Posted on 01/26/2006 8:01:36 AM PST by hedgetrimmer
WATSONVILLE — The city's food-processing industry has wilted to a shadow of its former self.
Only a trio of independent food-processing and cold-storage businesses remains. Ray Rodriguez, 59, owner of Farmers Processing & Cold Storage, a Castroville native and son of field workers, is one.
Del Mar Food Products Corp. and BirdsEye are the others.
There was a time when the city was so overrun with the likes of Rodriguez that it was nicknamed the "Frozen Food Capital of the World."
That was the 1930s and '40s, well before the North American Free Trade Agreement appeared in the early 1990s, forcing such companies out of business and persuading the more lucrative ones to move south of the border to improve their bottom lines.
Now, Rodriguez is recruiting the Watsonville City Council for aid to come up with state and federal funds to help him expand and add more frozen vegetables to his repertoire at a cost of $1 million.
Last week, the City Council took his case to U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, who said he'd do what he could on Capitol Hill but cautioned that the federal government is beset with figuring out how to rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and to fund counterterrorism efforts, both of which cost the country billions of dollars.
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Farr complimented the city and Rodriguez for wanting to remain agriculturally viable when most American cities in farming communities are "chasing sales tax dollars" in the form of big-box stores.
"Watsonville can be a model," he said. "You've got the ability to apply for so many grants because you're unique and it just so happens that you fit into so many different categories — whether it's poverty, or affordable housing or sustainable agriculture."
Rodriguez has managed to weather the free-trade storm. But every day, he said, he wonders how he's going to survive going head-to-head with Third World countries like Mexico and Guatemala and Ecuador that have cheap labor and few regulations.
Rodriguez said if he wants to survive, he must expand — create a pair of processing lines and add more frozen vegetables, like snow peas, mushrooms and soybeans.
"I don't want to die out like the rest, and the only way not to is to come up with something new and try to employ more people," said Rodriguez, who worked nearly two decades at Crosetti Frozen Foods in Pajaro where he started as janitor and finished as general manager.
"The thing is, if you head over to Albertsons or Safeway, you'll see that all the frozen vegetables are coming from other countries," a common lament among U.S. growers, shippers and packers.
"I can't compete with the cheap labor," he said. "I can't compete with their standards. Hell, it's more expensive for me to package everything than it is for them to ship from their home countries to Oakland, and that's a long way."
Rodriguez is processing, freezing, packing and shipping zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower and broccoli, but he said he needs to diversify.
If he doesn't, he fears he may have to shut down, bowing to the cheaper prices brought by NAFTA. The agreement has led to anti-free-trade sentiment that's as palpable as the stink of farm sprays on a rainy day in this small, agriculturally dependent town.
Rodriguez hopes to come up with $700,000 to convert two warehouses into a pair of assembly lines that would employ 40 more people.
It's certainly worth trying and it doesn't hurt to ask the city for help, said J.P. Mecozzi, the owner of Del Mar Food Products Corp., one of the bigger processing plants left standing, with nearly 500 employees during peak season.
"Local government has a duty to help," said the 51-year-old Mecozzi. "Anytime you can enhance a local business and help the local economy, it's going to be good all the way around, even for me.
"Ray is a terrific person. He's a great corporate citizen, if you will, and great personality," he said. "I hope he's able to get what he wants."
So far, Mecozzi has managed to keep NAFTA at bay because his processing lines run year-round. He specializes in frozen fruits and vegetables, but he too feels the threat of imports, he said.
"At the end of the day," he said, "we all have to compete as individuals."
Santa Cruz County PING
The Nafta thing got its start in the 60's with the Vista and Peace Corps movements. Now that We The People taught them to farm and wipe their butts they are taking their harvest and bringing to our country. We customers are lamenting this too. There are some countries I won't buy from.
But it's not just the 'big box stores' that are to 'fault'. Farmers both big and small are finding it hard to just open a produce stand in this country. Neighbors complain about the 'traffic flow'.
If this guy wants to expand why doesn't he lobby for relaxed FDA and USDA standards and contract for growers across the country.
a) Capital flowing from the US to Mexico;
b) Capital flowing from Mexico to the US;
c) The capital of Mexico moving to the US;
d) a and c.
Hallelujah! Especially the Chinese stuff. The standard there is "will we get caught?" or "is this traceable?". I look at labels and for the sake of my own health, leave that on the shelf.
What imported food from China do you avoid? Just curious.
What was the deal with Not using labels for where the food came from? Why didn't that pass?
On May 13, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, more commonly known as the 2002 Farm Bill. One of its many initiatives requires country of origin labeling for beef, lamb, pork, fish, perishable agricultural commodities and peanuts. On January 27, 2004, President Bush signed Public Law 108-199 which delays the implementation of mandatory COOL for all covered commodities except wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish until September 30, 2006. As described in the legislation, program implementation is the responsibility of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.
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I believe these firms are suffering from consumers preferences for fresh over frozen. One of the benefits of NAFTA and other trade agreements is that we now are able to purchase many fresh produce items year round rather than just seasonally. As a result, there is less demnand these days for frozen and canned fruits and vegetables.
I avoid the Cocker Cutlettes, the German Shepherds Pie, the Bichon Bao, the Poodles with Noodles, the Chihuahua Chimichangas, the Boston Terrier Baked Beans, the Kung Pao Collie...
A tenth of the world’s irrigated crops - everything from lettuce and tomatoes to mangoes and coconuts - are watered by sewage. And much of that sewage is raw and untreated, gushing direct from sewer pipes into fields at the fringes of the developing world’s great megacities, reveals the first global survey of the hidden practice of waste-water irrigation.
Chris Scott of the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute estimates that 20 million hectares of the world’s farms are irrigated with sewage. A quarter of Pakistan’s vegetables, including salad crops, are grown in sewage effluent, the study found.
Chloramphenicol found in honey imported from China
Aug 29, 2002 (CIDRAP News) – Low levels of chloramphenicol, a potentially harmful antibiotic that cannot legally be added to food, have been found in honey imported from China, federal officials announced yesterday.
More than 50 containers of bulk Chinese honey have been detained at US ports in the investigation, the US Customs Service and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a joint announcement. The agencies said the honey allegedly had been shipped through other countries in an illegal effort to evade US anti-dumping duties.
In rare cases, the use of chloramphenicol can lead to idiosyncratic aplastic anemia, a potentially life-threatening condition, the agencies said. The FDA said it is not aware of any contaminated honey on retail shelves, and no related illnesses have been reported.
Food and animal feed containing chloramphenicol are illegal in the United States, officials said. "Currently, Customs is stopping all suspect bulk honey imports to this country for the FDA to determine whether they contain chloramphenicol. Any shipments containing chloramphenicol will be detained."
Officials said the honey investigation was triggered by suspicions of illegal dumping—sale of foreign goods within the United States at prices below the cost of production or below the price in the home country. As a result of the probe, anti-dumping duties were imposed in May 2001 on honey from certain Chinese companies. Subsequently, Customs agents found evidence that Chinese honey was being shipped to the United States through several other countries to evade the duties.
"During the investigation, Customs officers in Los Angeles drew samples of bulk Chinese honey from several detained containers that had arrived at the local port. A laboratory analysis found that the honey contained chloramphenicol," the announcement said. The FDA later confirmed the presence of chloramphenicol.
In June, the FDA announced it would increase testing of imported shrimp and crayfish for chloramphenicol. The move followed reports that health agencies in Louisiana, Canada, and Europe had found chloramphenicol in shrimp and crayfish from China and Vietnam. At that time, the FDA said China had banned the use of chloramphenicol in food animals and feed in March. The agency also said Chinese officials reported that they were starting to test shrimp, crayfish, and other exported food products for chloramphenicol and other drug residues.
The 2002 farm bill included a provision for mandatory COOL to go into effect Sept. 30, 2004. Congress delayed it until Sept. 30, 2006 on all products except seafood.
Everything. The food products that come from China are as dependable as China's enforcement of Intellectual Property. i.e it just isn't safe.
In spite of lower food safety standards for foreign food products, some was detained at the border by U.S. Customs? How can this be?
I was simply asking you to name one product of Chinese origin that you do not purchase due to food safety concerns.
bump
Has anyone told Paul Craig Roberts?
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