Import competition, pandemic pose some problems for Florida fall produce

Florida’s fall crops may be safe from a devastating hurricane this year, although it’s been a pretty wet planting season with a pandemic that never seems to end and growing competition from imports.

A major hurricane has never made landfall in Florida after Oct. 25, according to meteorologist Ryan Truchelut in the Tallahassee Democrat.

Yet some growers have had trouble stringing together multiple days without rain, said Lisa Lochridge, director of public affairs for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.

“That has held up the planting timeline in some areas of South Florida, particularly in the muck soil regions.

Producers farming on the sandier soils are on schedule with their planting,” Lochridge said. 

“It depends on the crop, but there should be no issues with harvest or shipping of crops from Florida this season.” 

The start of the season for a few crops may be light due to delayed plantings, but they’ll pick up quickly in the coming weeks, she said. 

Sweet corn, leafy greens, peppers and other fall-winter crops should begin shipping in mid-November. Light volumes of strawberries may begin in early November. 

There was some concern that volumes would be lighter from producers scaling back because of COVID-19 pandemic concerns, but by mid-October, Lochridge hadn’t heard of anyone pulling back operations.

“Florida’s wide variety of products in a relatively tight geographic area is a great advantage to wholesalers, distributors, brokers and retailers, besides being in full swing in fall and winter when most of the rest of the U.S. is dormant,” said Mindy Lee, bureau chief for Fresh From Florida, part of the marketing division of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Concerns remain about the growing competition from imports, particularly Mexico, said G.T. Parris, commodity manager at Seald Sweet/Greenyard, Vero Beach, Fla., the marketing agent for Hunt Bros. Citrus. 

“No doubt that Mexico has recently become more of an issue with domestic citrus,” Irastorza said. “They produce good fruit at cheaper pricing and it’s a problem at times trying to compete.”

Some companies handle the competition by sourcing from those same countries or establishing a farm there, to offset the pricing difference.

Lipman Family Farms, Immokalee, Fla., grows vegetables and tomatoes in Florida’s open fields but also in greenhouses in Nebraska, Canada and Mexico, said Toby Purse, chief farming officer.

Still, “the Florida climate is historically conducive to producing high quality and consistently good produce through the fall and winter months,” Purse said.

The fight continues between many growers in Florida, Georgia and California and Mexican-produce importers gaining a rising share, however.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce unveiled a plan in September to remedy the situation.

“The plan will launch the first — but not the last — steps needed to solve this longstanding and growing threat to the produce industry in Florida and elsewhere,” Lochridge said. “The unfair trading practices and harm to our industry require a timely, effective and lasting solution.”

Strawberries

In November 2019, Florida’s strawberries were just getting started, shipping 2.2 million pounds compared with California’s 69.5 million pounds, according to the USDA Marketing Service’s 2019 commodity shipment report.

But Florida pulled through to shine in December with 31.6 million pounds as California started its dip with 20.5 million.

Mexico, however, shipped 19.3 million pounds into the U.S. in November and 44.7 million pounds in December.

Wish Farms, Plant City, Fla., expected to complete its strawberry planting by the end of October and start harvesting the early crop near November’s end, said Nick Wishnatzki, marketing project manager.

“We have received great plants, as well as experienced ideal planting and field prep conditions,” Wishnatzki said. “We will begin the ramp-up in December, which leads nicely into the holidays.”

The Sweet Sensation variety will be the dominant variety for the coming season, he said.

Corn

Florida has little, if any, domestic competition for its sweet corn crop in the fall and winter. 

The USDA Marketing Service listed that 24.5 million pounds of corn were shipped from Florida in November 2019, compared to 3.7 million pounds from Southern California and 8.4 million pounds from Georgia — the only other two states that ship corn in November. 

In 2019, Florida was the only state shipping corn in December and earlier in the year, January through March.

As far as imports, Mexico shipped 7.4 million pounds of corn in November 2019, then surpassing Florida in December, with 19.3 million pounds compared to Florida’s 17.8 million.

In early November 2019, sweet corn from central and southern Florida started at about $9.50 for cartons/crates of 4 or 4½ dozen but rose to about $31 for the same amount by December, fluctuating wildly in the winter months, from $8-21.

With locations in Belle Glade, Fla., Bainbridge, Ga., and Vittoria, Ontario, Scotlynn Sweet Pac Growers continues to offer sweet corn in bulk crates, cartons and reusable plastic containers and a Sweet Pac label of tray-pack sweet corn in both the 12 four-pack and the 12 five-pack sizes.

This year, Georgia’s crop was dealt a blow by the weather, said J.D. Poole, vice president and co-owner. 

“Challenging to say the least: Very adverse weather conditions brought on by nearby hurricanes created very poor yields and marginal product,” he said.

Demand was already high but the reduced yields created a major supply shortage, which ran prices up.

Cucumbers

Florida is also a big cucumber state. For the fall-winter seasons, they start trickling into the market in August, get going in September and peak in November, according to the USDA Marketing Service’s 2019 commodity shipment report.

In November 2019, the state shipped 21.3 million pounds of cucumbers, which is 2.5 times more than the only other state growing enough commercially to be listed — Georgia at 7.4 million pounds. 

In December, Florida was the only state in the U.S. shipping cucumbers.

However, Mexico shipped 95 million pounds of cucumbers into the U.S. in November 2019, more than four times as many as Florida did. 

Citrus

Seald Sweet International/Greenyard USA markets fruit for Hunt Bros. Citrus, handling Florida grapefruit, oranges and tangerines with a packing house in Lake Wales.

A lack of major storms during the growing season has helped field workers stick to the usual plan, Parris said.

“We have been lucky. October in Florida always brings rainstorms, so it may cause you to miss a day or two of harvesting,” he said.

He expects a slight dip in volume compared to last year in oranges and grapefruit, yet the early quality looks “very promising.”

The USDA forecast the 2020-21 Florida orange crop — 96% of which is processed for juice — to be down 15% from last season.

And Florida’s grapefruit production, 40% of which is sold fresh, is estimated to drop by 7.3% compared with last season, according to the USDA. 

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