U.S. lawmakers and state agriculture officials are voicing their support for U.S. blueberry growers days before the Feb. 11 vote by the International Trade Commission to determine whether the domestic blueberry industry has been seriously injured, or is threatened with serious injury, by the influx of blueberry imports.
The American Blueberry Growers Alliance cited support for U.S. blueberry growers from a coalition of officials, including Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., according to a news release.
“Conducting this investigation is important to assess the full scope of the impact of these imports on domestic producers,” Stabenow and Peters said in a co-signed letter. “It is vital to maintain a domestic blueberry industry in the U.S. so that American families are not dependent on foreign imports for our food supply.”
In a letter submitted to the ITC on Feb. 5, the release said the National Farmers Union reported growers’ operating returns fell 32.4% between 2015 and 2019 because of rising imports. “The significant surge of low-priced blueberry imports in the last several years, coupled with the timing of these imports during U.S. harvesting periods, has had a devastating effect on U.S. blueberry growers, processors, and the rural communities where they live and work,” Rob Larew, president of NFU, said in the letter. “The concerns of farmers whose markets are negative impacted by imports – and the data that supports those claims – must be taken seriously.”
The alliance said in the release that the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, Georgia Farm Bureau and Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association also sent letters to the ITC in support of U.S. blueberry growers.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Nicole Fried said U.S. blueberry growers need support.
“Year after year, our farmers prove resilient in the face of great challenges,” Fried said in the release. “While we can’t stop pandemics or natural disasters, this is one challenge the ITC can take on. America’s growers are the best in the world, and the ITC can help them succeed by providing a level playing field for our producers to compete.”
In December, the alliance said it received support from a bipartisan coalition of 32 members of Congress in a letter urging the ITC to make an affirmative determination in the case.
The alliance said blueberry imports have surged by 62% since 2015, with imports increasingly arriving during U.S. harvesting windows.
