AgNet DEMO

Category: Produce

  • Sweet Grown Alabama is a ‘One-Stop Shop’ for Consumers

    The Alabama Pecan Co. was represented as part of Sweet Grown Alabama Day last week on July 22.

    More than 150 farmers are part of the Sweet Grown Alabama database. Director Ellie Watson believes the sweetgrownalabama website is an integral part of connecting the state’s producers with its consumers.

    “We have a pretty great representation across all counties and all areas of the state. Of course, we’re still looking to grow that database,” Watson said. “We know that 150 folks is just a drop in the bucket of great farmers in the state of Alabama. We’re still looking for great farmers to join our network and become part of this family.”

    Watson and other Alabama agricultural leaders continue to promote the “buy local” initiative which focuses on consumers supporting farmers in their state. This new website allows consumers to access information relevant to the commodity they’re searching for as well as determine where growers are located.

    “It’s been really tough for consumers to connect with farmers directly up until now. Now consumers have a one-stop shop where they can find all of the local farmers in their area. It may even connect them with farmers who are right down the road,” Watson said.

    “One of my growers told me (the other) week that he had a lady who lived not three miles down the road who didn’t even know he existed. Through Sweet Grown Alabama she was able to connect with him. He said she purchased about $250 worth of his product. To find those local farmers and allow consumers to make those connections with folks right in their neighborhood is an invaluable resource.”

    Variety of Options

    The website is also not limited to traditional fruits and vegetables, either.

    “Not only do we have a great listing of produce growers, but we also have farmers who are producing things like beef and pecans and other non-traditional produce products. It really is a network you can find any product that is grown in Alabama,” Watson said. “We don’t grow everything in the state of Alabama, but we encourage consumers, when they have the option and when it’s in season, to purchase from Alabama farmers first.”

  • Sweet Grown Alabama Director Advocates Buying Local

    Photo submitted by Ellie Watson/Gov. Kay Ivey declared July 22, 2020 as Sweet Grown Alabama (SGA) Day. The proclamation recognizes the state’s new branding program and honors farmers who grow food across the state.

    Ellie Watson, Sweet Grown Alabama Director, believes when consumers support local farmers, it provides them with a source of high-quality produce that helps growers remain sustainable.

    “It’s so important for consumers to support local farmers because not only does that money help the local economy; we know that about 60 cents of every dollar stays in the local community when you support local, so not only do you support your local economy when you buy from local farmers but you are also receiving the highest quality, freshest product available,” Watson said.

    “It’s really important for consumers to continue to support our farmers so they will be sustainable into the future and will be able to provide these high quality, local products to us for years to come.”

    Sweet Grown Alabama Day

    Watson and other industry leaders used Wednesday’s celebration of Sweet Grown Alabama Day to stress the importance of Alabama agriculture and launch the Sweet Grown Alabama’s online searchable database. It connects consumers with sources of locally grown produce which has garnered much interest in the last few months amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    “We have seen an increase in interest for locally-grown products since COVID-19 has hit. We really find that consumers are so much more interested in knowing how their food has been grown and most importantly whose hands have been on their product,” Watson said.

    “When you buy local and shorten your supply chain, you are able to know that the hands that have touched your food are right there local. It really just shortens that supply chain and takes out a lot of risk for disease and other things that we’re all so worried about in these unusual times.”

  • Sweet Grown Alabama Day Produces Sweet Results

    Picture submitted by Ellie Watson/Gov. Kay Ivey declared July 22, 2020 as Sweet Grown Alabama (SGA) Day. The proclaimation recognizes the state’s new branding program and honors farmers who grow food across the state. Gov. Ivey was joined by SWG Director Ellie Watson, Alabama Farmers Federation President Jimmy Parnell, Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, PowerSouth’s Horace Horn, and Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed.

    Sweet Grown Alabama Day will forever be July 22.

    Kay Ivey, Alabama Governor; Rick Pate, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries; and other agriculture leaders and farmers joined forces at the Alabama State Capitol on Wednesday to celebrate the launch of a new online searchable database, which connects Alabama farmers and families.

    The celebration was highlighted by a special farmers market and Gov. Ivey issuing a proclamation that declared July 22, 2020, Sweet Grown Alabama Day.

    “Alabama’s farmers have a significant impact on our great state with over 580,000 Alabamians working in agriculture and related industries,” said Ivey in a press release. “Connecting with local farmers through Sweet Grown Alabama is a great opportunity to show your support for our neighbors and enjoy the wonderful products grown right here at home.”

    Picture submitted by Ellie Watson/Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate speaks during Sweet Grown Alabama Day.

    Membership Database

    Originally launched in September 2019, Sweet Grown Alabama’s online membership database includes more than 150 farmers and businesses that sell Alabama-grown products directly to consumers.

    Nearly 30 vendors and Sweet Grown Alabama members joined the celebration on Wednesday with a farmers market on Bainbridge Street. They sold produce, meat, honey, pecans and other locally produced items.

    “We feel like we had a great morning. We just wanted to serve those farmers and do everything we can to make sure they had a good morning. That was the whole goal,” Sweet Grown Alabama Director Ellie Watson said. “We were glad to have them all in Montgomery today.”

    Industry leaders continue to preach the importance of buying locally grown produce and supporting Alabama farmers.

    “People are asking different kinds of questions about their food. They want more information about where it’s grown; who grew it; how it’s grown. We knew that’s what people wanted,” Pate said. “You don’t talk to anybody that doesn’t say, they want to know that the tomatoes that they’re buying at the grocery stores or the tomato they’re buying at the road-side stands are actually from Alabama.”

    Consumers can go to the Sweet Grown Alabama website and find local farms in their area. It also lists a harvest calendar so consumers can know when specific fruits and vegetables are ready to be picked. Anything from satsumas and watermelons on the fruit side to bell peppers and kale on the vegetable side are listed.

  • Clemson Extension Agents Provide Crop Updates

    Clemson Extension agents provided updates in The South Carolina Grower this week about the status of various crops being produced throughout the state.

    Statewide

    Dr. Matt Cutulle reports, “It is always good to control goosegrass even if it is past the critical period for competition with the crop. Lack of late-season control made hand-harvesting tomatoes difficult. Also, there will be a huge deposit of goosegrass seeds into the soil seed bank for next year unless the seeds are destroyed after the harvest.”

    Coastal

    Wilting of hemp is very common and often sporadic throughout fields. Photo from Zack Snipes

    Zack Snipes reports, “We experienced a nice hot week of weather in the Lowcountry.  Most crops are finishing up with the heat and recent rains.  On later season tomato I have seen bacterial leaf spot on the fruit which makes fruit unmarketable. I am seeing this on the second cluster of fruit set and not on the first or third clusters. Hemp seems to be off to the races and looking pretty good so far. There are within every hemp field occasional wilted, stunted and yellowed plants. These plants always have a weak root system and most of the time have girdling and interveinal discoloration.  Peppers and eggplants are loving this heat and are producing in high volumes.”

    Midlands

    Justin Ballew reports, “Last week was hot and mostly dry, though we did have some scattered thunderstorms come through over the weekend. Field prep for fall crops continues. We’ve had some fall tomatoes, peppers, and brassicas transplanted already and more to come this week. Everything is growing pretty fast right now and we’re still picking spring crops. Keep an eye out for spider mites, as they love the hot, dry weather we’ve had lately.”

    Sarah Scott reports, “We are still ahead of schedule on peach varieties being harvested. Early August Prince and August Prince are being picked now which is over a week earlier than usual. The fruit quality is still good with slightly smaller than ideal fruit. With the extreme heat and lack of rain in the past week, summer crops like tomatoes and cucumbers are looking rough. Bell peppers are doing well.”

    Pee Dee

    Bruce McLean reports, “Sweet potatoes are looking good. Establishment seems to be very good for the most part. Long green cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, peas, okra, and sweet corn are harvesting well. Condition is good to very good. Sweet corn will be wrapping up shortly. Blueberries are pretty much finished, with only a few remaining fruit on Powderblue. Fruit condition is fair to good. Muscadines are coming along nicely and appear to have an excellent crop. Fresh muscadines should be beginning harvest soon, with wine/juice grapes still a few weeks from harvest. Be on the lookout for Grape root borer moths. They are starting to emerge. They were being caught in traps placed in vineyards in Marion and Horry counties.”

    Tony Melton reports, “Harvested first crop of processing peppers. Continuing to pick and plant pickles. Processing greens are over for the spring crop. Harvesting the first crop of processing and seed peas and planting fall crop. Getting processing tomatoes out of the field as quickly as the plant can take them.  Things are drying out, hope we don’t go into drought with the heat.”

    Upstate

    Kerrie Roach reports, “Spotty rain and high temperatures have left many small growers scrambling for irrigation options throughout the Upstate. Peaches and nectarines are still being harvested. Blueberries are just about finished, and farmers’ market produce is starting to wind down with the heat. Apples should begin next week with early varieties like ‘Ginger Gold’  and ‘Golden Supreme’.”

    Andy Rollins reports, “Plenty of early blight, bacterial spot/speck on tomatoes this season, but some of the more troublesome problems have been various tomato virus problems. When diagnosing virus problems it is important to get lab verification because herbicide injury can look very similar when just going by visual symptoms. If you suspect herbicide drift from a neighboring farm. Look for damage to other broadleaf plants in the area in between the suspected source and the damaged plants. Follow the wind direction.  You should have more severe damage on the leading edge. Also, herbicide residual from a previous crop like sunflowers can also give you herbicide damage that you did to yourself. Read and follow all pesticide label directions. There are plant back restrictions on some herbicides so be careful. If this is the case the damage should be fairly consistent/uniform throughout the area that was planted in the other crop.

    Unlike both of these other situations, virus problems may come from your seed source, the greenhouse where plants were grown or from weeds in the field. Pokeweed is commonly a source, as are many other broadleaf weeds. Thrips, aphids, and whiteflies are all known to vector viruses into plants. Symptoms are what you see below with “shoestring” looking leaves, leaves with distorted veins, and mosaic yellow and green coloration. There are many viruses that infect plants. Each of them can show different symptoms and also they can each look different on other plants as well. It’s even possible for a healthy-looking plant with no symptoms to be infected with several viruses.”

  • SE Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference Still Scheduled for January

    It is never too early start thinking about next year’s Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference. In the age of the coronavirus pandemic, industry leaders like Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, must start thinking about an event still several months away.

    “We’re operating on the premise that we’re going to have a show in January in Savannah (Georgia). But we’re looking at, if the outbreak doesn’t calm down, if the requirements are such that we can’t hold the show, we’re looking at what the options are,” Hall said. “We’re just trying to do some preliminary, looking at different ways of doing that and whether we have virtual shows, live presentations. We’re just hoping that things calm down enough that we can have the show and get things going from there.”

    Scheduled for Jan. 7-10

    The conference is slated to be held in Savannah, Georgia on Jan. 7-10. It’s one of the largest events in the Southeast. It attracts 3,200 attendees and 280 companies that have booths to showcase their agricultural products.

    Hall believes a final decision will be made in the fall on whether the conference will be in-person or virtual. A lot will depend on the availability of companies being able to travel for meetings at that point.

    “If some of the national companies make the decision that their employees can’t travel in January, that will begin to affect our decision of whether we do with the conference,” Hall said. “We will have a conference. The real question is, hopefully, we’ll have an in-person conference and not a virtual conference.”

    The other dilemma is if the conference proceeds as normal, how will social distancing guidelines be followed with that many people expected to attend?

    “Right now, if we had that conference in Savannah, you would have to be at a 50-person maximum in a room. I think is what the requirements are, and then they have to be social distancing. Those classrooms have been wall-to-wall people and they’re standing along the sides, you can’t have that many people in a classroom right now,” Hall said.

  • UF/IFAS Extension To Assist in FDACS Project Connecting Food-Insecure Families With Florida-Grown Produce

    By: Kirsten Romaguera, 352-294-3313, kromaguera@ufl.edu

    GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The UF/IFAS Extension Family Nutrition Program (FNP) is among the organizations partnering on a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS)-led grant project to fight food insecurity in several rural Florida communities.

    commissioner
    Nikki Fried
    Florida Agriculture Commissioner

    In a virtual press conference last Thursday, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced the project, funded by a $100,000 Walmart Foundation grant and benefiting selected food banks in Flagler, Highlands, Levy, Putnam, Walton and Palm Beach counties.

    “Despite Florida growing over 300 commodities and enough fresh produce to feed 150 million Americans, nearly 3 million Floridians suffer from food insecurity, including 850,000 children – and this was before the public health and economic crises of COVID-19,” Commissioner Fried said. “We’ve had to get creative to help fight chronic hunger, and that includes public-private partnerships, particularly in rural areas. That’s why we’re so grateful to the Walmart Foundation for their generous support, providing $100,000 to rural food banks and farmers that will help Florida’s families in need. This partnership is a great example of government, the private sector, and nonprofits coming together to serve our neighbors during a crisis.”

    Karla Shelnutt, UF/IFAS Extension state program leader for nutrition and principal investigator of FNP, spoke on the call in her capacity as vice president of the (UF-unaffiliated) Living Healthy in Florida board, which is a direct support organization of FDACS.

    Karla Shelnutt

    “This work aligns perfectly with the Living Healthy in Florida mission,” Shelnutt said. “COVID-19 has resulted in a significant increase in the unemployment rate in Florida, which has led to more and more families visiting food banks and pantries for assistance. Many of these programs have been unable to meet this increase in demand. This grant initiative is going to make a huge impact for several rural food banks and pantries to obtain the infrastructure needed to help meet this demand and increase their capacity to serve.”

    Shelnutt explained that the project merges her roles, as UF/IFAS Extension FNP public health specialists will partner with the recipient food banks to provide a consultation to determine infrastructure and nutrition education needs.

    “The Family Nutrition Program will lend the expertise of our public health specialists to provide one-on-one consultations to each participating organization to help them assess their space and identify ways to not only expand their infrastructure but also to encourage families to make healthier eating choices,” she said. “This work also aligns perfectly with UF/IFAS Extension priorities to increase access to healthy food for all Floridians.”

    Another way the project is accomplishing that access is by connecting Florida-fresh produce to food-insecure families. A nonprofit farmer network, the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Excellence and Conservation (CSAEC), will provide pre-made produce boxes to the selected food banks for distribution to families.

    “Partnering with these food pantries will make a difference in many lives, and we are honored to play a small role in it,” Shelnutt said. She also expressed gratitude to both the Walmart Foundation for supporting the “innovative solution that will help feed hungry Floridians, decrease commodity waste, and increase the operational capacity of rural food banks and pantries,” as well as Commissioner Fried for “her commitment to bringing more awareness to food security issues throughout our state.”

    Find more information on the program in FDACS’s press release at tinyurl.com/y73pdkby. Video of the press conference, courtesy of FDACS, is also available at tinyurl.com/yb3joul4.

  • Picking Varieties With Profit Potential

    citrus expo

    By Gene McAvoy

    Choosing which variety to plant is one of the most critical decisions that a commercial grower must make each season.

    Variety selection is a dynamic process. In the past, some varieties retained favor for many years. More recently, with advances in plant breeding and the incorporation of new and improved traits for disease resistance and other horticultural characteristics, there is a trend for older varieties to be supplanted by newer cultivars after only a few seasons.

    “Profit” may be the only word needed to describe the importance of variety selection. Profit potential depends on selecting varieties suited to the farm and your target market.

    Selecting the proper variety may be an opportunity to expand a market or overcome certain production obstacles.

    Growers would be wise to heed the old saying: “There is nothing more optimistic than a seed catalog.”

    DO YOUR HOMEWORK

    Study and use reliable results from local performance tests, including on-farm trials, other growers’ experience, vegetable and seed trade literature and university studies. Discuss results of university and seed trade variety trials with the people who performed them.

    On-farm trials will help identify varieties that may be potential candidates for production.

    START SMALL

    When trying new varieties, do so on a small-scale basis but make it a fair test by growing them under the same conditions likely to be encountered in the field. Whether the new varieties work or not, the process of testing them will provide valuable information.

    RECORD RESULTS

    “Mental notes” on yield or overall performance are usually not as accurate as actual measurements. Keeping accurate records of yield and other data is important but often overlooked. To gain the most benefit from on-farm trials, results should be recorded and documented.

    With good records, growers can identify which varieties will perform best in which fields in which season (early, mid or late) and other production conditions (e.g., climate, disease and insect pressure).

    TRY SOMETHING NEW

    Following the maxim “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” growers sometimes identify and stick with favorite varieties. This approach is understandable, but it shouldn’t prevent a producer from trying new varieties.

    Production and market forces increasingly demand that growers establish identities in the marketplace, partly through supplying unique, high-quality products. For growers, changes in consumer preferences can dictate adoption of new and unique varieties to distinguish themselves in the market.

    KNOW YOUR MARKET

    Research the market to clarify what is valued and accepted. Growers should know their target market and be prepared to grow what the market dictates. Keep in mind that most markets tend to see yield as the grower’s concern and quality as theirs.

    In evaluating a new cultivar, these important selection factors should be considered:

    • Marketability: The harvested plant product must have characteristics desired by the packer, shipper, wholesaler, retailer and consumer.
    • Maturity needed to match the cropping season, supply the market and reduce the risk of weather-related crop failure
    • High marketable yield potential
    • Dependable resistance to diseases, insects, stress and physiological disorders (e.g., blossom-end rot)

    In pepper, these qualities include pack-out, shelf life, shape (blockiness), number of lobes, color (both mature color and shade of green for immature fruit), size, firmness and pod wall thickness. More recently, some markets are interested in nutritional quality and taste.

    The tomato market seeks many of these same qualities, including color, shape, flavor, firmness, pack-out, shelf life and shipping and ripening characteristics.

    Variety evaluation should be an ongoing process for growers who wish to remain profitable and competitive.

  • Three Georgia Farmers Market Locations Could Be Spared

    UGA picture/Watermelons being researched on the UGA Tifton Campus. 6–6-17

    By Clint Thompson

    The revised budget cut requirements from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget and the State Legislature may have spared the state farmers market locations in Cordele, Thomasville and Savannah.

    Julie McPeake, Georgia Department of Agriculture Chief Communications officer, confirmed that as a result of the budget cut requirement from 14% to 10%, the State Legislature provided funds to support the transition of ownership of the Cordele, Thomasville and Savannah farmers markets to their respective local governments.

    “In May, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) requested that state agencies present a plan to cut 14% of their budgets for fiscal year 2021. The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) operates with a very efficient budget, forcing very difficult decisions to reach the requested budget cuts, including a proposal to close multiple state farmers markets,” McPeake said. “However, following a revision of revenue estimates, OPB and the State Legislature reduced budget cut requirements from 14% to 10%. As a result, the Legislature provided funds to support the transition of ownership of the Cordele, Thomasville, and Savannah farmers markets to local governments effective April 1, 2021.” 

    Impact From Coronavirus Pandemic

    Locations in Augusta, Cordele, Macon, Savannah and Thomasville were on an initial list to be cut. McPeake said the locations in August and Macon are still scheduled to be off the GDA’s books for 2021, but she didn’t have a timeline for any transition.

    It is unfortunately a necessary evil that had to be considered during this recession which is a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

    “With the 14% budget cuts that were requested, you’ve got to make some decisions. Unfortunately, some of those tough decisions require looking at hard numbers. When you have some markets that are having trouble to turn a profit, that’s one of the first places you’ve got to turn to, to save that money,” said Paul Thompson, marketing director for the Georgia Department of Ag, in early June.

    The different farmers market locations vary in what commodities are sold there. In Cordele, the self-proclaimed “Watermelon Capital of the World,” it is known for watermelons and cantaloupes being bought and sold this time of year.

    July 1 began the new fiscal year.

  • UF’s Angle: We need to have a more resilient marketing system

    By Clint Thompson

    A second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is inevitable. Perhaps we are already in it, just a few months ahead of the fall forecasts that most projected would coincide with flu season.

    J. Scott Angle, NIFA portrait, Oct. 31, 2019. USDA Photo by Preston Keres

    But you can pencil in COVID-19 as another challenge farmers will have to face this fall, especially as preparations are already underway for the fall crop which will be planted in a few months.

    Scott Angle, the newly-named vice president for agriculture and natural resources at the University of Florida/IFAS, believes growers can learn a lot from their first bout with this pandemic, which occurred in the midst of fruit and vegetable harvests in March and April.

    “Whether this fall in the next phase or the next pandemic, we better make sure we’re ready. We certainly have learned a lot of lessons. We learned a lot of lessons about how to social distance. I still think we need more research in that area because we don’t have all the answers, but we understand that’s where disease transmission can occur,” Angle said. “We have some ways of protecting workers. Whether or not those are the best methods, I don’t know if anyone knows at this point. Most of our social distancing and protective methods at least on some level are just common sense. We certainly need some research for that.

    “I think we all understand that our economies have to keep running and mostly we just have to keep producing food. We don’t really have a choice, to say we’re going to shut down the farm for a year or two years or until we get a vaccine. We’re going to have find smarter ways to do the things we did last year.”

    One Adjustment

    Angle admits a big adjustment must be how farmers can adjust their marketing strategies when the demand for produce is disrupted. For example, when the coronavirus pandemic struck in mid-March, it forced restaurants to shut down across the country. These are major buyers for farmers in Florida and Georgia. When restaurants were not buying produce, farmers in Florida struggled to find a home for their fruits and vegetables.

    In early April, Paul Allen, president of R.C. Hatton Farms, said he left about 2 million pounds of green beans and about 5 million pounds of cabbage in the field. Florida farmer Kim Jamerson said in late March that her produce business would lose 100% of their production costs, along with packing and shipping costs if things did not improve.  

    “I was on a conference call with some food manufacturers and they were joined by farmers who were saying the exact same thing, when the markets dried up, they had to pivot very quickly and sometimes would be in a matter of days. In fact, some of them said, ‘I just want to donate my food to a food bank or pantry,’ and even that they weren’t able to do very easily,” Angle said. “We need to have a more resilient marketing system that can pivot a lot more quickly.

    “One good example would be, these food pantries need it and need it now more than ever because their needs have gone way up. Could there be an intermediary to step in and pay the farmers and get that food over to the food pantries for these charities?”

    Similar Idea

    Jamerson had a similar idea right after the pandemic became problematic for Florida growers. She reached out to the office of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (Fla.) and spoke to one of his aides about the government helping its farmers by purchasing their crops and distributing the food to its citizens since many are unemployed. Back in March, she had not heard back from Rubio’s office.

  • Nikki Fried: Our Growers Cannot Compete

    Florida Ag Commissioner Makes Comments on USMCA

    commissioner

    By Clint Thompson

    Not every leader in the agricultural community believes the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was the right move for American farmers.

    Even after the USMCA entered into force on Wednesday, Nikki Fried, Florida Ag Commissioner, remained vocal to her opposition to the agreement, mainly due to its impact on specialty crop producers.

    commissioner
    Nikki Fried
    Florida Agriculture Commissioner

    “Florida’s farmers, who have always faced challenges like hurricanes, droughts and so much more, have always been able to be adaptable in the face of all of that adversity. Now, as they face COVID-19 with disruptive supply and market chain which caused major crop losses of over half a billion dollars, they’re also facing increased and unfair foreign competition,” said Fried during a virtual press conference on Thursday. “I’ve been outspoken on this, spoke out against NAFTA and fought against USMCA, which could cost Florida another 8,000 jobs and almost $400 million. For years NAFTA allowed Mexico to tilt the playing field with unfair advantages. Our growers cannot compete like that.”

    New Study

    Fried said the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) sent a new research study to the U.S. Trade Representatives to show how negatively seasonal producers have suffered from unfair trade.

    1. Mexico has expanded its share of US domestic markets by 217% since 2000, while Florida lost market share by 40%.
    2. There has been a 551% increase for seasonal crop imports from Mexico from 2000-2019. An $11 billion gap exists between Mexican Ag exports and Florida’s total Ag value.
    3. Florida producers lost sales of up to 20% due to Mexican Ag export expansion since 2000. This resulted in $3.7 billion in total economic losses in Florida’s economy along with 37,180 lost jobs.

    Florida farmers voiced their displeasure with Mexican imports this year, amid the coronavirus pandemic that already impacted a huge chunk of the market. Blueberry farmer Ryan Atwood said, “he is a fan of having his own domestic supply of food.”

    Florida vegetable farmer Sam Accursio believes the only solution is for “people to vote and get people that are like-minded and want to support our nation in office.”

    Lack of Support

    Fried also expressed her displeasure with fellow Florida leaders for lack of support in opposition to USMCA.

    “Of course, I’m disappointed that we couldn’t get some of the other members of the leadership in the Senate or the House as well as the governor to speak up united on this issue. The agriculture commissioners across the country meet on a pretty normal basis. We had a meeting probably about six months ago where USMCA was brought up. I was the only one who voted no. Because everyone has their own benefits that they’re seeing, the problem is these specialty crops are the ones who have been hit the most,” Fried said. “You’re starting to see it trickle it down (though). Bud (Chiles of Demand American Grown) hosted a meeting, felt like forever ago, last year with growers from Georgia, who are starting to experience it.

    “It’s been hit heaviest by Florida. But now you’re starting to see expanding into Alabama, Georgia and the Southeast and a little bit in California. We were really kind of hopeful that we were going to get some more support on the opposition to USMCA and certainly would have loved some assistance from other statewide leaders. But unfortunately, we did not get them.”

    According to the USMCA press release, the agreement marks the beginning of a historic new chapter for North American trade by supporting more balanced, reciprocal trade, leading to freer markets, fairer trade, and robust economic growth in North America. However, Southeast farmers still will compete against imports of Mexican produce.