#and not just retail and migrant farmwork

[afc-agitprop]

Really wish LibreOffice had like an official app bc I've been editing my resume on a tablet and it's taking fooorreeveerr

[robertreich]

The Covid-19 Class Divide

The pandemic is putting America’s deepening class divide into stark relief. Four classes are emerging.

The Remotes: These are professional, managerial, and technical workers – an estimated 35 percent of the workforce -- who are putting in long hours at their laptops, Zooming into conferences, scanning electronic documents, and collecting about the same pay as before the crisis.

Many are bored or anxious, but they’re well off compared to the three other classes.

The Essentials. They’re about 30 percent of workers, including nurses, homecare and childcare workers, group home workers, farm workers, food processors, truck drivers, warehouse and transit workers, drug store employees, sanitation workers, police officers, fire fighters, and the military.

Too many essentials lack adequate protective gear, paid sick leave, health insurance, and childcare, which is especially important now that schools are shuttered. They also deserve hazard pay.

Their vulnerability is generating a wave of worker activism at businesses such as Instacart, Amazon, Walmart, and Whole Foods. Mass-transit workers are organizing work stoppages.

Trump’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the legal authority to require private employers provide essential workers with protective gear. Don’t hold your breath.

The Unpaid. They’re an even larger group that the unemployed -- whose ranks could soon reach 25 percent, the same as in the Great Depression. Some of the unpaid are furloughed or have used up their paid leave. So far in this crisis, 43 percent of adults report they or someone in their household has lost jobs or pay, according to the Pew Research Center.

An estimated 9.2 million have lost their employer-provided health insurance.

Many of these jobs had been in personal services that can’t be done remotely, such as retail, restaurant, and hospitality work. But as consumers rein in spending, layoffs are spreading to news organizations, tech companies, consumer-goods manufacturers.  

The unpaid most need cash to feed their families and pay the rent. Fewer than half say they have enough emergency funds to cover three months of expenses, according to a survey conducted this month Pew.

So far, government has failed them, too. Checks mailed out by the Treasury last week are a pittance. Extra benefits could help, but unemployment offices are so overwhelmed with claims that they can’t get money out the door. Loans to small businesses have gone largely to big, well-connected businesses, with banks collecting fat fees.

On Wednesday, Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he opposed to any further federal aid to state and local governments, suggesting states declare bankruptcy instead. Which means even less money for unemployment insurance, Medicaid, and everything else the unpaid need.

The resulting desperation is fueling demands to “reopen the economy” long before it’s safe. If it comes down to a choice between risking one’s health and putting food on the table, many will take latter.

The Forgotten. This group includes everyone for whom social distancing is nearly impossible because they’re packed tightly into places most Americans don’t see – prisons, jails for undocumented immigrants, group homes for the severely disabled, camps for migrant farmworkers, Native American reservations, homeless shelters, and nursing homes.

While much of New York City is sheltering at home, for example, more than 17,000 men and women, many already in poor health, are sleeping in roughly 100 shelters for single adults.

All such places are becoming hot spots for the virus. These people need safe spaces with proper medical care, adequate social distancing, testing for the virus and isolation of those who have contracted it. Few are getting any of this.

Not surprisingly, the Essentials, the Unpaid, and the Forgotten are disproportionately poor, black, and Latino. And they are disproportionately becoming infected.

An Associated Press breakdown of available state and local data showed close to 33 percent of coronavirus deaths so far are African-American, despite representing only 14 percent of the total population in areas surveyed. The Navajo Nation already has lost more to coronavirus than have 13 states. Four of the 10 largest-known sources of infection in the United States have been correctional facilities.

These three groups aren’t getting what they need to survive this crisis because they don’t have lobbyists and political action committees to do their bidding in Washington or state capitals.  

The Remotes among us should be concerned, and not just because of the unfairness of the Covid-19 class divide. If the Essentials aren’t sufficiently protected, the Unpaid are forced back to work earlier than is safe, and the Forgotten remain forgotten, no one can be secure. Covid-19 will continue to spread sickness and death for months, if not years to come.

[garudabluffs]

During the 2020 election cycle, the food industry spent $175m on political contributions, including lobbying by PACs and individuals and other efforts.

"About two-thirds went to Republicans."

Investigation shows scale of big food corporations' market dominance and political power

"Until the 1990s, most people shopped in local or regional grocery stores. Now, just four companies – Walmart, Costco, Kroger and Ahold Delhaize – control 65% of the retail market."

"Walmart and McDonald's are among the top employers of beneficiaries of food stamps and Medicaid, according to a 2020 study by a non-partisan government watchdog."

"Between 50% and 75% of the country’s 2.5 million farmworkers are undocumented migrants who have few labor rights and limited access to occupational healthcare."

"Despite the community, environmental and economic benefits of supporting local sustainable producers, transporting food is a very small contributor to greenhouse gases: it’s really what you eat, not where it comes, from that’s key to reducing your dietary carbon footprint."

READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/jul/14/food-monopoly-meals-profits-data-investigation?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[paullassiterca]

The Bitter Price of Tropical Fruits

Sweet, healthy and delicious, and inexpensive to boot, pineapples are one of the world’s most desired fruits. On average, the world eats more than 26,000 tons of pineapples each year.1

But hidden beneath their low-price tag lies an industry riddled with heavy pesticide use, water pollution, deforestation and the exploitation of farmworkers, who are forced to work in risky conditions and for low wages. The dark side of the pineapple industry is rooted in Costa Rica, the world leader in pineapple production, producing more than 6.4 million pounds each year.2

The featured film, “The Bitter Price of Tropical Fruits,” produced by Arne Lorenz and Petra Pommerenke, explores the true cost of Costa Rica’s pineapple production, revealing how large-scale producers use pesticides and cheap labor to maximize their profits.

The film begins in the early morning hours of a wholesale market in Hamburg, Germany, where pineapple and other exotic fruits from around the world, including melons, bananas, mangos and oranges, make their way into the country. Germany is one of the largest consumers of pineapple in the EU, importing more than 150,000 tons each year, the majority of which comes from Costa Rica, according to the film.

The pineapple and banana trade are inextricably linked. The same handful of multinational companies controls both markets. These companies include Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita and Fyffes. Prices are kept low by the monopoly and the power held by supermarkets. In Germany, consumers pay just €1 to €3 ($1.15 to $3.44) per pineapple, regardless of the brand.

Four Major Chains Control 85 Percent of Germany’s Food Sales

In Germany, the largest purchasers of exotic fruits are supermarkets and discount chains, which sell more than 90 percent of the nation’s imported goods. The buying power held by these retailers makes them important players in the global food trade, as well as the global pineapple trade. This power allows supermarkets in Germany to dictate market prices.

This theory is supported by Franziska Humbert of the international charity Oxfam International, who helped conduct a study on growing pineapples in Costa Rica. She says that small suppliers are blocked by big retailers from selling their goods on the German market.

“That’s the eye of a needle that all of the goods have to get through, and it means the supermarket chains have a lot of power,” said Humbert. “They can set prices and returns to their suppliers.”

The supermarkets’ power has grave consequences for the producers in their home countries. That’s the message Jorge Mora, president of the Central American Regional Association for Water and the Environment (ARCA) in Costa Rica, wants to convey. According to Mora:

“The pineapples in Costa Rica have been produced with many problems. They are using a lot of pesticides that are contaminating the water supply systems of many communities. They are cutting many natural forests to plant pineapple. Also, they have very bad conditions for the workers in the plantations. It’s important the German public know the reality of what is happening in Costa Rica.”

Who Profits From Pineapple Production?

The film breaks down the economics of pineapple production, illustrating who earns what. Supermarkets and discount chains profit the most, pocketing nearly 43 percent of the total profits involved in pineapple production. Producers, often the major international fruit companies such as Dole and Chiquita, come in second, earning about 25 percent of the proceeds. Farmworkers earn less than 10 percent.

Can consumers buy pineapple with a clear conscience? The film heads to Costa Rica to find out. A dream destination for many tourists from the U.S. and Europe, Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforest-dense country with untouched beaches that stretch for miles along the coastline of the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.

Costa Rica’s rich flora and biodiverse rainforests make it a model country for ecology. Costa Rica is doing well economically, too, as it’s one of the richest countries in Central America. Agriculture is the backbone of Costa Rica’s wealth. Its tropical climate is ideal for growing many different kinds of tropical fruit, which can be grown all year-round.

Pineapple is one of Costa Rica’s most valuable crops. More than 43,000 hectares of land are devoted to growing pineapple in Costa Rica. The industry employs 32,000 people and exports 2 million tons of the fruit — worth about $1 billion — each year.3

Bittersweet

While the world enjoys an insatiable taste for pineapple, small farmers in Costa Rica are suffering. The growing demand for pineapple is creating conflicts between producers and traditional farmers and livestock owners, who are increasingly marginalized by large plantations run by international companies.

Jorge Castro is one of those farmers. Castro has lived and farmed in the area for 35 years. Today, he must cross endless pineapple plantations just to get to his land. He’s one of the few farmers left who has not sold out to the pineapple companies. But living alongside pineapple plantations isn’t easy.

Castro says a bloodsucking fly drawn in by the harvest waste from pineapple production is killing his cattle. The flies cause a lot of stress when they bite the cattle, he says. This causes them to produce less milk and can even stop them from reproducing.

Castro’s neighbor has lost 15 animals to the flies, and nothing is being done about it, despite making local officials aware of the problem. “The scales have tipped in favor of big business,” he says.

Pineapple Farming Is Polluting Costa Rica’s Water

Flies are the least of their worries in El Milano, Costa Rica, where toxic agrochemicals used to grow pineapple are polluting the water supplies of many communities. The pesticide pollution is so bad that the groundwater is deemed unusable for decades, according to the film.

Locals are forced to rely on state-supplied drinking water that’s dropped off twice a week by tank trucks alongside the road at distribution sites. Every sip of water that doesn’t come from a tank truck poses a health risk, particularly to children.

The film shows El Milano resident Xinia Briceno as she carries state-supplied water into her home. This is the woman’s job, she says. But it’s too hard for some women, who, as a result, use the polluted water and sometimes end up with health problems. “We can’t say for sure it’s the chemicals, but there are lots of miscarriages,” says Briceno.

Despite Costa Rica’s small geographical size and eco-friendly image, it uses more pesticides than any other nation in the world. Costa Rica applies 18.2 kilograms [kg] of pesticides per hectare, whereas the U.S. uses about 2.5 kg per hectare.4 It also has the longest list of approved agrochemicals, according to the film, and while its lagoons and wetlands are protected, pesticide contamination in the water remains a huge problem.

In certain areas of Costa Rica, the groundwater is contaminated with Bromacil, a weedkiller commonly used on pineapple and other citrus crops. Bromacil, which works by interfering with photosynthesis, is considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be a possible human carcinogen.

Animal studies show dogs fed Bromacil experienced vomiting, watering of the mouth and muscular weakness, and sheep died after being fed 250 milligrams/kg doses of the weedkiller over a period of four days.5

The Costa Rican Water and Sanitation Institute (AyA) is the authority responsible for supplying El Milano with clean water. Yamileth Astorga, president of AyA, admits that intensive pineapple farming is a big problem in Costa Rica, as it’s forcing more and more towns to give up their water sources. Unfortunately, there’s no sign of change in the near future.

The largest pineapple plantations are located near the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Many of the people who work on the plantations are illegal workers brought into the country from across the border by a subcontractor that passes them on to the producers as cheap labor.

The migrant workers often earn less than the national minimum wage and are forced to work daily in conditions that expose them to toxic agrochemicals. One farmworker interviewed in the film, who asked to remain anonymous, said that workers normally get bonuses when working with toxic chemicals. But he has never received such a bonus.

Costa Rica’s Pineapple Industry Influences Politics

The film crew tried to get the other side of the story from the operators of pineapple plantations, but no one wanted to speak on camera. The Costa Rican Association of Pineapple Producers (CANAPEP) wouldn’t comment, either.

When the film crew showed up for their scheduled interview, they were met with hostility and told not to film the building or its sign. Once inside, the film crew realized they were the ones being recorded. Cameras were set up around the room, recording footage that was being streamed to an unknown location.

CANAPEP criticized the film crew for speaking with employee representatives, and for meeting with Jorge Mora. When the situation threatened to escalate, the film crew stopped the interview. A few days later, CANAPEP published a scathing press release complaining about their one-sided reporting.

The reach of the conventional pineapple industry extends to the world of politics, too. Costa Rica’s former Minister of Agriculture, Luis Felipe Arauz Cavallini, wrote a letter to his ambassador to Germany asking him to exert influence with a TV station and to prevent negative reporting about Costa Rica’s agriculture.

Arauz Cavallini wrote, “I appeal to you to get your offices to sort out and correct this matter with the television station prior to the publication of this documentary.” Critical reporting on workers’ rights and the environmental conditions on pineapple plantations is not wanted, notes the film.

But Costa Rica does have alternatives to conventional pineapple cultivation and its poverty wages and heavy pesticide use. The film shows a plantation surrounded by rainforests that’s trying to use organic farming practices. Pesticides aren’t used on this plantation and the workers are from surrounding villages.

Organic Pineapple Farming

Organic pineapple production can be costly and time-consuming, as the sweet fruit has a lot of natural predators. The film interviews Freddy Gamboa, an organic farmer who says weeding requires the most work.

It rains a lot here, which is good for pineapples, but good for weeds, too, he says. Since herbicides are prohibited in organic farming, Gamboa’s plantation uses plastic sheets to suppress weed growth. Removing the plastic post-harvest proves difficult, but without it, there would be no organic pineapple farming, he says. Despite the hardships, Gamboa believes in organic farming:

“We need a change in attitude across the whole chain. From the producers to the supermarkets and to the buyers. We all have to change for that to be possible.”

Only 1 percent of pineapple exports to Europe are organic, according to the film. A recent scandal involving fake organic pineapple exported from Costa Rica to the U.S. did not bode well for the industry’s reputation.

American consumers reportedly paid premium prices for more than $6 million in pineapples that were falsely sold as organic. Lawmakers in Costa Rica have accused two certifiers, one in California and the other in Germany, of labeling pineapples “organic” that were farmed with toxic chemicals. Business Insider reports:6

“The two certifiers criticized in the legislators’ report — PrimusLabs, of California, and Kiwa BCS Oko-Garantie GmbH, of Germany — approved production of Costa Rican pineapples allegedly grown with chemicals forbidden in organics.

The congressional committee found that Primus violated USDA regulations by certifying farms run by Del Valle Verde Corp. while the company’s processing plant was suspended by Costa Rica for organic production. Lawmakers concluded that Valle Verde’s pineapple operations did not meet organic standards.”

Using Permaculture to Grow Pineapples

The majority of pineapples grown in Costa Rica are cultivated on land that was once rainforest. Even organic pineapple farming can be problematic, as it entails a monoculture that requires land at the expense of the rainforest. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The film features Manuel Mittelhammer, a forester and licensed assessor who checks and verifies sustainable and organic crop cultivation on behalf of various organizations. His specialty is permaculture. Permaculture involves the growing of various food crops in the forest, which is their natural environment.

The film shows Mittelhammer inspecting a permaculture operation where cacao, papayas, bananas, pineapple and other crops are grown together. This creates an ecosystem in which each variety benefits the other — this is the original, natural setting for pineapples.

Here, the ground is green and biodiversity is high. The pineapples are vigorous and strong. It’s clear that chemicals haven’t been used here in years, says Mittlehammer, a good indicator, he adds.

In a permaculture operation, nature regulates almost everything without chemicals or plastic. However, the producers in the rainforest can’t keep up with the pressure of prices put on them by supermarkets. Their returns would be too low and the product much too expensive to supply the European market. Mittlehammer says:

“The pressure on prices comes about because of the huge buyers, and also, our big supermarket chains are among the biggest produce purchasers in Costa Rica. They dictate the price which gives producers a level of certainty.

They say, ‘I’ll buy your product for years to come for this price, and you have to supply us.’ This pressure on prices, that producers get, is passed on to workers. They employ illegal workers who don’t have social or health insurance.”

Pesticides in Pineapples

The film concludes by revealing the results of a water sample taken from the edge of a Piña Fruit pineapple plantation. It tests positive for a cocktail of toxic pesticides, including three that are linked to cancer, and are banned in Europe. When confronted with the results, Grupa Acon, the operator of the Piña Fruit plantation, denies using the pesticides.

Test results for Piña Fruit pineapples purchased in Germany show only traces of pesticides, but the crown of the pineapple is a different story. Test results show the pineapple’s crown is contaminated with diazinon, a dangerous insecticide absorbed by the skin that can damage human DNA and possibly cause cancer.

The lab technician warns consumers to handle the crown with caution, and to rinse your knife, so as to not contaminate the fruit. Diazinon insecticide is banned in the EU. While testing found that the chemical didn’t exceed allowable limits in the fruit, the same cannot be said for the pineapple’s stud.

The maximum levels for the fungicide fludioxonil in the fruit and husk were massively increased in 2015 when the manufacturer pushed to make the allowable limit 700 times higher, according to the film. The EU attributes the decision to easing trade barriers, but for consumers, it means eating pineapple that just a few years ago would have been classified as hazardous waste.

In the end, it’s up to consumers to decide if they’re willing to pay more for organic pineapple. Consumer demand has the potential to incentivize supermarkets to apply pressure to producers to maintain social and environmental standards. But in order to achieve that, consumers will have to pay fair prices, and inspections must be enforced to uphold the standards on farms.

from Articles http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/12/29/who-profits-from-pineapple-production.aspx source https://niapurenaturecom.tumblr.com/post/181510493641

[jerrytackettca]

The Bitter Price of Tropical Fruits

Sweet, healthy and delicious, and inexpensive to boot, pineapples are one of the world's most desired fruits. On average, the world eats more than 26,000 tons of pineapples each year.1

But hidden beneath their low-price tag lies an industry riddled with heavy pesticide use, water pollution, deforestation and the exploitation of farmworkers, who are forced to work in risky conditions and for low wages. The dark side of the pineapple industry is rooted in Costa Rica, the world leader in pineapple production, producing more than 6.4 million pounds each year.2

The featured film, "The Bitter Price of Tropical Fruits," produced by Arne Lorenz and Petra Pommerenke, explores the true cost of Costa Rica's pineapple production, revealing how large-scale producers use pesticides and cheap labor to maximize their profits.

The film begins in the early morning hours of a wholesale market in Hamburg, Germany, where pineapple and other exotic fruits from around the world, including melons, bananas, mangos and oranges, make their way into the country. Germany is one of the largest consumers of pineapple in the EU, importing more than 150,000 tons each year, the majority of which comes from Costa Rica, according to the film.

The pineapple and banana trade are inextricably linked. The same handful of multinational companies controls both markets. These companies include Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita and Fyffes. Prices are kept low by the monopoly and the power held by supermarkets. In Germany, consumers pay just €1 to €3 ($1.15 to $3.44) per pineapple, regardless of the brand.

Four Major Chains Control 85 Percent of Germany's Food Sales

In Germany, the largest purchasers of exotic fruits are supermarkets and discount chains, which sell more than 90 percent of the nation's imported goods. The buying power held by these retailers makes them important players in the global food trade, as well as the global pineapple trade. This power allows supermarkets in Germany to dictate market prices.

This theory is supported by Franziska Humbert of the international charity Oxfam International, who helped conduct a study on growing pineapples in Costa Rica. She says that small suppliers are blocked by big retailers from selling their goods on the German market.

"That's the eye of a needle that all of the goods have to get through, and it means the supermarket chains have a lot of power," said Humbert. "They can set prices and returns to their suppliers."

The supermarkets' power has grave consequences for the producers in their home countries. That's the message Jorge Mora, president of the Central American Regional Association for Water and the Environment (ARCA) in Costa Rica, wants to convey. According to Mora:

"The pineapples in Costa Rica have been produced with many problems. They are using a lot of pesticides that are contaminating the water supply systems of many communities. They are cutting many natural forests to plant pineapple. Also, they have very bad conditions for the workers in the plantations. It's important the German public know the reality of what is happening in Costa Rica."

Who Profits From Pineapple Production?

The film breaks down the economics of pineapple production, illustrating who earns what. Supermarkets and discount chains profit the most, pocketing nearly 43 percent of the total profits involved in pineapple production. Producers, often the major international fruit companies such as Dole and Chiquita, come in second, earning about 25 percent of the proceeds. Farmworkers earn less than 10 percent.

Can consumers buy pineapple with a clear conscience? The film heads to Costa Rica to find out. A dream destination for many tourists from the U.S. and Europe, Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforest-dense country with untouched beaches that stretch for miles along the coastline of the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.

Costa Rica's rich flora and biodiverse rainforests make it a model country for ecology. Costa Rica is doing well economically, too, as it's one of the richest countries in Central America. Agriculture is the backbone of Costa Rica's wealth. Its tropical climate is ideal for growing many different kinds of tropical fruit, which can be grown all year-round.

Pineapple is one of Costa Rica's most valuable crops. More than 43,000 hectares of land are devoted to growing pineapple in Costa Rica. The industry employs 32,000 people and exports 2 million tons of the fruit — worth about $1 billion — each year.3

Bittersweet

While the world enjoys an insatiable taste for pineapple, small farmers in Costa Rica are suffering. The growing demand for pineapple is creating conflicts between producers and traditional farmers and livestock owners, who are increasingly marginalized by large plantations run by international companies.

Jorge Castro is one of those farmers. Castro has lived and farmed in the area for 35 years. Today, he must cross endless pineapple plantations just to get to his land. He's one of the few farmers left who has not sold out to the pineapple companies. But living alongside pineapple plantations isn't easy.

Castro says a bloodsucking fly drawn in by the harvest waste from pineapple production is killing his cattle. The flies cause a lot of stress when they bite the cattle, he says. This causes them to produce less milk and can even stop them from reproducing.

Castro's neighbor has lost 15 animals to the flies, and nothing is being done about it, despite making local officials aware of the problem. "The scales have tipped in favor of big business," he says.

Pineapple Farming Is Polluting Costa Rica's Water

Flies are the least of their worries in El Milano, Costa Rica, where toxic agrochemicals used to grow pineapple are polluting the water supplies of many communities. The pesticide pollution is so bad that the groundwater is deemed unusable for decades, according to the film.

Locals are forced to rely on state-supplied drinking water that's dropped off twice a week by tank trucks alongside the road at distribution sites. Every sip of water that doesn't come from a tank truck poses a health risk, particularly to children.

The film shows El Milano resident Xinia Briceno as she carries state-supplied water into her home. This is the woman's job, she says. But it's too hard for some women, who, as a result, use the polluted water and sometimes end up with health problems. "We can't say for sure it's the chemicals, but there are lots of miscarriages," says Briceno.

Despite Costa Rica's small geographical size and eco-friendly image, it uses more pesticides than any other nation in the world. Costa Rica applies 18.2 kilograms [kg] of pesticides per hectare, whereas the U.S. uses about 2.5 kg per hectare.4 It also has the longest list of approved agrochemicals, according to the film, and while its lagoons and wetlands are protected, pesticide contamination in the water remains a huge problem.

In certain areas of Costa Rica, the groundwater is contaminated with Bromacil, a weedkiller commonly used on pineapple and other citrus crops. Bromacil, which works by interfering with photosynthesis, is considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be a possible human carcinogen.

Animal studies show dogs fed Bromacil experienced vomiting, watering of the mouth and muscular weakness, and sheep died after being fed 250 milligrams/kg doses of the weedkiller over a period of four days.5

The Costa Rican Water and Sanitation Institute (AyA) is the authority responsible for supplying El Milano with clean water. Yamileth Astorga, president of AyA, admits that intensive pineapple farming is a big problem in Costa Rica, as it's forcing more and more towns to give up their water sources. Unfortunately, there's no sign of change in the near future.

The largest pineapple plantations are located near the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Many of the people who work on the plantations are illegal workers brought into the country from across the border by a subcontractor that passes them on to the producers as cheap labor.

The migrant workers often earn less than the national minimum wage and are forced to work daily in conditions that expose them to toxic agrochemicals. One farmworker interviewed in the film, who asked to remain anonymous, said that workers normally get bonuses when working with toxic chemicals. But he has never received such a bonus.

Costa Rica's Pineapple Industry Influences Politics

The film crew tried to get the other side of the story from the operators of pineapple plantations, but no one wanted to speak on camera. The Costa Rican Association of Pineapple Producers (CANAPEP) wouldn't comment, either.

When the film crew showed up for their scheduled interview, they were met with hostility and told not to film the building or its sign. Once inside, the film crew realized they were the ones being recorded. Cameras were set up around the room, recording footage that was being streamed to an unknown location.

CANAPEP criticized the film crew for speaking with employee representatives, and for meeting with Jorge Mora. When the situation threatened to escalate, the film crew stopped the interview. A few days later, CANAPEP published a scathing press release complaining about their one-sided reporting.

The reach of the conventional pineapple industry extends to the world of politics, too. Costa Rica's former Minister of Agriculture, Luis Felipe Arauz Cavallini, wrote a letter to his ambassador to Germany asking him to exert influence with a TV station and to prevent negative reporting about Costa Rica's agriculture.

Arauz Cavallini wrote, "I appeal to you to get your offices to sort out and correct this matter with the television station prior to the publication of this documentary." Critical reporting on workers' rights and the environmental conditions on pineapple plantations is not wanted, notes the film.

But Costa Rica does have alternatives to conventional pineapple cultivation and its poverty wages and heavy pesticide use. The film shows a plantation surrounded by rainforests that's trying to use organic farming practices. Pesticides aren't used on this plantation and the workers are from surrounding villages.

Organic Pineapple Farming

Organic pineapple production can be costly and time-consuming, as the sweet fruit has a lot of natural predators. The film interviews Freddy Gamboa, an organic farmer who says weeding requires the most work.

It rains a lot here, which is good for pineapples, but good for weeds, too, he says. Since herbicides are prohibited in organic farming, Gamboa's plantation uses plastic sheets to suppress weed growth. Removing the plastic post-harvest proves difficult, but without it, there would be no organic pineapple farming, he says. Despite the hardships, Gamboa believes in organic farming:

"We need a change in attitude across the whole chain. From the producers to the supermarkets and to the buyers. We all have to change for that to be possible."

Only 1 percent of pineapple exports to Europe are organic, according to the film. A recent scandal involving fake organic pineapple exported from Costa Rica to the U.S. did not bode well for the industry's reputation.

American consumers reportedly paid premium prices for more than $6 million in pineapples that were falsely sold as organic. Lawmakers in Costa Rica have accused two certifiers, one in California and the other in Germany, of labeling pineapples "organic" that were farmed with toxic chemicals. Business Insider reports:6

"The two certifiers criticized in the legislators' report — PrimusLabs, of California, and Kiwa BCS Oko-Garantie GmbH, of Germany — approved production of Costa Rican pineapples allegedly grown with chemicals forbidden in organics.

The congressional committee found that Primus violated USDA regulations by certifying farms run by Del Valle Verde Corp. while the company's processing plant was suspended by Costa Rica for organic production. Lawmakers concluded that Valle Verde's pineapple operations did not meet organic standards."

Using Permaculture to Grow Pineapples

The majority of pineapples grown in Costa Rica are cultivated on land that was once rainforest. Even organic pineapple farming can be problematic, as it entails a monoculture that requires land at the expense of the rainforest. But it doesn't have to be this way.

The film features Manuel Mittelhammer, a forester and licensed assessor who checks and verifies sustainable and organic crop cultivation on behalf of various organizations. His specialty is permaculture. Permaculture involves the growing of various food crops in the forest, which is their natural environment.

The film shows Mittelhammer inspecting a permaculture operation where cacao, papayas, bananas, pineapple and other crops are grown together. This creates an ecosystem in which each variety benefits the other — this is the original, natural setting for pineapples.

Here, the ground is green and biodiversity is high. The pineapples are vigorous and strong. It's clear that chemicals haven't been used here in years, says Mittlehammer, a good indicator, he adds.

In a permaculture operation, nature regulates almost everything without chemicals or plastic. However, the producers in the rainforest can't keep up with the pressure of prices put on them by supermarkets. Their returns would be too low and the product much too expensive to supply the European market. Mittlehammer says:

"The pressure on prices comes about because of the huge buyers, and also, our big supermarket chains are among the biggest produce purchasers in Costa Rica. They dictate the price which gives producers a level of certainty.

They say, 'I'll buy your product for years to come for this price, and you have to supply us.' This pressure on prices, that producers get, is passed on to workers. They employ illegal workers who don't have social or health insurance."

Pesticides in Pineapples

The film concludes by revealing the results of a water sample taken from the edge of a Piña Fruit pineapple plantation. It tests positive for a cocktail of toxic pesticides, including three that are linked to cancer, and are banned in Europe. When confronted with the results, Grupa Acon, the operator of the Piña Fruit plantation, denies using the pesticides.

Test results for Piña Fruit pineapples purchased in Germany show only traces of pesticides, but the crown of the pineapple is a different story. Test results show the pineapple's crown is contaminated with diazinon, a dangerous insecticide absorbed by the skin that can damage human DNA and possibly cause cancer.

The lab technician warns consumers to handle the crown with caution, and to rinse your knife, so as to not contaminate the fruit. Diazinon insecticide is banned in the EU. While testing found that the chemical didn't exceed allowable limits in the fruit, the same cannot be said for the pineapple's stud.

The maximum levels for the fungicide fludioxonil in the fruit and husk were massively increased in 2015 when the manufacturer pushed to make the allowable limit 700 times higher, according to the film. The EU attributes the decision to easing trade barriers, but for consumers, it means eating pineapple that just a few years ago would have been classified as hazardous waste.

In the end, it's up to consumers to decide if they're willing to pay more for organic pineapple. Consumer demand has the potential to incentivize supermarkets to apply pressure to producers to maintain social and environmental standards. But in order to achieve that, consumers will have to pay fair prices, and inspections must be enforced to uphold the standards on farms.

from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/12/29/who-profits-from-pineapple-production.aspx

source http://niapurenaturecom.weebly.com/blog/the-bitter-price-of-tropical-fruits

[mavwrekmarketing]

When President Donald Trump was elected last fall, it was with an apparent majority of the nations farmers behind him.

But now, three weeks since Trumps inauguration, some of those farmers appear to be having second thoughts.

Dairy farmers and fruit and vegetable growers, both of whom rely heavily on an immigrant workforce to harvest their goods, are expressing fears that Trumps promise to up immigration enforcement and build a border wall with Mexico could eliminate much of its workforce.

Commodity farmers are also concerned that a 20-percent import tax on Mexican goods an idea the Trump administration has floated could hobble their businesses.

Many agriculture industry groups are similarly dismayedby plans to jettison both the Trans-Pacific Partnership and North American Free Trade Agreement.

Of course, the impact of these proposed actions wont stop at the farm. If they are carried out, American eaters as well as the environment could bear that brunt as well. Heres how:

Higher Food Prices At The Grocery Store

If stepped-up immigration enforcement efforts target farmworkers, sectors of the farming industry that rely on immigrant workers will be affected the most.

Between 50 and 70 percent of the nations farmworkers working for fresh produce growers and dairy farms are undocumented. If these sectors lose a significant amount of their existing immigrant workforce, they will need to raise wages to attract replacement workers and attracting themwould be no easy task.

Farm groups have repeatedly emphasized that U.S.-born workers have shown little interestin the grueling work and the industry already says its facing a severe labor shortage due to the previous administrations crackdown on undocumented immigrants. As a result, farmworker wages have been rising with demand in recent years, though their pay still averages about $12 an hour.

Additional farm labor costs would likely be passed on to consumers.

A 2015 report commissioned by the National Milk Producers Federationand produced by Texas A&M University researchers found that a total loss of the industrys immigrant workforce would result in a 90-percent surge in retail milk prices. Factoring in the current national average retail price of milk, that means a gallon of conventional milk would cost $5.42 and a gallon of organic milkwould cost $9.38 under such a scenario.

We know that nobody wants to pay $8 for a gallon of milk and certainly nobody wants a food product like milk to come from foreign countries, Jaime Castaneda, NMPF senior vice president in strategic initiatives and trade policy, told The Huffington Post. We need to find a balance here.

Additional research has shown that a similar price increase, linked to reduced output, would likely happen with labor-intensive food products like fruits, vegetables and tree nuts.

A 2012 report from U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers found that if 5.8 million undocumented farmworkers left the industry, the result would be less output, fewer exports and increased wages costs, again, to be passed on to consumers. Similarly, an analysis commissioned by the American Farm Bureau Foundation found that the exit of immigrant farmworkers could increasefood prices by an average of 5 to 6 percent.

Such increases could hit low-income households whichalready struggle to afford fresh fruits and vegetables particularly hard, especially if accompanied by rumored cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Reduced Availability Of Some Foods Not Just Avocados

If a Mexican import tax coupled with NAFTA and TPP disruptions spurs a trade war, certain imported fresh produce items could not only become pricier, but also tougher to find altogether, at least temporarily.

Mexico is the leading exporter of fresh produce to the U.S., according to the USDA. In addition to avocados, the U.S. also imports hundreds of thousands of tons of Mexican produce like limes, mangoes, grapes, pineapples, papayas and strawberries each year.

Kathy Means, vice president of industry relations at the Produce Marketing Association, a trade group, admitted that the administrations trade proposals are a concern for the group, though she added that produce supplies always fluctuate due to many factors like extreme weather or a crop disease and that the industry is used to adapting.

Were watching this very closely, Means told HuffPost. Could it have an impact? Absolutely it could. But its more complex than it may appear on the surface.

Looking beyond produce from Mexico, a trade war could also threaten the nations entirely imported coffee and cocoa supply, as well as its mostly imported seafood supply. And such a scenario would also affect U.S. farmers who depend onexports like wheat, soybeans, rice and corn.

Credit: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images

Without the fresh fruits and vegetables the U.S. imports from Mexico, our produce sections at grocery and convenience stores could look very different.

Increased Food Waste On Farms

A heightened farm labor crisis could also mean more crops left in the fields to rot, hurting farmers bottom lines in addition to releasing climate change-accelerating methane into the atmosphere.

This is a concern for Joshua Morgenthau, owner and operator of Fishkill Farms, a small-scale farm and apple orchard located in Hopewell Junction, New York.

Morgenthau regularly places job advertisements aimed at interested applicants of all backgrounds, including U.S.-born workers. But, like many farm employers, he says he rarely receives any responses. Domestic workers, he says, simply dont appear to be willing to do this work.

In order to get his crops harvested, he hires eight seasonal migrant workers who obtain visas through the U.S. Department of Labors H-2A program each year.

He would like to see an expanded H-2A program and a path to a legal status for migrant farmworkers in good standing. If that doesnt happen, he fears Trumps immigration plans could be a disaster.

Crops will go unharvested because of the shortfall of qualified labor, Morgenthau told HuffPost. Our food will rot in the fields and the price of local produce will skyrocket.

Credit: Karl Gehring/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Migrant laborers picking tomatoes on the Hanagan farm outside Swink in the Arkansas Valley. An estimated 50-70 percent of the nation’s farmworkers are undocumented.

We Will Lose The Food Security We Have In This Country

Amid reports that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already made nearly 700 arrests of undocumented immigrants last week, immigrant farmworkers are facing heightened stress, though there have been no reports thus far of any immigration raids targeting farms.

Bruce Goldstein, president of the Farmworker Justice advocacy group, told HuffPost reports of those raids sent a strong message to farmworkers and their families as well as their employers.

They are living in fear of deportation and having their families split up. They dont know what to do, Goldstein said. They are living under great stress.

Like Morgenthau, Goldstein believes the solution to the problem includes a pathway to a legal status for immigrant farmworkers. He also believes farmworker deportations would cripple the U.S. food system.

This could have a devastating effect on the sector, Goldstein said. Agriculture businesses will not be able to produce food and there will be food shortages. We will lose the food security we have in this country.

Mass Deportation Is Not A Solution

Whatever actions on farm policy the Trump administration ultimately follows through on, Barbara Patterson, government relations director at the National Farmers Union, hopes care will be taken to not make a situation thats already difficult for family farmers even worse.

As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, farming incomes are on the decline, causing many farmers to struggle, sliding into debt or even shutting down their operations altogether. Some in the industry fear that a wave of farm closures not seen since the 1980s may not be far behind.

Patterson believes Trumps planned approach to immigration if it comes to the agriculture sector wont help matters.

Folks in rural America wanted change. I think that much is clear, Patterson said. But farm country is hurting right now and we need to be very careful about how we move forward on issues like trade and immigration. Mass deportation is not a solution for U.S. agriculture.

– – –

Joseph Erbentraut covers promising innovations and challenges in the areas of food, water, agriculture and our climate. Follow Erbentraut on Twitter at @robojojo. Tips? Email joseph.erbentraut@huffingtonpost.com.

Read more: http://ift.tt/2lXQZaa

    The post Farmers Supported Trump. His Proposals Have Them Thinking Again appeared first on MavWrek Marketing by Jason

http://ift.tt/2lXJ6Bt

[ongames]

Farmers Supported Trump. His Proposals Have Them Thinking Again

When President Donald Trump was elected last fall, it was with an apparent majority of the nation’s farmers behind him.

But now, three weeks since Trump’s inauguration, some of those farmers appear to be having second thoughts.

Dairy farmers and fruit and vegetable growers, both of whom rely heavily on an immigrant workforce to harvest their goods, are expressing fears that Trump’s promise to up immigration enforcement and build a border wall with Mexico could eliminate much of its workforce.

Commodity farmers are also concerned that a 20-percent import tax on Mexican goods ― an idea the Trump administration has floated ― could hobble their businesses. 

Many agriculture industry groups are similarly dismayed by plans to jettison both the Trans-Pacific Partnership and North American Free Trade Agreement.

Of course, the impact of these proposed actions won’t stop at the farm. If they are carried out, American eaters — as well as the environment — could bear that brunt as well. Here’s how:

Higher Food Prices At The Grocery Store

If stepped-up immigration enforcement efforts target farmworkers, sectors of the farming industry that rely on immigrant workers will be affected the most.

Between 50 and 70 percent of the nation’s farmworkers working for fresh produce growers and dairy farms are undocumented. If these sectors lose a significant amount of their existing immigrant workforce, they will need to raise wages to attract replacement workers ― and attracting them would be no easy task.

Farm groups have repeatedly emphasized that U.S.-born workers have shown little interest in the grueling work and the industry already says it’s facing a severe labor shortage due to the previous administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. As a result, farmworker wages have been rising with demand in recent years, though their pay still averages about $12 an hour.

Additional farm labor costs would likely be passed on to consumers.

A 2015 report commissioned by the National Milk Producers Federation and produced by Texas A&M University researchers found that a total loss of the industry’s immigrant workforce would result in a 90-percent surge in retail milk prices. Factoring in the current national average retail price of milk, that means a gallon of conventional milk would cost $5.42 and a gallon of organic milk would cost $9.38 under such a scenario.

“We know that nobody wants to pay $8 for a gallon of milk and certainly nobody wants a food product like milk to come from foreign countries,” Jaime Castaneda, NMPF senior vice president in strategic initiatives and trade policy, told The Huffington Post. “We need to find a balance here.”

Additional research has shown that a similar price increase, linked to reduced output, would likely happen with labor-intensive food products like fruits, vegetables and tree nuts.

A 2012 report from U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers found that if 5.8 million undocumented farmworkers left the industry, the result would be less output, fewer exports and increased wages ― costs, again, to be passed on to consumers. Similarly, an analysis commissioned by the American Farm Bureau Foundation found that the exit of immigrant farmworkers could increase food prices by an average of 5 to 6 percent.

Such increases could hit low-income households ― which already struggle to afford fresh fruits and vegetables ― particularly hard, especially if accompanied by rumored cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

Reduced Availability Of Some Foods — Not Just Avocados

If a Mexican import tax coupled with NAFTA and TPP disruptions spurs a trade war, certain imported fresh produce items could not only become pricier, but also tougher to find altogether, at least temporarily.

Mexico is the leading exporter of fresh produce to the U.S., according to the USDA. In addition to avocados, the U.S. also imports hundreds of thousands of tons of Mexican produce — like limes, mangoes, grapes, pineapples, papayas and strawberries — each year.

Kathy Means, vice president of industry relations at the Produce Marketing Association, a trade group, admitted that the administration’s trade proposals are a concern for the group, though she added that produce supplies always fluctuate due to many factors — like extreme weather or a crop disease — and that the industry is used to adapting.

“We’re watching this very closely,” Means told HuffPost. “Could it have an impact? Absolutely it could. But it’s more complex than it may appear on the surface.”

Looking beyond produce from Mexico, a trade war could also threaten the nation’s entirely imported coffee and cocoa supply, as well as its mostly imported seafood supply. And such a scenario would also affect U.S. farmers who depend on exports like wheat, soybeans, rice and corn.

Increased Food Waste On Farms

A heightened farm labor crisis could also mean more crops left in the fields to rot, hurting farmers’ bottom lines in addition to releasing climate change-accelerating methane into the atmosphere.

This is a concern for Joshua Morgenthau, owner and operator of Fishkill Farms, a small-scale farm and apple orchard located in Hopewell Junction, New York.

Morgenthau regularly places job advertisements aimed at interested applicants of all backgrounds, including U.S.-born workers. But, like many farm employers, he says he rarely receives any responses. Domestic workers, he says, simply don’t appear to be willing to do this work.

In order to get his crops harvested, he hires eight seasonal migrant workers who obtain visas through the U.S. Department of Labor’s H-2A program each year.

He would like to see an expanded H-2A program and a path to a legal status for migrant farmworkers in good standing. If that doesn’t happen, he fears Trump’s immigration plans could be a disaster.

“Crops will go unharvested because of the shortfall of qualified labor,” Morgenthau told HuffPost. “Our food will rot in the fields and the price of local produce will skyrocket.”

‘We Will Lose The Food Security We Have In This Country’

Amid reports that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already made nearly 700 arrests of undocumented immigrants last week, immigrant farmworkers are facing heightened stress, though there have been no reports thus far of any immigration raids targeting farms. 

Bruce Goldstein, president of the Farmworker Justice advocacy group, told HuffPost reports of those raids sent “a strong message” to farmworkers and their families — as well as their employers.

“They are living in fear of deportation and having their families split up. They don’t know what to do,” Goldstein said. “They are living under great stress.”

Like Morgenthau, Goldstein believes the solution to the problem includes a pathway to a legal status for immigrant farmworkers. He also believes farmworker deportations would cripple the U.S. food system. 

“This could have a devastating effect on the sector,” Goldstein said. “Agriculture businesses will not be able to produce food and there will be food shortages. We will lose the food security we have in this country.”

‘Mass Deportation Is Not A Solution’

Whatever actions on farm policy the Trump administration ultimately follows through on, Barbara Patterson, government relations director at the National Farmers Union, hopes care will be taken to not make a situation that’s already difficult for family farmers even worse.

As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, farming incomes are on the decline, causing many farmers to struggle, sliding into debt or even shutting down their operations altogether. Some in the industry fear that a wave of farm closures not seen since the 1980s may not be far behind.

Patterson believes Trump’s planned approach to immigration ― if it comes to the agriculture sector ― won’t help matters.

“Folks in rural America wanted change. I think that much is clear,” Patterson said. “But farm country is hurting right now and we need to be very careful about how we move forward on issues like trade and immigration. Mass deportation is not a solution for U.S. agriculture.”

- - -

Joseph Erbentraut covers promising innovations and challenges in the areas of food, water, agriculture and our climate. Follow Erbentraut on Twitter at @robojojo. Tips? Email joseph.erbentraut@huffingtonpost.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Farmers Supported Trump. His Proposals Have Them Thinking Again published first on http://ift.tt/2lnpciY

[yes-dal456]

Farmers Supported Trump. His Proposals Have Them Thinking Again

When President Donald Trump was elected last fall, it was with an apparent majority of the nation’s farmers behind him.

But now, three weeks since Trump’s inauguration, some of those farmers appear to be having second thoughts.

Dairy farmers and fruit and vegetable growers, both of whom rely heavily on an immigrant workforce to harvest their goods, are expressing fears that Trump’s promise to up immigration enforcement and build a border wall with Mexico could eliminate much of its workforce.

Commodity farmers are also concerned that a 20-percent import tax on Mexican goods ― an idea the Trump administration has floated ― could hobble their businesses. 

Many agriculture industry groups are similarly dismayed by plans to jettison both the Trans-Pacific Partnership and North American Free Trade Agreement.

Of course, the impact of these proposed actions won’t stop at the farm. If they are carried out, American eaters — as well as the environment — could bear that brunt as well. Here’s how:

Higher Food Prices At The Grocery Store

If stepped-up immigration enforcement efforts target farmworkers, sectors of the farming industry that rely on immigrant workers will be affected the most.

Between 50 and 70 percent of the nation’s farmworkers working for fresh produce growers and dairy farms are undocumented. If these sectors lose a significant amount of their existing immigrant workforce, they will need to raise wages to attract replacement workers ― and attracting them would be no easy task.

Farm groups have repeatedly emphasized that U.S.-born workers have shown little interest in the grueling work and the industry already says it’s facing a severe labor shortage due to the previous administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. As a result, farmworker wages have been rising with demand in recent years, though their pay still averages about $12 an hour.

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Additional farm labor costs would likely be passed on to consumers.

A 2015 report commissioned by the National Milk Producers Federation and produced by Texas A&M University researchers found that a total loss of the industry’s immigrant workforce would result in a 90-percent surge in retail milk prices. Factoring in the current national average retail price of milk, that means a gallon of conventional milk would cost $5.42 and a gallon of organic milk would cost $9.38 under such a scenario.

“We know that nobody wants to pay $8 for a gallon of milk and certainly nobody wants a food product like milk to come from foreign countries,” Jaime Castaneda, NMPF senior vice president in strategic initiatives and trade policy, told The Huffington Post. “We need to find a balance here.”

Additional research has shown that a similar price increase, linked to reduced output, would likely happen with labor-intensive food products like fruits, vegetables and tree nuts.

A 2012 report from U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers found that if 5.8 million undocumented farmworkers left the industry, the result would be less output, fewer exports and increased wages ― costs, again, to be passed on to consumers. Similarly, an analysis commissioned by the American Farm Bureau Foundation found that the exit of immigrant farmworkers could increase food prices by an average of 5 to 6 percent.

Such increases could hit low-income households ― which already struggle to afford fresh fruits and vegetables ― particularly hard, especially if accompanied by rumored cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

Reduced Availability Of Some Foods — Not Just Avocados

If a Mexican import tax coupled with NAFTA and TPP disruptions spurs a trade war, certain imported fresh produce items could not only become pricier, but also tougher to find altogether, at least temporarily.

Mexico is the leading exporter of fresh produce to the U.S., according to the USDA. In addition to avocados, the U.S. also imports hundreds of thousands of tons of Mexican produce — like limes, mangoes, grapes, pineapples, papayas and strawberries — each year.

Kathy Means, vice president of industry relations at the Produce Marketing Association, a trade group, admitted that the administration’s trade proposals are a concern for the group, though she added that produce supplies always fluctuate due to many factors — like extreme weather or a crop disease — and that the industry is used to adapting.

“We’re watching this very closely,” Means told HuffPost. “Could it have an impact? Absolutely it could. But it’s more complex than it may appear on the surface.”

Looking beyond produce from Mexico, a trade war could also threaten the nation’s entirely imported coffee and cocoa supply, as well as its mostly imported seafood supply. And such a scenario would also affect U.S. farmers who depend on exports like wheat, soybeans, rice and corn.

Increased Food Waste On Farms

A heightened farm labor crisis could also mean more crops left in the fields to rot, hurting farmers’ bottom lines in addition to releasing climate change-accelerating methane into the atmosphere.

This is a concern for Joshua Morgenthau, owner and operator of Fishkill Farms, a small-scale farm and apple orchard located in Hopewell Junction, New York.

Morgenthau regularly places job advertisements aimed at interested applicants of all backgrounds, including U.S.-born workers. But, like many farm employers, he says he rarely receives any responses. Domestic workers, he says, simply don’t appear to be willing to do this work.

In order to get his crops harvested, he hires eight seasonal migrant workers who obtain visas through the U.S. Department of Labor’s H-2A program each year.

He would like to see an expanded H-2A program and a path to a legal status for migrant farmworkers in good standing. If that doesn’t happen, he fears Trump’s immigration plans could be a disaster.

“Crops will go unharvested because of the shortfall of qualified labor,” Morgenthau told HuffPost. “Our food will rot in the fields and the price of local produce will skyrocket.”

‘We Will Lose The Food Security We Have In This Country’

Amid reports that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already made nearly 700 arrests of undocumented immigrants last week, immigrant farmworkers are facing heightened stress, though there have been no reports thus far of any immigration raids targeting farms. 

Bruce Goldstein, president of the Farmworker Justice advocacy group, told HuffPost reports of those raids sent “a strong message” to farmworkers and their families — as well as their employers.

“They are living in fear of deportation and having their families split up. They don’t know what to do,” Goldstein said. “They are living under great stress.”

Like Morgenthau, Goldstein believes the solution to the problem includes a pathway to a legal status for immigrant farmworkers. He also believes farmworker deportations would cripple the U.S. food system. 

“This could have a devastating effect on the sector,” Goldstein said. “Agriculture businesses will not be able to produce food and there will be food shortages. We will lose the food security we have in this country.”

‘Mass Deportation Is Not A Solution’

Whatever actions on farm policy the Trump administration ultimately follows through on, Barbara Patterson, government relations director at the National Farmers Union, hopes care will be taken to not make a situation that’s already difficult for family farmers even worse.

As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, farming incomes are on the decline, causing many farmers to struggle, sliding into debt or even shutting down their operations altogether. Some in the industry fear that a wave of farm closures not seen since the 1980s may not be far behind.

Patterson believes Trump’s planned approach to immigration ― if it comes to the agriculture sector ― won’t help matters.

“Folks in rural America wanted change. I think that much is clear,” Patterson said. “But farm country is hurting right now and we need to be very careful about how we move forward on issues like trade and immigration. Mass deportation is not a solution for U.S. agriculture.”

- - -

Joseph Erbentraut covers promising innovations and challenges in the areas of food, water, agriculture and our climate. Follow Erbentraut on Twitter at @robojojo. Tips? Email joseph.erbentraut@huffingtonpost.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from http://ift.tt/2liPMgX from Blogger http://ift.tt/2l9pjzZ

[imreviewblog]

Farmers Supported Trump. His Proposals Have Them Thinking Again

When President Donald Trump was elected last fall, it was with an apparent majority of the nation’s farmers behind him.

But now, three weeks since Trump’s inauguration, some of those farmers appear to be having second thoughts.

Dairy farmers and fruit and vegetable growers, both of whom rely heavily on an immigrant workforce to harvest their goods, are expressing fears that Trump’s promise to up immigration enforcement and build a border wall with Mexico could eliminate much of its workforce.

Commodity farmers are also concerned that a 20-percent import tax on Mexican goods ― an idea the Trump administration has floated ― could hobble their businesses. 

Many agriculture industry groups are similarly dismayed by plans to jettison both the Trans-Pacific Partnership and North American Free Trade Agreement.

Of course, the impact of these proposed actions won’t stop at the farm. If they are carried out, American eaters — as well as the environment — could bear that brunt as well. Here’s how:

Higher Food Prices At The Grocery Store

If stepped-up immigration enforcement efforts target farmworkers, sectors of the farming industry that rely on immigrant workers will be affected the most.

Between 50 and 70 percent of the nation’s farmworkers working for fresh produce growers and dairy farms are undocumented. If these sectors lose a significant amount of their existing immigrant workforce, they will need to raise wages to attract replacement workers ― and attracting them would be no easy task.

Farm groups have repeatedly emphasized that U.S.-born workers have shown little interest in the grueling work and the industry already says it’s facing a severe labor shortage due to the previous administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. As a result, farmworker wages have been rising with demand in recent years, though their pay still averages about $12 an hour.

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Additional farm labor costs would likely be passed on to consumers.

A 2015 report commissioned by the National Milk Producers Federation and produced by Texas A&M University researchers found that a total loss of the industry’s immigrant workforce would result in a 90-percent surge in retail milk prices. Factoring in the current national average retail price of milk, that means a gallon of conventional milk would cost $5.42 and a gallon of organic milk would cost $9.38 under such a scenario.

“We know that nobody wants to pay $8 for a gallon of milk and certainly nobody wants a food product like milk to come from foreign countries,” Jaime Castaneda, NMPF senior vice president in strategic initiatives and trade policy, told The Huffington Post. “We need to find a balance here.”

Additional research has shown that a similar price increase, linked to reduced output, would likely happen with labor-intensive food products like fruits, vegetables and tree nuts.

A 2012 report from U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers found that if 5.8 million undocumented farmworkers left the industry, the result would be less output, fewer exports and increased wages ― costs, again, to be passed on to consumers. Similarly, an analysis commissioned by the American Farm Bureau Foundation found that the exit of immigrant farmworkers could increase food prices by an average of 5 to 6 percent.

Such increases could hit low-income households ― which already struggle to afford fresh fruits and vegetables ― particularly hard, especially if accompanied by rumored cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

Reduced Availability Of Some Foods — Not Just Avocados

If a Mexican import tax coupled with NAFTA and TPP disruptions spurs a trade war, certain imported fresh produce items could not only become pricier, but also tougher to find altogether, at least temporarily.

Mexico is the leading exporter of fresh produce to the U.S., according to the USDA. In addition to avocados, the U.S. also imports hundreds of thousands of tons of Mexican produce — like limes, mangoes, grapes, pineapples, papayas and strawberries — each year.

Kathy Means, vice president of industry relations at the Produce Marketing Association, a trade group, admitted that the administration’s trade proposals are a concern for the group, though she added that produce supplies always fluctuate due to many factors — like extreme weather or a crop disease — and that the industry is used to adapting.

“We’re watching this very closely,” Means told HuffPost. “Could it have an impact? Absolutely it could. But it’s more complex than it may appear on the surface.”

Looking beyond produce from Mexico, a trade war could also threaten the nation’s entirely imported coffee and cocoa supply, as well as its mostly imported seafood supply. And such a scenario would also affect U.S. farmers who depend on exports like wheat, soybeans, rice and corn.

Increased Food Waste On Farms

A heightened farm labor crisis could also mean more crops left in the fields to rot, hurting farmers’ bottom lines in addition to releasing climate change-accelerating methane into the atmosphere.

This is a concern for Joshua Morgenthau, owner and operator of Fishkill Farms, a small-scale farm and apple orchard located in Hopewell Junction, New York.

Morgenthau regularly places job advertisements aimed at interested applicants of all backgrounds, including U.S.-born workers. But, like many farm employers, he says he rarely receives any responses. Domestic workers, he says, simply don’t appear to be willing to do this work.

In order to get his crops harvested, he hires eight seasonal migrant workers who obtain visas through the U.S. Department of Labor’s H-2A program each year.

He would like to see an expanded H-2A program and a path to a legal status for migrant farmworkers in good standing. If that doesn’t happen, he fears Trump’s immigration plans could be a disaster.

“Crops will go unharvested because of the shortfall of qualified labor,” Morgenthau told HuffPost. “Our food will rot in the fields and the price of local produce will skyrocket.”

‘We Will Lose The Food Security We Have In This Country’

Amid reports that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already made nearly 700 arrests of undocumented immigrants last week, immigrant farmworkers are facing heightened stress, though there have been no reports thus far of any immigration raids targeting farms. 

Bruce Goldstein, president of the Farmworker Justice advocacy group, told HuffPost reports of those raids sent “a strong message” to farmworkers and their families — as well as their employers.

“They are living in fear of deportation and having their families split up. They don’t know what to do,” Goldstein said. “They are living under great stress.”

Like Morgenthau, Goldstein believes the solution to the problem includes a pathway to a legal status for immigrant farmworkers. He also believes farmworker deportations would cripple the U.S. food system. 

“This could have a devastating effect on the sector,” Goldstein said. “Agriculture businesses will not be able to produce food and there will be food shortages. We will lose the food security we have in this country.”

‘Mass Deportation Is Not A Solution’

Whatever actions on farm policy the Trump administration ultimately follows through on, Barbara Patterson, government relations director at the National Farmers Union, hopes care will be taken to not make a situation that’s already difficult for family farmers even worse.

As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, farming incomes are on the decline, causing many farmers to struggle, sliding into debt or even shutting down their operations altogether. Some in the industry fear that a wave of farm closures not seen since the 1980s may not be far behind.

Patterson believes Trump’s planned approach to immigration ― if it comes to the agriculture sector ― won’t help matters.

“Folks in rural America wanted change. I think that much is clear,” Patterson said. “But farm country is hurting right now and we need to be very careful about how we move forward on issues like trade and immigration. Mass deportation is not a solution for U.S. agriculture.”

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Joseph Erbentraut covers promising innovations and challenges in the areas of food, water, agriculture and our climate. Follow Erbentraut on Twitter at @robojojo. Tips? Email joseph.erbentraut@huffingtonpost.com.

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from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://huff.to/2lRNMZK