Florida farmers are now plowing perfectly good tomatoes while Trump’s pricing policies cause the fall in prices

Tony Dimare’s family has 4,000 acres of tomato farms across Florida and California. Unfortunately, its Florida cultures do not seem well – mowed and left to rot, like tomato vines through the state.

But these are not growing conditions that are the problem. These are economic.

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Dark said WSVN 7 Miami that the pricing and immigration policies of President Donald Trump push farmers to abandon their cultures.

In January, he warned The fact that Trump’s repression against migrants would lead to farmers, who rely on migrants to choose products.

“We must secure our southern and north borders, but you must have a workforce in this country,” he told Financial Post.

Deportations devastate agricultural workforce

In the United States, around 50% of agricultural workers undocumented Migrants – including qualified supervisors and machine operators – according to Farmonaut, an agricultural technology company.

While the Trump administration proceeds to the mass deportations of undocumented migrants, there are much fewer pickers in the fields, and cultures are left bad.

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One spoke to WSVN other migrants leaving Florida every day. He spoke under the cover of anonymity, fearing that he was expelled himself

“Many people are really afraid, and sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t come,” he said. “And the harvest is lost because it cannot be harvested.”

The shortage of labor also means that Florida farmers have to pay more for work. At the same time, they get less money for their products because of Trump’s pricing policies.

The prices have upset the traditional supply chain

From January to April, Trump’s threatened prices pushed Mexican suppliers to double, or even triple tomato exports to the United States – before prices come into force.

The result? The American market was flooded with Mexican tomatoes. Florida farmers have seen the wholesale price of a tomatal box from $ 16 per box at $ 3 or $ 4. Dimare said tomato farmers need about $ 10 or $ 11 per box to break.

“You cannot even allow yourself to choose them now,” said Heather Moehling, president of Miami-Dade County Farm Bureau. “Between the cost of the workforce and the inputs that enter, it is more profitable for farmers to plow them now.”

It is not only Florida tomato producers who feel the pinch. Canada has imposed a 25% price on American watermelons in retaliation for Trump prices on Canadian products. Dimare is experiencing a watermelon producer who has lost Canadian customers to Mexican watermelon suppliers.

Prepare for higher food costs

Farmonaut notes that the impacts of prices and immigration policy on farmers will have a training effect in grocery stores. If American farmers do not have enough workers to collect crops, Americans will have to buy more imported products and pay more due to prices.

The Hunter College Food Policy Center in New York warnings That the sharp increase in food prices will lead to inflation – “highlighting household budgets across the country, and in particular injuring families in regions with high food insecurity”.

While farmers have few options, but to hope that political upheavals will end, consumers should prepare to mitigate these costs.

One way to do so is to buy membership in an organization of agriculture supported by the community (CSA). You will support local farmers and you will get local and less expensive products delivered to your door.

In addition to shopping frugally by cutting coupons and offers of sales leaflets, you can be creative in the kitchen. For example, you can limit food costs by planning the weekly menus around seasonal and affordable food.

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This article only provides information and should not be interpreted as advice. It is provided without guarantee of any kind.