The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, based in Nogales, AZ, is one of the oldest trade groups dedicated to the flow of trade between the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. The group held its 50th Produce Convention & Golf Tournament this year in November.
Back in 1944, the FPAA was known as the West Mexico Vegetable Distributions Association and was comprised of importers looking for a way to address the complexity of trade. Many of the shippers experienced problems at the border, dealing with railroads, ensuring fair arrival and payment terms, and more.
“In some ways, the industry hasn’t evolved that much because we still deal with some of the same issues,” says FPAA’s executive director, Lance Jungmeyer. “But, essentially, we’re here to offer a common voice for problems that are too big for any company to handle on its own.”
There are also any number of 21st Century challenges like dealing with food safety and traceability, working with customs officials, government policy, and legislation. Jungmeyer points to the group’s effort to create unified cargo processing, in which Mexican customs inspectors cross to the United States and conduct a simultaneous inspection alongside their U.S. counterparts.
Not only does this streamline the process, but also reduces the inefficiency of double inspections at the border. If inspectors from either country find anything amiss, the load is sent on to a secondary inspection.
“So far about 10 to 20 percent of fresh produce is being inspected in this manner, but we want to see a rate of 100 percent,” Jungmeyer says. “It’s a great example of coming up with a creative solution to a problem.”
While the FPAA’s efforts focus largely on advocating for produce imports from Mexico, its members do business with growers and operations in both Central and South America. Shipping in bond, for example, has gained popularity due to the proliferation of distribution facilities and warehouses in Nogales.
In this instance, produce may be unloaded in a port in Mexico and transported to the border (in this case, Nogales) without going through customs. It’s like a transit pass that allows shipments to clear customs on the U.S. side.
And trade continues to expand farther south than Mexico as more U.S. and Canadian companies seeking year-round supply are sourcing from growers in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and to Chile, Peru, and beyond. This, of course, means more competition for Mexico, and different processes from paperwork to food safety protocols.
“This kind of competition encourages companies to find ways to innovate, to find economies of scale, to improve pack styles and packing grades, and to be even more conscious of their customers, and consumers,” Jungmeyer says. “Companies take their best practices from Mexico and apply them to operations in Latin America, and vice versa. These competitive factors make them better.”
More often than not, growers looking to get started exporting to the United States or Canada go the traditional route by establishing relationships with companies that already have an existing customer base. According to Jungmeyer, an association like FPAA can play a matchmaking role by providing a forum for people to come together.
“This year at our 50th convention, for example, with importers, growers, seed companies, supermarkets, and others coming to Nogales — where they can shake hands and work out their business.”
Looking ahead, Jungmeyer plans to redouble efforts at reducing the time it takes to get produce across the border and improving relationships with government agencies.
“Trade is a positive thing. It creates many jobs and brings in money,” he says. “Five years from now, if we’re making sure state and federal agencies are hearing the same message from us, then we’ll be doing our job.”
This is an excerpt from the most recent Produce Blueprints quarterly journal. Click here to read the full article.
