West Coast growers don't back Florida in fight with Mexico over tomatoes

[Judi Lynn]

Source: McClatchy


By Stuart Leavenworth, McClatchy Washington Bureau
Published: August 13, 2018Updated: August 13, 2018 at 10:27 AM

McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Florida and Mexico are having a food fight over tomatoes and other fresh produce. Will farmers in California and Washington get caught in the crossfire?

That’s one question that swirls around the final negotiations between the Trump administration and Mexico on a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement. Growers of tomatoes, strawberries and peppers in Florida and the Southeast say they’ve been hammered by cheap imports of these crops from Mexico, particularly during winter months. They’ve lobbied the Trump administration to make it easier for them to bring "anti-dumping" and "countervailing duty" cases against Mexico in an updated NAFTA agreement.

But growers on the West Coast fear such a provision would prompt Mexico to retaliate, making it harder for them to sell south of the border. Mexico is the United States’ No. 1 market for apples, pears and sweet cherries. Washington state is the nation’s No. 1 producer of all three of these fruits. California is also a major producer, and the nation’s No. 1 cultivator of tomatoes.

"There’s not a consensus view among growers in the U.S. on this issue," said Michael C. Camunez, chief executive of Monarch Global Strategies and a former assistant Commerce secretary. If Florida and Georgia growers were allowed to go after Mexico, he said, "it would open the door toward retaliation against other products from the United States."



Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/agriculture/West-Coast-growers-don-t-back-Florida-in-fight-with-Mexico-over-tomatoes_170852414

[Mr.Bill]

1. Well, if something would

help a red state and harm a blue state, it's a no-brainer what Trump would do.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

2. Everyone is going into protectionist mode these days.

Free market believers until it affects them.

They should consider sitting down and hammering out some trade agreements......

Trade wars are not good for consumers......

[Farmer-Rick]

11. And "free" trade agreement are not good for workers.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

12. A very fragile balancing act, requiring level-headed diplomacy and...

give and take. I assume these problem areas would normally be negotiated through a NAFTA settlement process, and that they are quite common and seasonal.

Skills totally unavailable with grifter Drumph's administration......

[Amaryllis]

14. Bull in a china shop. Bulls don't do balancing acts. Tightrope walkers do. Obama could be a

tightrope walker. And John Kerry. (thinking of IRan deal.) And many others.

[katmondoo]

3. The best tomatoes come from Canada

I always look for the location when I buy a tomato

[Spartacus101]

4. Nearly All Whole Tomatoes From Mexico in SoCal

...or so says the produce manager at the supermarket...

I think it's important for a country to be able to feed it's own population from within it's own borders, in a pinch...otherwise, fair trade should be the plan.

More on Tomatoes:

A decade ago, there were a handful of tomato growers in San Diego County, but now West Coast is the lone survivor, Bernardi said.

“The land has become too valuable for homes and other things,” Bernardi said, “and the increase in Baja production has changed the landscape.”

https://www.thepacker.com/article/baja-california-tomato-production-expected-increase

[thucythucy]

13. "...it's important for a coumtry to be able to feed it's own population

from within its own borders."

Which is why the European Union, particularly France and Germany, have put a number of trade policies into place to protect their own farmers.

Of course Trump and his supporters rail and while against those policies, not understanding (or not caring to understand) why a continent that has, in living memory, experienced famine and near famine would adopt such policies.

[NutmegYankee]

5. Considering that Florida Tomatoes are tasteless red balls of Sh#t..

It would be in our national interest to have them go under. Whatever variety they have locked onto is simply awful.

[katmondoo]

6. You are so right, I live in Florida and never ever buy Florida tomatoes

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. I've had many good Florida tomatoes

Granted they’ve all been grown in my own backyard and not the product of exploiting immigrant labor, but still...

[NutmegYankee]

16. You're probably growing varieties that have taste.

The state farmers have created a tomato that tastes like cardboard packaging.

I'm an heirloom fan myself. Harvested this 1.5lb joy today.

[paleotn]

18. Yep...

For the most part they're bush type varieties that are picked green, travel and store well and look pretty in the supermarket. Actual taste is barely a consideration, if at all. Most folks today have no idea what a real tomato tastes like.

[turbinetree]

7. Hey Florida have you by chance taken a look at your west coast

its called a "red tide" for reason...............and your state is going to lose millions, just maybe you should get your pollution under control first.....................and besides I have eaten your fruit................I will stick to California and Washington..................

[DonCoquixote]

10. not the oranges

California oranges are dry and bitter. All the same, it woudl be nice to actually have a cohesive national policy,,m wait, they call that nafta. Plus, there is nothing stopping Tropicana from investing in mexico whereby mexico and the US would benefit.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. Yep.

Hate to say it, but California citrus is a joke. Citrus benefits from a moist climate.

[hunter]

9. It's many of the same people on both sides of the California-Mexico border.

Lots of formal and informal relationships -- labor, management, and corporate.

Florida might as well be another country.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

17. Trump will declare Florida tomatoes crucial to national security....

Therefore subject to protections to help his buddy Scott..... ......

After all, those are served at Mar-A-Lago's Secret Service private kitchen, thereby critical to the nation's security......

[ROB-ROX]

19. THEY WILL UNLEASH THE IDIOT MONKEY

The Florida people do not know when they are SCREWED. I did not know they had any agriculture worth sending to others. California has it's tomatoes which are sent out as different canned products. I think when tRUMP gets involved everyone will get SCREWED and monkey boy will be HATED..........