villages Grown™ – Bridging Agriculture and Wellness — How CEA may be the next movement towards the Food-as Medicine approach.
3:00 pm Bob Hochmuth – Protected Ag- Technology Under Cover
3:30 pm Federico Boscolo, Cultiva Farms – TBA
Jonathan Way, Colusa Farms – TBA
Innovations in Water and Nutrient Management (Monday p.m.)
2:00 pm Doug Crawford, BMP Logic – Real-time irrigation management with wireless soil moisture sensor – adoptions in North America and lessons learned.
2:30 pm Grower’s perspective on technology adoption in managing water and nutrient over three decades, Lipman Family Farms.
3:00 pm Dr. Sanjay Shukla and TBA – Circular nitrogen and phosphorus economy.
3:30 pm Dr. Sandra Guzman, UF IFAS IRREC – New technologies for efficient irrigation.
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Technology Show – Virtual Trade Show
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Virtual Party (Happy Hour)
DAY 2 – Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Keynote Speaker TBA
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Morning Sessions
Automation Artificial Intelligence, and Precision Spraying (Tuesday a.m.)
10:00 am Dr. Lynn M Sosnoskie, Cornell University, – Review of weed management technology.
10:30 am Dr. Nathan Boyd, UF IFAS GCREC – Weed Management for the Future.
11:00 am Dr. Thanos Balafoutis, IBO, Greece – Variable rate technologies for precision spraying.
11:30 am Keith Hollingsworth, CC and/or Dr. Yiannis Ampatzidis, UF IFAS SWFREC – Smart tree crop sprayer utilizing sensor fusion and AI.
Environmental Services (Tuesday a.m.)
10:00 am Benita Whelan, Florida Cattlemen’s Association – Dispersed Water Management System.
10:20 am Dr. Sanjay Shukla, UF IFAS, SWFREC, and Linda McCarthy, Lykes Bros Inc. Payment for water storage and treatment services program in the Everglades Basin– From pilot to large-scale implementation.
11:00 am Ernie Shea, Solutions from the Land – Florida Climate Smart Agriculture Working Group Overview.
11:30 am David M. (Max) Williamson, Williamson Law + Policy PLLC – High-level Overview of Carbon Markets.
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Break and Technology Show – Virtual Trade Show
2:00 PM – 4:00 pm – Afternoon Sessions
Automation and Pest/Disease Management (Tuesday p.m.)
2:00 pm Dr. Natalia Peres, UF IFAS GCREC – Ultraviolet Robot for control of Powdery mildew in Strawberry.
2:30 pm Dr. Ozgur Batuman, UF IFAS SWFREC – Development of a novel automated delivery system for citrus trees.
3:00 pm Michael Otte, Rantizo – Drone Spraying, the Future Present of Agriculture.
3:30 pm Liron Brish, Farm Dog – Easily digitizing your in-field workforce – the foundation for efficiency and effectiveness.
Water Management I Mixed session I (Tuesday p.m.)
2:00 pm Dr. George Vellidis, UGA – SmartIrrigation – a Pathway to Sustainable Intensification.
2:30 pm Dan Urban, Analytics Lead, CERESIMAGING – Managing the variability in transpiration and vigor with aerial imagery.
3:00 pm Grant Allen, C&M North America (Checchi & Magli) – Vegetable/Melon Transplanting – Speed, Precision, Automation, etc.
3:30 pm TBA
Traceability/Blockchain (Tuesday p.m.)
2:00 pm TBA, AgTools – Using data to improve market access and profit margins.
2:30 pm Bristol Wells, Highlands Agriculture – Virtualizing the Business of Ag with Highland Ag Solutions.
3:00 pm Creg Fielding, Fusionware – Vertically Integrated Supply Chain – Get out of spreadsheet hell!
Population is expanding around the world. Farmers will need to produce more food in the next 50 years but with fewer resources and less environmental impact.
The developments in agricultural robotics, machine vision, ultra-precision farming; autonomous farming; artificial intelligence (AI); and genomics will transform the way farming is conducted. These technologies coupled with AI are enabling a revolution which will eventually upend the familiar way of conducting daily farming practices.
The vegetable and specialty crop sector is vulnerable to market manipulation. That makes what Mexico is accomplishing through its increased imports of cucumbers and squash dangerous for the future of the American farmer, claims Georgia farmer Dick Minor.
“In 2018, the combined acres planted into fresh market cucumbers of the top five producing states was less than 30,000 acres,” Minor said. “A simple 10% increase in production is enough to totally devastate the marketing window and eliminate any chance of profitability.
“Mexico, over the last 10 years has dramatically increased production of cucumbers and squash. They have expanded production with no regard for other production areas or without regard for probability of making a profit.”
Competitive Disadvantage
Minor produces eight different vegetable crops, which include cucumbers and zucchini squash. It is very common to produce both crops. But it’s also becoming increasing challenging to produce both crops when compared to unfair competition against Mexico.
“The last 34 years have presented many challenges to our vegetable farming operations. However, none has presented a threat near the scale of the dramatic increase in low-cost Mexican vegetable imports,” Minor said.
Many factors led to this unfair competitive advantage, as claimed by Minor and other Florida and Georgia farmers during Thursday’s U.S. International Trade Commission hearing. Labor tops the list. Mexico can pay its workers a small fraction of what farmers like Minor pay theirs.
“Mexico is able to offset its disadvantage in location with some of the most abundant and cheapest labor costs anywhere in the world,” Minor said.
Government subsidies also contribute to Mexico’s workforce growing more and more produce under protected acreage. Mexico can import its produce 12 months out of the year, which directly impacts marketing windows for Southeastern farmers.
“Florida growers understand that when Georgia starts they need to be finished harvesting and they plant accordingly. Georgia growers understand that North Carolina will start harvesting in late June, and when we plant, we also plant accordingly. Each growing area understands its window,” Minor said.. The factors that influence when and how much product they can produce and still maintain the probablilty of still maintaining a profit.”
Supply is the main factor that affects daily prices. Fresh produce needs to be sold and sent to markets as soon as it is harvested. Markets are volatile. They can surge quickly or drop instantly, as they are sensitive to change and planted acres.
“Today, low costs Mexican production is threatening every grower in the United States,” Minor said.
The economics of farming in Florida is not adding up for some vegetable and specialty crop producers. With land prices continuing to increase across the Sunshine State and imports continuing to flood the U.S. markets, it has created a crossroads for some growers, explains Florida Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried.
Nikki Fried Florida Agriculture Commissioner
“When our growers can’t compete and they are seeing job losses, they’re seeing economic losses and the demand for land here in the state of Florida continue to increase. We have 1,000 people moving to the state of Florida every single day. With those types of increases, we need to build infrastructure and urban development in our state,” Fried said. “It’s become a crossroads for a lot of our farmers; whether to stay with their generational farms and continue trying to make ends meet while they’re seeing imports coming into Florida really devastate the marketplace.”
Fried testified on Thursday during the U.S. International Trade Commission hearing about the impact squash and cucumbers are having on the Southeast domestic industry. Some producers have already hinted that they see the end of their agricultural careers. Not because of choice but due to an inability to compete. It only continues to worsen.
“We are losing a lot of farms, just because they can’t compete, can’t keep their farms going and the price of land continues to increase. It’s a really hard crossroads,” Fried said. “I’ve spoken to hundreds of thousands of farmers across our state who have to make these tough decisions because agriculture and farming is just not making ends meet.”
Two issues at the forefront of vegetable and specialty crop producers in the Southeast is H-2A and imports from countries like Mexico. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack discussed both issues and sympathizes with growers in the Southeast.
“We’re looking at ways in which we’re able to provide some help and assistance to them under the COVID relief packages that were not specifically targeted to them. No. 2, in terms of labor, no question, serious issues, serious challenges that agriculture faces,” Vilsack said. “That’s why I’m certainly happy to see the House of Representatives pass the Farmer Worker Modernization Act, which essentially creates an avenue for a stable, mature and predictable workforce that makes improvements to the H-2A program that makes it easier for farmers to have that stable workforce, dependable workforce. At the same time, it allows those workers the opportunity to basically come out from the shadows.”
Vilsack said he hopes the Senate will take the legislation up, noting it is a bi-partisan issue.
“These are the workers that folks in the Southeast are depending upon. These are folks that are essentially responsible for picking a lot of our fruits and vegetables in a number of different areas across the country. It just makes sense that farmers have that stable and secure workforce,” Vilsack added.
Increasing Imports
As for imports, it’s an issue that seems to worsen daily. Southeast farmers accuse Mexico of dumping produce and creating a competitive disadvantage that growers can’t compete with.
“On the issue of imports, look, it’s always a delicate balance. We want to make sure that we are able to ensure that our producers have market opportunities. But at the same time, part of what we do, obviously, is to export. We want to make sure that there’s a balance relationship there,” Vilsack said.
According to the most recent South Florida Pest and Disease Hotline, whitefly pressure continues to build across the region, with populations reaching high numbers. This is especially true in older cucurbit and fruiting vegetables at or close to harvest.
Whiteflies feed on various hosts but the crop that’s proven to be most vulnerable is older tomato fields that should have been terminated by now.
Growers and scouts on the east coach report that pressure is building in older eggplant and tomato. Whiteflies are migrating out of these crops and putting pressure on nearby fields. Whiteflies are also causing problems in some pepper.
In Homestead, whitefly numbers are high in tomato and other crops. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus, which is vectored by whiteflies, is also high in most tomato fields. Some hotspots are also present in beans.
A few hotspots of adults and nymphs have been reported in snap benas in Pahokee and Clewiston, Florida.
The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA) issued a statement following Thursday’s U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) hearing regarding the impact of imports on the Southeast domestic cucumber and squash crops. The statement read:
“Today’s hearing was a positive development in our ongoing efforts to secure trade relief for Florida growers. For decades, unfair trade practices from Mexico and other foreign sources have caused immense harm to produce growers in Florida, including significant lost sales and market share, unsustainably low unfair prices, and shuttered family farms.
“Trade relief is desperately needed, not only for our cucumber and squash growers, but for our bell pepper, strawberry, blueberry, and other Florida produce sectors that are also facing harmful impacts and a highly uncertain future due to unfair imports. We continue to see imports from Mexico crippling growers of more than 20 other specialty crops in Florida.
“We commend the International Trade Commission for working to help solve this longstanding and growing threat to the Southeast produce industry. Effective, swift relief is needed to give our Florida produce growers a future and ensure that American families are not dependent on foreign imports for their produce supplies during the winter and spring months of the year.”
Florida farmer Marie Bedner said it best: “We need relief, and we need it now.”
The Florida farmer testified on Thursday during the U.S. International Trade Commission hearing regarding the impact that imports of squash and cucumbers are having on the domestic industry.
Dumping Produce
Bedner cited Mexico’s low labor costs and government subsidies for how Mexico can sell its produce for a fraction of what growers like Bedner need. One of her biggest gripes, though, is the act of dumping produce.
“Our sales team has been told by one of the large buyers that truckloads of Mexican cucumbers will be delivered to his dock during our season with an open ticket. This means that a buyer can pay whatever price they want per box,” Bedner said. “Our operation cost per box of cucumbers is substantially more than what it is for growers in Mexico. A box of our produce has a set price that we simply cannot drop below because of what our expenses are to produce that box. Not surprisingly, the buyer stops purchasing American grown produce from us and takes that Mexican grown produce at a fraction of the cost of our load.
“It’s a classic case of dumping that occurs frequently, and it’s getting much, more worse.”
It’s gotten worse because nothing has been done to curtail the practice. Hopefully, for Florida and Georgia producers that will soon change. It needs to if American agriculture is going to survive.
“Their costs to produce that box of produce is significantly less than ours. This puts us at an extreme disadvantage on a playing field that doesn’t come close to being level,” Bedner said. “The future of farming in our area in South Florida is very bleak. Up and down the road from our location, growers have made the decision to sell their land because they simply can’t compete.”
Not everyone believes there is a problem with Mexican imports and their impact on the domestic industry. In fact, Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of Americas, believes “Mexico cannot be blamed” for many of the issues Southeast farmers are trying to overcome.
“In reality, many of the problems facing the Southeast growers – labor, hurricanes, real estate development, consumer demand – have nothing to do with Mexican imports but everything to do with the growers’ inability or unwillingness to supply that market as demanded,” Jungmeyer said.
Labor
Labor rates play a significant role in comparing the Florida vs. Mexico. It was established during Thursday’s ITC hearing regarding the impact imports have on the Southeast domestic market, that Mexico’s minimum wage is $10 per day. Florida just voted to increase its minimum wage that will increase to $15 per hour over the next few years.
Jungmeyer was also critical of Florida and Georgia’s usage of the H-2A program and believes their lack of available workers has led to quality issues.
“Mexico cannot be blamed for U.S. farmers not having labor, agricultural workers, to work in their fields. Perishable products such as cucumbers and squash are labor intensive crops, particularly for the harvesting and packing. Without adequate labor, Southeast growers are at a severe disadvantage in how they grow and pack. Their products result in a distinct quality disadvantage that U.S. retail customers clearly recognize,” Jungmeyer said.
Industry leaders in Florida and Georgia insist, though, there is not a labor shortage.
Weather Issues
Jungmeyer’s defense of Mexican imports also centered on hurricanes that are an annual threat to Florida production.
“Mexico cannot be blamed for the hurricanes and tropical storms that cause damage to crops. The threat of bad weather is reason alone why many retail customers seek Mexican suppliers to at least backstop the risk of Florida suppliers running into weather-related supply problems. This happens in Georgia as well. The risk of hurricanes is also a significant disincentive for southeast growers to pursue using protected agriculture to grow cucumbers and squash,” Jungmeyer said.
He also mentioned real estate development for a reason that many Florida producers have sold land instead of continuing the family business.
Consumer preference was his final point of defense. Jungmeyer claims consumers just prefer Mexican produce compared to American producers.
“Consumer choices have evolved to favor premium produce items like fancy squashes and cucumbers. This is in a way similar to how consumers choose bell peppers that are grown in protected agriculture because of the variety and color of peppers available and even the perfect appearance of those green protected agriculture peppers. We also have a perfect appearance in Mexican squash and cucumbers,” Jungmeyer said. “The extreme high quality in imported Mexican produce (distributors) sell gives them a significant demand edge in the market.”
It continues to be hot and dry in South Florida. The abnormally dry conditions cover much of middle Florida down to South Florida, according to the US Drought Monitor.
Portions of South Florida, including Monroe County, Collier County, Hendry County, Broward County, Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade County are classified as ‘D1’ or in a moderate drought.
Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, Manatee County, southern Pasco County and western Polk County are the only parts of central Florida not abnormally dry.
In Georgia, the only part of the state abnormally dry is in north Georgia, extending from Henry County and Clayton County to Elbert County and Hart County. The western part of the state, along the Georgia-Alabama line, including Haralson County, Carroll County, Heard County and part of Troup County are abnormally dry as well.
The only part of Alabama that is abnormally dry is along the Alabama-Georgia line, including Cleburne County, Randolph County, Chambers County, Tallapoosa County, Clay County and small parts of Talladega County and Calhoun County.
