We talked to Dante Galeazzi, President and CEO of the Texas International Produce Association, BB #:162361 Mission, TX, at the end of 2019.
Name a few major issues affecting your members and how you’re addressing them in 2020.
Labor shortages: Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen the number of agricultural laborers decrease dramatically across the state. It began in the more remote parts and was typically limited to the peak of harvest season.
Now, growers in all parts of the state are reporting too few workers for the entire season. West, Central, and South Texas have all seen the problem of worker shortages intensify—especially over the last five years. As a result, more growers in the state—and across the country—are using the H-2A program to access foreign, seasonal labor.
Sadly, no single topic is more politically polarizing in Washington, DC than the term “immigration.” For decades now, politicians have been unable to compromise and move legislation forward to bring about the reforms necessary to build a reliable, legal, and sufficiently-sized guest worker or other agricultural labor workforce.
Thankfully, agriculture is becoming more bipartisan and we’re seeing Democrats and Republicans come to the table to address the needs of domestic producers. The Farm Worker Modernization Act, the Lofgren/Newhouse bill, is a shining example of that effort and TIPA is very enthusiastic and supportive of seeing the bill, and others like it, bring real change for the industry.
Border closures, slowdowns, and shutdowns: The first half of 2019 was rife with issues at the United States-Mexico border. The U.S. government shutdown, migrant caravans, protests in both Mexico and the United States, and political rhetoric all contributed to slower bridge traffic.
At times, these issues extended the crossing times for trucks from hours to days. For many loads of produce, these wait times were a death sentence. The elongated crossing times cut into the shelf life of the most perishable items, limiting the distance they could travel and thus barring the goods from their intended markets.
Thankfully, since June of last year, many of the bigger issues impacting the border have quieted and crossings times have normalized. TIPA works on bringing attention to these matters, not only while they’re happening, but also to prevent such slowdowns from occurring. The association works with government agencies, NGOs [nongovernment organizations] and other trade alliances to develop and place resources ahead of the “issues” to mitigate the impacts to the industry.
Working with our own South Texas Congressman, Rep. Filemon Vela, we saw the introduction of the Protecting American Agriculture Act, a companion bill to a Senate version, to earmark funds to hire an additional 240 agricultural inspections, 200 agriculture technicians, and 20 canine detection teams for our ports of entry. This bill puts additional inspection units at the border to accelerate crossings for imports, and to further safeguard against invasive pathogens and pests for the benefit of domestic farmers.
This is multi-part feature adapted from the Rio Grande Valley Supplement in the January/February 2020 issue of Produce Blueprints.
