May 2019 - 18

FOOD SAFETY
PTI Progress
Enhanced partnerships, new technology advance growth of traceability
By Zeke Jennings
VGN Correspondent
Two E. coli outbreaks involving
romaine lettuce last year has tracking
and traceability at the forefront of the
produce industry once again. While
there is nothing good about E. coli
contamination, the instances do prompt
examination of where traceability
technology and application has come
since the 2006 spinach outbreak
that claimed the lives of four people,
including 2-year-old Kyle Allgood.
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April 2017 | Volume 56 |
Issue 4
200
H-2A workers approved for U.S.
150
11
Tougher pesticide
safety rules are
now in effect
13
App to help
migrant laborers
connect with jobs
14
Growers share pros
and cons of H-2A
program
100
H-2A struggles to keep
up with grower demand
50
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Graphics: U.S. Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification
Following that 2006 outbreak, the
produce industry collectively got
together and said, " We can't let this
happen again. " The Produce Traceability
Initiative (PTI) eventually was created
by the Produce Marketing Association
(PMA), United Fresh Produce
Association and the Canadian Produce
Marketing Association. Barcode
standards organization GS1 eventually
became the fourth organizer of the
voluntary initiative.
As PMA's Vice President of Supply
Chain and Sustainability, Ed Treacy is
one of the authorities on PTI, which
now has dozens of participating
companies. Vegetable Growers News
recently caught up with Treacy to
talk about the state of traceability and
where it's headed.
VGN: What percentage of produce
Photo: Stemilt
By Gary Pullano
Associate Editor
H-2A, the country's agricultural guest-worker
program, continues to grow.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor
(DOL), the number of H-2A workers jumped
from 77,246 to 165,741 between 2011 and 2016.
Since 2001, there's been a 106 percent increase
in H-2A certifications. Certifications in Florida,
North Carolina, Georgia, California, Arizona and
Washington have doubled since 2011, according
to DOL.
In Washington state, H-2A labor certifications topped
15,000 last year, compared to just over 12,000 in 2015,
said Dan Fazio, executive director of wafla (formerly the
Washington Farm Labor Association).
In 2010, Florida employed about 4,500 H-2A
workers. By 2016, that number had risen to more than
22,800, said Michael Carlton, director of labor relations
for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.
The H-2A program is for seasonal workers,
generally for a period of 10 months or less, to
provide farms with short-term agricultural labor
when the number of available domestic workers
is insufficient.
The program has been criticized because it
See DEMAND, page 6
Washington growers focus on top apples
By Gary Pullano
Associate Editor
Several apple growers shared their
strategies for taking product " From Bud
to Bin, " which was the theme of the 60th
annual International Fruit Tree Association
conference in Wenatchee, Washington,
Feb. 19-23.
The conference was structured with
two days of orchard tours, two days of
educational sessions and a ton of networking
in between. Emphasis was placed on trends
and planning what to plant, how to prepare
and how to grow high-value varieties.
Production systems were a focus, and crop
load balance - including how to target fruit
and optimum return - were discussed.
Knowing when to harvest upon crop
maturity also was explored.
In the first day of tours, Jake
Robison, a fourth-generation grower at
Robison Orchards in Chelan, said he's
part of a transition plan to take over
the business, focusing the 125-acre
operation on identifying high-value
varieties in order to remain profitable.
Robison outlined the succession planning
that started on the family farm four years
ago. It's anticipated it will take seven years to
complete the process.
It's all about using high-value varieties
to avoid having to compete with larger
growers on lower-value selections. The
operation is located on sloping hills, unlike
flatter ground to which larger growers
likely have access, he said.
" What's good for the business is good for
the business, " Robison said. " The higher the
value, the better. We're always looking for
the next big thing that would make us a
lot of money. "
Harvesting 3,600 bins of apples in
2016, the effort came with 30 percent of
the orchard under renovation and out of
production, said Robison, who topworked
a Scifresh (Jazz) block.
See APPLES, page 8
shipped has PTI-compliant barcoded
labels?
ET: Where we're at with
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18 | VegetableGrowersNews.com
implementing PTI is there is around
60 to 65 percent of all cases in the
U.S. supply chain that are labeled with
barcoded PTI-compliant labels. We've
done a good job on the supply side.
We're not there yet - and I'll never rest
until we're at 100 percent - but we are
getting some good traction. This is a
voluntary initiative. We have learned
from the last two romaine outbreaks
and there has been a lot of industry
collaboration with the CDC and the
FDA using the romaine issues in saying
'OK, we're still not there, we still need
to do a better job of connecting the
dots and being able to identify the
source quicker.'
" I don't care if you're
shipping to a
small convenience
store, a one-store
grocery chain or to
Walmart - everybody
growing and packaging
fresh produce should be
doing it properly from
a safety perspective. "
− Ed Treacy, PMA's vice
president of supply chain and
sustainability
VGN: What have been the major
developments?
ET: You've probably seen clips of
Frank Yiannas (formerly) of Walmart
talking about blockchain and what
they're doing with IBM. ... Even with
PTI in place, he still felt it was taking
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May 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2019
