abcostanzafarms

Bizarre Year has SW Michigan Growers “Drinking From a Fire Hose” of Market Disruptions

abcostanzafarms

If you love living in this glorious place called Michigan’s Great Southwest, just minutes away from orchards, vineyards, fields and farms, do yourself a favor and pay close attention to where the food on your table is coming from. Southwest Michigan growers are in a world of hurt for a wide range of reasons including the ravages of the pandemic, and need your support.

Read this story carefully. Hear the words of some of the key players in the world of agriculture here in our own backyard, and if you have come to expect ready access to the finest and freshest fruits and vegetables, make plans to demand they appear on your grocer’s shelves so they can land in your food basket.

Dr. Ron Goldy is Senior Extension Educator at the Michigan State University Extension Center on Hillandale Road in Benton Harbor. He’ll be the first to tell you, “In the best of times, farming is a risky business.” These are clearly not the best of times, and in recent years, especially in light of COVID-19, he says, “It has been increasingly difficult for farmers to be economically sustainable,” and adds, “That’s especially true for fresh fruit and vegetable farmers that rely on a seasonal labor force,” and on more normal market conditions with regards to restaurants and other food service businesses.

Fred Leitz is a 4th generation fruit and vegetable farm operator in Sodus here in Southwest Michigan. His great grandfather started Fred Leitz Farms in 1903, but he says that farming in this 117th year in the business, “is like drinking out of a fire hose, with lots coming at us.”

ADVERTISEMENT
Your content continues below

At Leitz Farms they grow blueberries, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, round tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and apples. All of their produce is grown within 7-miles of the original family farm and all are packed and sorted at the original location under the None Better label.

The “fire hose” Fred and his brothers, Dave, James and Everett face, starts with the fact that, as he bluntly puts it, “Mexico is killing our industry with cheap imports.” By way of explanation, he notes, “They pay $9-a day and I am paying $14.40 per hour. Plus, they are only two days away from the same U.S. markets that I serve.”

Dr. Goldy concurs, saying, “Competition from both Mexico and Canada are undercutting U.S. producers substantially by those difference in labor costs,” adding, “Workers in Mexico make about $8 to $10 a day, while workers here are pushing $18 per hour when all costs are included.” Another example he offers is that the labor that goes into a package of tomatoes in Mexico is about 40-cents while it is about $5.50 in the U.S., and Canadian growers make money on our dollar exchange rate being so different.

Leitz says that the coronavirus crisis “has put the whole industry into a tailspin.” He tells us, “Regular marketing channels have been disrupted,” and adds, “When we saw fruits and vegetables rotting in fields in the spring, we didn’t know if we should even plant things.” However, he says that the offices of Congressman Fred Upton, and Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters contacted growers like him and said there would be a program to help out the markets if the markets failed to materialize. He says, “They said the American public would really hoard food if U.S. growers wouldn’t plant.” He notes, “The CFAP Farmers to Families program has helped, but it hasn’t replaced normal market channels.”

Brett Costanza from A&B Costanza Farms, LLC on River Road in Sodus is still shaking his head over the “normal market channel” disruptions across the region.

Costanza, who started his mid-sized family farm as a partnership with his father Angelo 22 years ago in 1998, currently operates the farm with his wife Jennifer. They have four kids and employ around 175 seasonal workers on their 750-acre farms where they grow fresh market vegetables including bell peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, pickles and zucchini. They also grow around 800 acres of field corn used for ethanol or livestock feed.

With harvest starting around June 20th and typically finishing in the first week of October, Costanza says, “Markets have been swinging up and down. The whole food distribution system has been disrupted. Major cities are in chaos. Lots of people have left the cities, meaning people are not there in the same numbers to shop and buy our products.”

The chaos doesn’t just hinge on the grocery cycle, either. With widespread changes in operation at thousands of restaurants, unpredictability has soared. Costanza says, “Lots of places have closed their doors completely and most others are operating at limited capacities, some with even limited menus.” He continues the story, saying, “When a person goes to the restaurant, they usually get a salad with their meal, meaning there are cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers on it. That’s all stuff that we grow and sell that is not being sold in anywhere near the volume right now.” Additionally, he notes, “When people eat at home, it’s not often the same case, eating that salad.”

Costanza reports that “Probably 30- to 40-percent of our crops typically have gone to food service providers who supply lots of restaurants, cafeterias and catering businesses. Basically, all of that business is gone!” Another example is family gatherings for summer picnics and similar outings. “That’s all basically ended,” due to the pandemic, “So no more fruit bowls being made up for the family to enjoy, and no more snacking vegetables being cut up for people to enjoy. That’s all gone.”

Elsewhere in the system, Costanza points to the chain store business calling it “a mixed bag, with some weeks being a fair amount of business, and some not.” Worse yet, he says, “The stores don’t know if they’ll have employees willing to come to work to even stock the shelves, or if they will have trucks willing to deliver the products from distribution centers.”

Then too, there’s the matter of hotels and cruise lines…”all the types of places that have typically served lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. All gone.”

Dr. Goldy says that with fuel prices being fairly low, “it becomes more economical to transport fresh produce from less expensive production areas,” and bemoans the fact that “most federal assistance programs are designed for grain farmers, not fruit and vegetable farmers.”

He also notes that in addition to the restaurants, cruise lines, and hotels that Costanza talked about losing, are institutional markets including schools and universities where service has faded dramatically due to virtual and distance learning.

Goldy, who works around the clock with growers in the region, says, “Fresh fruit and vegetable producers also have to deal with a plethora of labor, water, pesticide, immigration, housing, food safety and other regulations that add to their costs, but they are not able to recoup.”

Leitz says that the Farmers Aid Program “has some money in it for specialty crop growers like myself if we have major market disruptions, but it was only for late winter and spring crops.” He argues, “It needs to be expanded to cover the summer months.”

Don’t even get these guys started on the Executive Orders from Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Leitz says, “We had to have a COVID Preparedness Plan in June, and we were inspected for that plan literally four days after the order.” The latest one has really rankled the agriculture industry, even resulting in lawsuits to stop it from happening. By way of explanation, Leitz says, “The latest one (Executive Order) to affect us is forcing us to test all migrant and seasonal workers for COVID. She gave us less than a week to come up with that plan, and then if one person is found positive, they have to quarantine. If they have been working closer than 6-feet for more than 15-minutes, that person has to quarantine also.” He points out, “We all work closer than 6-feet. That would shut me down!” He contends you should have to at least be symptomatic to have to undergo a test.

Leitz also reports, “We have nobody with symptoms. We are taking all the safety precautions that are recommended. Masks, gloves, sanitizing often, temperature checks daily, and training, training, training.”

Over at A&B Costanza Farms, Brett Costanza admits, “We normally have to be prepared to deal with Mother Nature and volatile markets, but this year we had no idea what to expect with the pandemic.” He’ll be the first to tell you, “It has been a challenge to say the least,” adding, “We started out with not knowing when our H2A migrant workers would be able to come or how many of them,” plus the concern as to whether they would be healthy enough to work once they arrived. He says, “Most have arrived with the exception of a handful that were not able to cross the border due to required interviews that were not able to be completed due to the virus.”

Regarding federal assistance, Costanza says, “The government came out with the Farm to Table box deal which was good for some growers. It was supposed to help American families and American farmers, the only problem is that most of the contracts were awarded to produce brokers, not family farmers like us. So, they make their cut on the deal, leaving the farmer with a lower-than-cost-of-production type of return. That does nothing to help the American farmer.”

At Leitz Farms, they proudly stand on tradition, while continuing to embrace new and innovative technology designed to make them better farmers from trickle irrigation that reduces water use to GPS for spot and accurate use of all crop inputs.

Both farms continually reinvest in their farmlands, people and technologies, but that costs money, too.

Brett Costanza says, “We knew going into this season it would be difficult and different, and that it has.” He strongly encourages every one of us, “Be aware of your food supply. Know where it is grown, and how it is grown. Ask the produce manager at your favorite grocery store where it is coming from.” And, he reminds us all, “Remember. Food comes from farms, not from grocery shelves.” He genuinely warns, “If the family farm is gone, this country will be in trouble. We have to be able to feed ourselves. Demand American Grown!”

The photo of green pepper processing at their production facility is courtesy of A&B Constanza Farms in Sodus.