Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: PGR88
America grows nowhere near enough to meet the nation’s demand for fruits and vegetables - very labor intensive products.

I think that's more about growing conditions and seasonality than labor.

America used to grow more than enough to meet the nation's demand for most of these ... when fruits and vegetables were only available in the supermarket when they were "in season." Imports made it commonplace for fruits and vegetables to be available at pretty uniform prices for the entire year. Imports also give us access to agricultural products that are difficult to grow here without heavily mechanized, energy-intensive operations (bananas, coffee, etc.).

101 posted on 07/12/2018 7:03:14 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies ]


To: Alberta's Child
America used to grow more than enough to meet the nation's demand for most of these ... when fruits and vegetables were only available in the supermarket when they were "in season."

In the extreme, What you're saying then is that Americans will have to again get used to eating potatoes all winter long, and blueberries only in August. That won't happen, and also American diets have changed. Yes, seasonal availability started the trend, but for decades now US distributors and manufacturers are used to buying vegetables simply where they are cheapest. Remember storage and global transport are much better than they were 50 years ago also.

There will be no easy way for US farmers to meet US demand for things like garlic, peaches, spinach, lettuce etc. etc..

I'm not disagreeing with Trump's trade policies and most of these products are coming from more agreeable suppliers than China, such as Argentina, Peru, Chile, even Mexico. Its just a comment on my experience in Agricultural economics.

117 posted on 07/12/2018 7:37:21 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson