2010 Season

Well it's May and we still haven't hit full stride. I believe the state has harvested approx 2 million pounds of berries so far. How large the harvest will be is now in the hands of the marketers. Those with large deals in Georgia and North Carolina are already pushing larger pack sizes and lower prices. There is not enough fruit at the moment to fill orders and prices are going down. Does that make sense to anyone besides a marketer. As growers we need to rethink the way we choose the handlers of our fruit. Do they have a stake in something bigger that is contrary to our interest, Chile, Georgia?? As Florida growers we are concerned with only one thing, THE FLORIDA CROP. I don't care if they have gotten themselves in over their head with another states bumper crop. It is my opinion that some marketers drop the ball every season. When this occurs we all pay the price. If one marketer is selling cheap the retailers expect everyone to sell cheap. Maybe it's time the Florida growers explore a better and more rational way to market fruit. Do we need an exchange that sets the price and pack size. Do we need a marketing order in place to restrict fruit from Chile. Perhaps we just need to place the fruit only in the hands of a few marketers instead of so many. What is your marketers excuse?