January 2019 - 4

EDITOR'S LETTER
Fruit
Expressing accountability
If more consumers of specialty crop
products understood how hard farm
operators strive to provide responsible
labor practices and sustainable approaches,
there would not be a reason to hold a
panel discussion on the topic at a major
agriculture labor conference.
It's a big " if, " and that's why the
discussion was had on a late November
afternoon in Las Vegas as the National
Council of Agricultural Employers
hosted such a session at its fifth annual Ag
Employer Forum.
Growers
News.com
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Congress approves farm bill full of specialty
crop support
Gary Pullano
Managing Editor
The panel followed a presentation by United Fresh Produce
Association President and CEO Tom Stenzel, who outlined progress
being made by the formation of the Ethical Charter on Responsible
Labor Practices that was introduced this fall by United Fresh and the
Produce Marketing Association.
As Stenzel indicated, the topic is being driven in response to social
accountability questions being raised by consumers, retailers and a
growing number of groups such as the Equitable Food Initiative, which
may or may not have the best interests of the farm community in mind in
the long run.
A primarily positive message, that can be told by progressive
companies throughout the specialty crops' industry, dots the farm
employment landscape. Problem No. 1, as emphasized by the ag labor
panel: Those stories aren't being told to the audiences that matter
nearly as frequently as they should.
The panel was represented by several respected grower representatives,
including John Erb, vice president of social and environmental impact for
Driscoll's in Watsonville, California.
" More and more what we see in the social/environmental area is that
people are more interested in utilitarian and functional aspects of fruit.
What's the face behind the food? Where it's coming from becomes very
personal, especially with social media. When we're attacked, things go to
value. Brand risk is very evident to us. It became a business mandate to
provide value on the farm to the workers, while we kind of disregarded
the market-facing side of it. We have to build this whole muscle now.
We're not as good as what we thought we were. Not as many checks were
in place as we needed. "
Tracy Duda Chapman, senior vice president, chief legal and
administrative officer of A. Duda & Sons, said " those of us who do business
with big retailers are feeling that pressure. They have already been
demanding the accountability of our labor practices - social responsibility.
It's become a question of how to report and audit that. When we started
getting our labor force through H-2A, we had already been providing
medical benefits in Florida. Our employees and our workforce are part of
our family.
" We've always taken pride in that we've always been reasonable for
what we do for workforce, " Duda Chapman said. " We as a company have
very strong values. We annually report on that through a living values
report card that touches on labor, sustainability. How do we expand that
to capture better metrics and audit the entire social accountability piece? "
There is work to do on the farm and beyond. The fortunes of the
industry are likely at stake.
Congress sent to President Donald Trump a
farm bill full of support for specialty crop
growers.
Are you spraying your cherry trees enough?
Trial results indicated that coverage on
cherries facing the air-blast sprayer was
highest in all zones when compared to
sides parallel to the spray plume.
French fresh storage company opens US
headquarters
JMT US, the U.S. subsidiary of Frenchbased
company Janny MT, said new U.S.
operations for the company are to be
based in Lansing, Michigan.
Updates to hard cider style guidelines
released
The United States Association of Cider
Makers has released an update to its Cider
Style Guide, first introduced in summer of
2017.
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January 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2019
