By Clint Thompson
Ryan Atwood may be one blueberry farmer in Florida, but he speaks for many Southeast specialty crop growers who believe change needed to be made to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). That change could be on the way.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer issued a statement on July 1 that indicated the United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form.
Much of the U.S.’s discontent centers on trade disadvantages with the two countries, especially Mexico. Atwood can empathize. The influx of imports from Mexico could threaten the long-term sustainability of producers, especially in Florida and Georgia.
“If you look at a number of fruit and vegetable crops over the years, you can see the negative impact, particularly on Florida and Georgia, right? And in terms of winter vegetable crops, in terms of, blueberries, strawberries, it’s all labor,” Atwood said. “They have a much cheaper labor rate. It’s a big part of it. And so much of what we do is labor, in terms of cost.”
Potential Tweak
Atwood hopes some kind of cap can be placed on the amount of blueberries coming out of Mexico. He calms concerns that would have a negative effect on prices consumers are forced to pay.
“You know, people say, ‘Oh, well, that’ll increase the cost of blueberries to the US consumer.’ And it’s like, well, no, because what will happen is, Florida, for instance, could support three or four times the amount of acres that we currently have if Mexico didn’t have that fruit in our marketplace, right? It’s all coming to the U.S. markets,” Atwood said. “It’s our markets that the whole world wants, you know? So why wouldn’t we benefit from giving it to our people? It would support jobs through CPAs, lawyers, ad chemical distributors.
“I mean, there’s all kinds of things that it would roll through our communities here locally in a positive, beneficial way if we had that production here at home. So yeah, I’m all for it. I think it’s good for our country.”
Greer indicated the “United States will continue to engage with Mexico and Canada to address the Agreement’s shortcomings and our trade deficits with these countries.”
The Agreement remains in force pending resolution of those issues or until its termination. The U.S. will meet with Mexico during the week of July 20 for bilateral negotiations related to the USMCA joint review.