By Clint Thompson
Strawberry prices are high right now for Florida growers. But they need to be for producers to keep their collective heads above water.
In an agricultural era marred by soaring input expenses, growers yearn for high market prices to offset historical highs for expenses like diesel and labor.
“Market prices have been higher, but with that being said, they need to be higher based on how all of our input costs are up,” Gary Wishnatzki, owner of Wish Farms in Florida. “The market increase is basically just making up for all of our costs increases at this point. I wouldn’t say it has been a real bonanza for growers at this point. It’s just kind of keeping pace with what we need to keep our heads above water.”
The most concerning expense is labor, especially following the recent announcement that the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for Florida producers would increase to $14.33, up from $12.41 just a year ago. That price jump more than doubles the total U.S. average for AEWR increases and puts Florida facing the largest increase of any area.
It created shockwaves through Florida’s farming community. Growers are trying to grasp the concept of being forced to pay almost $2 more per worker. Wishnatzki estimates they utilize approximately 600 H-2A workers.
“It is shocking and it’s unsustainable where that’s going. The price of the AEWR is not sustainable for growers. We’ve got a situation where it’s very inflationary methodology that they use to calculate it,” he said. “I’ve always thought it was going to catch up, and it is catching up now where it’s just not sustainable anymore. When you take a prior year’s average wage and make that the new minimum wage, how could you expect it not to be inflationary? How do you expect growers and consumers to keep up with this? It’s just a crazy situation.
“I think it’s high time that Congress recognizes the fact that this is no longer what it was meant to be, a deterrent. The whole Adverse Effect Wage reason for being was it was supposed to be a deterrent to using this foreign workforce. But it’s not like we have a choice anymore. It’s not like we can choose between foreign workers and domestic workers because there are no domestic workers. The whole concept is outdated.”