MARKET REPORT - JUNE 10TH, 2016
Today’s report is really a news reportLocal fruit and veg supply is about to burst wide open! Many crops continue to mature quickly, despite temperature cool-downs over the past few days – this is a combination of a very early season start, thanks partly to El Nino, and clever growers hedging their bets and planting early, planting in hoop-houses, and under row cover in the fields. That has worked out very well this year. Berries and stone-fruit are set up for record early start dates – cherries already in progress, with lots more to come. We’re highlighting the “BC” part of the list in bold so you can see the remarkable early season selection. The only place we’re hurting is out at OriginO where they have slowed production on some tomatoes – they are dealing with a serious blight problem that they can’t control with known organic “cures” and having to move into different rooms to have some supply.
Today’s report is really a news report.Here’s one interesting item we hate to see, because when it happens, all our banana containers become suspect.“Three men were detained in yet another fruit-related drug bust recently, after Dutch customs officials found 900kg of cocaine hidden inside a banana consignment from Ecuador. In an announcement on May 31, the District Procuratorate in Rotterdam said the drugs were discovered in a container scan which revealed 900 packets of the powder weighing 1kg each. The cocaine is estimated to have a street value of more than €30 million. Led by a prosecutor, a team of experts from Dutch customs, the seaport police and the national tax investigation office found the container had been taken to a warehouse in the borough of Hoogvliet last Thursday. A police team then raided the warehouse as people were unpacking the container. Photos from the Procuratorate show the boxes concerned bore the markings of the well-known fruit brand of British-Ecuadorian company BanaBay.In late January, Ecuadorian police found 1.5 metric tons (MT) of cocaine hidden in fake bananas, while in mid-May the Colombian National Police claimed they had made the country’s biggest ever cocaine seizure on a banana operation in Turbo with a weight of 8MT and a value of US$240 million. However, the Colombian Banana Growers’ Association (AUGURA) denied that the bust occurred on “any banana farm”.On other banana news, this also crossed our desks this week:Residents of S. America don’t often get a break when they try to sue US corporations, but US courts have become more open to civil suits where the US Corporation also broke a domestic law – and that law is called the Homeland Security Act, brought in right after Nine Eleven, which criminalized any US company paying money to known terrorist organizations, including FARC, Shining Path and AUC, all 3 of which operate in Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. We are ourselves familiar with these ultra-right and ultra-left paramilitary organizations, who continue to operate in inland Peru, and the primary reason that we have never, and likely never go to meet ginger and turmeric producers in the Peruvian Rainforests.“U.S. judge permits federal lawsuit against corporate executives for funding far-right paramilitary group in Colombia” by Nika Knight, staff writer, FreshFruitPortal."Chiquita poured $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 into the outlawed far-right paramilitary group AUC," observed TeleSur, "which operated as a death squad in Colombia.” In what supporters described as "a victory for accountability for corporate crimes," a U.S. judge ruled in favor of allowing Colombians to sue former Chiquita Brand International executives for the company's funding of a paramilitary group that murdered plaintiffs' family members.The ruling from Judge Kenneth Marra of the Southern District of Florida stated that "'profits took priority over basic human welfare' in the banana company executives' decision to finance the illegal death squads, despite knowing that this would advance the paramilitaries' murderous campaign," as the human rights and conservation group EarthRights International (ERI) wrote on Thursday when it announced the judgment. The lawsuit alleges that Chiquita executives at that the time, including the former CEO and COO, were fully aware that they were funding a terrorist group that was engaging in "a systematic campaign of terror—death threats, extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, kidnappings, forced disappearances and looting—against vast swathes of the Colombian civilian population," as Judge Marra wrote in his ruling.The former executives have "moved to dismiss the lawsuit on numerous grounds," ERI noted, "including that the plaintiffs had not shown that they were personally involved in wrongful conduct, and because the abuses had occurred abroad. Judge Marra rejected these arguments, allowing the lawsuit to move forward against all defendants in ERI's lawsuit."Chiquita lost a similar motion to dismiss the case in 2011, ERI noted. "Corporations do not act without individuals," said Marco Simons, general counsel of ERI and co-counsel for the plaintiffs. "The court's decision ensures that these individuals, whose alleged conduct helped enable a reign of terror, cannot hide from their wrongdoing." The ruling allows the family members to proceed with the lawsuit in U.S. federal court. Chiquita pled guilty to funding an organization designated by the U.S. as a global terrorist group in 2007, and paid a $25 million criminal fine.And more for you to digest. This excerpt below is from a blog from a large California grape grower, VBZ, whose product we get sometimes. This is their rant from this week about the combination of labour shortages and water uncertainty that is changing the face of agriculture in California. From a grower’s perspective, while water shortages are an issue for vegetable growers who are harvesting months after planting, drought conditions have much more serious consequences for fruit producers because there is a 5 year investment in nursery stock, irrigation and packing infrastructure before there is any harvest, or any knowledge of what the future will bring.“VBZ Factoid & Industry TrendsWe cancelled a multi- million dollar nursery order (grapes) this spring. With the current labor market conditions we’re facing, we’re very concerned about investing in any new ground development. Any increases internally were set in motion seasons ago and are mostly organic. There is a high probability the CA grape industry will mirror the Tree fruit industry over the next 5/7yrs. Tree fruit #’s 5 yrs. ago were $75 million in revenue/ and now 30/35 million. Here’s my worst case, crystal ball grape scenario, if we don’t get a handle on labor & water storage issues ASAPToday 450+ legit table grape growers = 118/120 million box estimate for 2016. In 5/7yrs 125/150 grape growers – if this happens our industry will only pack out in the 60/70 million box range. Then our deal becomes a mish-mash of retail partnerships on specific varieties throughout the growing season, niche organic offerings and no real open market fruit available. Your entire crop sold and pre-committed in March before u pack one box 4 months later…”“We failed to get enough signatures for our Nov ballet measure to defund HSR and build new water projects.” (My note: Lobbyists for producer organizations tried to literally de-rail a very expensive high-speed bullet train network so funds could be used instead to increase California’s Water Infrastructure.) Of course, in record time, the citizens of CA have enough signatures for a ballot measure to legalize Marijuana in the state. 45 mins north of Coachella in Desert Hot Springs they’ve already issued permits in anticipation of the ballot measure passage. One Million square feet of Greenhouse pot groves will be under glass in the desert in 12 mos. U really can’t make this stuff up!! Drawing water from the same aquifers as us. Labour issues are not going to go away – When there was a surplus of migrant labour in the US, many producers were able to take advantage of these people. Especially when they are paid by the pound, and not a living wage. Just last year, Florida tomato producers were forced to agree to increase payment to workers there to 3c per pound, up from the 2c that was the status quo. Yes, that’s right – 2c a pound to harvest into lugs in the field and then carry 60 pound baskets to the edge of the field. The Sakuma Bros. labour strife in Washington State has been on-going for years, and it seems unfortunate that the only way labourers are going to be treated fairly is when their numbers dwindle to the point that growers have to pony up and pay living wages or not have a harvest. (I’ll have more for you on this subject soon as we start to see more and more “domestic fair trade” certifications and products – including a couple of so-called Fair Trade conventional operations right here in BC.”Farmworkers Union Walk Out from the Fields This MorningBurlington, WA, June 6, 2016 — Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ) members, an independent farmworker union based in Burlington, WA, and other farmworkers walked out of the Sakuma Bros Berry Farms this morning after more than120 workers demanded an increase of the $0.24 per pound of strawberries that they were receiving. Workers are asking for an increase of their wage to $0.35 per pound of strawberries, or $0.72 per case, along with the ongoing ask for a union contract. Since the summer of 2013 there have been at least 6 walkouts to demand an increase in wages, and farmworkers created FUJ to demand Sakuma to negotiate a union contract that includes labor protections, $15/hour minimum salary, allowing workers to take time off when ill, an end to intimidation, better treatment of workers, respect, a clean workplace and improved housing conditions, and no yelling or threatening workers, among other demands.Sakuma has refused to sit at the negotiation table, FUJ and supporters have continued to promote and expand the boycott of both Sakuma Berries and Driscoll Berries, a client of Sakuma Bros Berry Farms, at both a national and international level.