Nancy and Bruce: Finding a way

Here is some further communication between Nancy Tucker and Bruce McEvoy on the industry efforts to give aid to the farm workers in Peru. Thanks to both of them for giving focused attention and follow through to this issue.

Dear Bruce, Jim, and Tom;

It has taken far longer than I thought to pull together information on where and how to donate funds to help those affected by the earthquake in Peru. I just received the last bit this afternoon. Would you could please pass along this information to others? The donations will be greatly appreciated and your help in getting this information out to others in the industry will be very valuable. Attached are pictures showing the need and receipt of current aid.

CARITAS PERU

Bank name BANCO DE CREDITO DEL PERU
Address Esq.Av.R.Rivera Navarrete / Av.Juan de Arona, Lima – Perú
SWIFT BCPLPEPL
Bank account # 193-1586951-1-16 (dólares)
Account name CARITAS DEL PERU

A check drawn on a US bank in US dollars can be sent to:
Caritas del Peru
121 Alhambra Plaza Suite 1200
Coral Gables, FL 33134
If needed, the number of the account to which this should be directed is 201030010003521.

Further requests for financial information can be sent to:
Eduardo Díaz Carvo
Treasurer
Cáritas del Perú
Calle Omicrón Nª 492
Callao
Peru
Tel. 51-1-613-5200 , ext. 269
Fax 51-1-613-5210
Email : eduardo.diaz@caritas.org.pe



Commodity organizations are also spearheading efforts especially directed at their farm workers. Here is information about donating to the relief efforts of two of these organizations:


PROCITRUS
PROCITRUS is a non profit association for the citrus producers of Peru. It has 110 members that account for 98% of the country’s exports. The association works to implement programs to improve the production and marketing of citrus and their associated products.

Procitrus
Swift code of Bank : BCPLPEPL
Bank name : BANCO DE CREDITO DEL PERÚ
Bank address : Juan de Arona 893 – San Isidro, Lima - Perú
Beneficiary : Asociación de Productores de Cítricos del Perú - PROCITRUS
Account number: : 193-1619143-1-89

Further information can be requested from:
Sergio del Castillo
PROCITRUS
Nicolas Arriola 314 - of 903, Lima 13 - Perú
T: +(511) 224-9026 / 226-1952 F: +(511) 226-8278
sdelcastillo@procitrus.org
www.procitrus.org


PERUVIAN ASPARAGUS AND VEGETABLES INSTITUTE (IPEH)
The Peruvian Asparagus and Vegetables Institute is a non profit civil association formed by asparagus, artichoke, piquillo pepper and paprika producers and exporters.
Peru is the first asparagus exporter worldwide in its three presentations (fresh, frozen and canned

Account number: 194-1182022125 TELETRANSFER CODE:20426275342
S.W.I.F.T. Address: BCPLPEPL
Account Name IPEH
Bank Name: Banco de Crédito del Perú
Bank Address: Av Larco 1099 Miraflores Lima Perú
Phone: (511) 3119898
Association: Instituto Peruano del Espárrago y Hortalizas ( Peruvian Asparagus and Vegetables Institute)
Contact person: Beatriz Tubino (manager) , Leylha Rebaza (assistant)

Web site: www.ipeh.org (sorry it’s only in Spanish we are in the process of improvement)
Address: Aramburu 166 office 4a Lima 18 Peru
Phone: 00511- 422-2323
Fax: 00511-422-2323
Email: contact@ipeh.org, btubino@yahoo.com




Kind regards,


Nancy J. Tucker, CAE
Produce Marketing Association

***



And from Bruce


Hello Nancy!

Thank you for your detective work and for providing options for making contributions for humanitarian relief in Peru. We will certainly go ahead with a corporate donation and I sincerely hope this will spread throughout the industry. As I suspected, the news is now off the front page but the farm worker hardships will continue for many months.

I guess the learning experience to date is how to mobilize industry support for humanitarian aid through simple but factual messages on the needs and options for channeling donations. Perhaps this is a subject for a special industry meeting.

Thanks for your support.

Regards,

Bruce

Making the shift...

Luis of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group posted the NYT story about how the labor shortage is shifting production to Mexico.
From the story:

CELAYA, Mexico — Steve Scaroni, a farmer from California, looked across a luxuriant field of lettuce here in central Mexico and liked what he saw: full-strength crews of Mexican farm workers with no immigration problems.
Farming since he was a teenager, Mr. Scaroni, 50, built a $50 million business growing lettuce and broccoli in the fields of California, relying on the hands of immigrant workers, most of them Mexican and many probably in the United States illegally.
But early last year he began shifting part of his operation to rented fields here. Now some 500 Mexicans tend his crops in Mexico, where they run no risk of deportation.
“I’m as American red-blood as it gets,” Mr. Scaroni said, “but I’m tired of fighting the fight on the immigration issue.”
A sense of crisis prevails among American farmers who rely on immigrant laborers, more so since immigration legislation in the United States Senate failed in June and the authorities announced a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants. An increasing number of farmers have been testing the alternative of raising crops across the border where there is a stable labor supply, growers and lawmakers in the United States and Mexico said.
Western Growers, an association representing farmers in California and Arizona, conducted an informal telephone survey of its members in the spring. Twelve large agribusinesses that acknowledged having operations in Mexico reported a total of 11,000 workers here.
“It seems there is a bigger rush to Mexico and elsewhere,” said Tom Nassif, the Western Growers president, who said Americans were also farming in countries in Central America.
Precise statistics are not readily available on American farming in Mexico, because growers seek to maintain a low profile for their operations abroad. But Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, displayed a map on the Senate floor in July locating more than 46,000 acres that American growers were cultivating in just two Mexican states, Guanajuato and Baja California.
“Farmers are renting land in Mexico,” Ms. Feinstein said. “They don’t want us to know that.”
She predicted that more American farmers would move to Mexico for the ready work force and lower wages. Ms. Feinstein favored a measure in the failed immigration bill that would have created a new guest worker program for agriculture and a special legal status for illegal immigrant farm workers.
In the past, some Americans have planted south of the border to escape spiraling land prices and to ensure year-round deliveries of crops they can produce only seasonally in the United States. But in the last three years, Mr. Nassif and other growers said, labor force uncertainties have become a major reason farmers have shifted to Mexico.
While there are benefits for Mexico, as American farmers bring the latest technology and techniques to its crop-producing regions, American farm state economists say thousands of middle-class jobs supporting agriculture are being lost in the United States. Some lawmakers in the United States also point to security risks when food for Americans is increasingly produced in foreign countries.

TK: It is not only vegetables that will be affected. Investment will surely shrink in tree fruit crops if banks and marketers aren't sure if enough pickers will be on hand for the harvest.

What I found so far

Here in Bangkok, on the first day of the Asia Fruit Logistica International Trade Fair, I have found the event to be quite well run. Albeit with just 120 exhibitors from 24 countries, some I talked to were very positive about the show, with one saying it could eventually be the third part of a global expo triad that now includes PMA in the U.S. and Fruit Logistica in Germany. That may be overreaching for now, but the show, like Asia, has big potential.

The crowds were fairly active all afternoon. Though I didn't observe a lot of retail presence in the expo hall, the exception was a good contingent of buyers and retailers from India. There was more than one Chinese apple exporter represented in the expo hall. It was interesting to hear informal, off the record conversation that indicates China's is tying action on market access for certain U.S. fruits to U.S. action on Chinese apples.

While the market intelligence provided by the educational sessions was strong, much of it was skewed toward the Japanese market. Even in Japan, however, the notion of food miles and organic agriculture don't resonate like they do in the West. For Japan, "local" produce is local enough if it was grown somewhere in Japan. And Japanese consumers, know to pay legendary prices for melons and other fruit, are still expecting top quality but aren't willing to pay the prices they used to pay. So much so, says one South African marketer, that the market may lose out on the top fruit to other countries.

The U.S. presence included the California Table Grape Commisison, the Calfornia Tree Fruit Agreement and the Pear Bureau Northwest, among a few others.

It was good to see Lisa McNeece of Grimmway Farms, Sheri Mierau of the California Tree Fruit Agreement, Vince Balakian of Fruit Patch Sales LLC and others.

I asked Vince what happened to the tree fruit deal in California this year. While the year was set up to be good based on the supply, the competitive outlook and the marketing job done by the CTFA, the inability to program enough ads during the peak of the season put the industry in the position of facing down mounting inventories. Sell 125,000 cartons but put 150,000 cartons in the cooler. Growers sometimes have expressed disdain for ads that seem to voluntarily weaken the market, but Vince made the argument that not enough ads were set up this year.

AsiaFruit Logistica