Category: Produce Blueprints

With the holidays fast approaching, I thought I would offer my Christmas Wish List for the produce industry. At the core of every “wish” is the hope to increase consumption and sales of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Covid, that major disruptor, gave a shot in the arm to online grocery sales. Various consumer surveys show that approximately half of all U.S. adults shop for groceries online at least sometimes.

Inflation has been at the front of the news for much of this year, and it has affected Americans’ ability to purchase food.

The U.S. produce industry is far from united in its sentiments about imports.

The earlier analysis leads to the third leg of the stool: how imports affect domestic growers and crops.

As a result of labor pressures, California growers are being “forced to look for alternates in automation and mechanization,” says Ian LeMay, president of the California Fresh Fruit Association in Fresno, CA.

As a rule, labor shortages are more acute for seasonal workers than for permanent ones.

The concern about taking jobs away from U.S. workers continues, as shown by the present-day H-2A program. Growers can recruit foreign labor, but they must prove they have attempted, and failed, to secure domestic workers for the requested positions first.

As we explore the future of farming in this online series, I’m replaying in my mind the field tours I’ve done over the past year and a half.

The produce industry has a future. That is certain. Human beings have been eating fresh fruit and vegetables for as long as anyone can tell, and that will continue for as long as anyone can foresee.