Thank you Gene for forwarding this to me.
Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
Jan. 12, 2017
Millions of pounds of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and other vegetables are being left in South Florida fields to rot. Some farmers are calling it the worst start to the winter vegetable season ever.
This is a bloodbath, a serious bloodbath,” said Tony DiMare, vice president of Homestead-based DiMare Fresh.
So, even as hunger persists, and food banks come out of the holiday season with need, an overwhelming amount of unwanted fresh produce is being left to wither under the sun. Why?
Perfect weather has resulted in a bountiful crop that’s caused a glut on the market and low prices. Demand is down. Winter storms have kept people out of grocery stores and restaurants along the nation’s East Coast where much of Florida’s produce would normally be sold.
Meanwhile, Mexico has become a year-round producer of cheap tomatoes and also experienced ideal growing conditions and huge crops as have Arizona and California. Florida’s agricultural industry is wondering why the much-touted buy-local movement isn’t helping more.
The result: A harsh lesson in agricultural economics.
South Florida vegetable crops have had perfect weather this season resulting in bountiful production. But there’s not enough demand. Prices are low, resulting in farmers leaving some crops in the field. It makes no sense to pick them and lose even more money. No one knows how much produce has gone unpicked, but it’s millions of dollars worth.
Retail prices for celery, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and other vegetables are down by as much as 50 percent compared to a year ago, according to the USDA’s most recent market report. That’s great for consumers, but if prices are too low, farmers can’t cover their costs, make a profit and stay in business.
So, the produce sits in the field.
Belle Glade-based grower Rick Roth, president of Roth Farms, said, “dirt cheap” imports from Mexico, where production costs are lower and regulations are less strict, are playing a big role in the low prices.
“It’s happening all over with the vegetable market in general. There is not really any demand for anything. Everything is cheap and over-supplied,” Roth said.
“We’re doing half our normal volume,” Roth said. “This is probably the worst start we have had to our season. It starts in November, and it has been terrible from the beginning.”
DiMare, whose operations are one of the state’s largest tomato growers, said, “Prices were suppressed, and demand was so poor that product was left in the field. A lot of growers walked away from tomatoes. I don’t know the final tally. We are still in production.”
Farmers were seeing prices for tomatoes drop to $3 to $5 a box, so it made no sense to spend $4 to $4.50 to pick and pack them and lose even more money. A break-even price is about $10 a box. It costs $10,000 to produce an acre of tomatoes.
“The Palmetto-Ruskin area is having its second back-to-back significant crop loss from a market standpoint,” DiMare added. “The spring season was an absolute disaster as well. At the end of the day, you are talking about potentially losing growers. These are multi-generational family operations. Once you lose these operations, that is not coming back.
Gene McAvoy, Hendry County extension director and regional extension agent for Southwest Florida, said he recently saw a 100-acre field of tomatoes in Hendry County that wasn’t going to be harvested. It’s one of many.
McAvoy said a 100-acre field produces over 3 million pounds of tomatoes. He said in some instances, the excess food goes to food banks. Like, in Immokalee last year, farmers donated over 3 million pounds of vegetables, he said. But, as McAvoy explains, sometimes there’s just too much supply. “There’s no way to give it all away.”
The plants have been sprayed with herbicide, then plowed into the ground, to prevent insects and diseases. There’s no way to know how much produce has not been harvested, but some guesstimates place it as high as 50 percent.
Growers are frustrated, McAvoy said, and discouraged when, despite the supposed popularity of the buy-local movement, produce buyers are going for the cheapest price.
Robin Safley, executive director of Feeding Florida, formerly known as the Florida Association of Food Banks, said that in December the group’s 14 food bank members had access to 6 million pounds of produce, but could absorb only 2 million pounds.
“There was an extreme abundance because of the weather,” said Safley, who is looking at ways to increase refrigerated storage capacity and add more mobile distribution directly to consumers from refrigerated trucks.
Stephen Basore, food safety manager and a principal owner at TKM-Bengard Farms in Belle Glade, said the lettuce and leafy greens grower sells everything in advance under a contract at a set price, so it has been protected from the downturn.
However, the farm does grow some extra crop in case there’s a weather impact, with the idea of selling the surplus. This year that surplus has been disked — or plowed under — so far.
Because the weather has been so warm, lettuce has been picked early on the young side before it begins to “bolt” or flower.
Piles of discarded radishes line a field at Roth Farms in Belle Glade, Florida on January 11, 2017. South Florida vegetable crops have had perfect weather this season resulting in bountiful production. But there’s not enough demand. Prices are low, resulting in farmers leaving some crops in the field. It makes no sense to pick them and lose even more money. No one knows how much produce has gone unpicked, but it’s millions of dollars worth. (Allen Eyestone / The Palm Beach Post) Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
“In the last week the weather has cooled down here, so now things are kind of adjusting,” Basore said. “We are hoping the temperatures stay cool. The optimum would be highs in the mid 70s and lows in the 50s. “
The season doesn’t end until May, and some are hopeful that demand and prices will turn around. Prices are creeping up slightly.
Reggie Brown, vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange, said: “We’ve seen yields that have been absolutely spectacular and demand that has been probably typical of the holiday season, which is not real strong for tomatoes.”
Brown believes that the situation is improving.
"It only takes a little bit of oversupply to collapse a market. This year we had a lot of oversupply,” Brown said.
Lisa Lochridge, spokeswoman for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, said, “Market conditions are pretty challenging right now for growers for a number of reasons. It’s been kind of a perfect storm — but in a bad way.
“The thing to keep in mind is that here in Florida, a less-than-desirable market can change in a very short time. So even though things are tough right now, those conditions can shift and improve in a matter of days or weeks. As challenging as they are, growers are used to these kinds of cycles.”
Supermarket prices this week vs. a year ago., per pound
Green cabbage: 54 cents today, $1.03 last year
Carrots: 33 cents today, $1.02 last year
Red leaf lettuce: $1.11 today, $1.53 last year
Romaine lettuce: $1.23 today, $1.73 last year
Green bell peppers: $1.42 today, $1.71 last year
Radishes: $1.03 today, $1.27 last year
Tomatoes: $1.03 today, $2.47 last year
Source: marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/fv-
*Based on average national advertised prices.
Palm Beach County is a major winter vegetable growing area with about 40 growers producing roughly 30 types and varieties of vegetables.
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