COVID-related challenges don’t dodge Florida growers

Florida growers have not been spared of the string of COVID-19-related disruptions during 2021. No one has. The biggest issues were supply chain clogs, labor and truck shortages, and the costs that come with such shortages.

The latest issue to contend with, inflation, can create shortage of profits and operating capital. But it might not be so unexpected after such great economic shockwaves.

“We are experiencing unprecedented inflation in our input prices across the board,” said Bob Spencer, president at Palmetto, Fla.-based West Coast Tomato.

In the face of such strong economic forces, there are still some bright spots and hope for some semblance of normal. Not all growers have been unscathed, but some have been fortunate to escape one or two of the major disruptions.

“We are fortunate to have enough labor to pick, pack and ship our products,” Spencer said.

Another COVID casualty was the foodservice industry. Spencer blames shutdowns.

“Hopefully, we’ll have no more government shutdowns of restaurants and school cafeterias so we can experience a normal demand for our product,” Spencer said.

Where one company hasn’t had to worry about labor, another has had the greatest trouble with having enough labor. Still, it’s hard to determine which issues are applying the most pressure.

“The most challenging aspects of our business today are lack of employees, increased cost of packing material and increases cost of freight,” said Eddie Caram, general manager at New Limeco LLC. “It’s incredibly challenging.”

To help with the labor shortage, New Limeco offered incentives to new employees to offset the tight labor. As far as freight costs go, Caram said the company is constantly dealing with freight costs. It’s a never-ending chore, he said.