Michigan Farmers Still Plowed Under By COVID Rules wbckfm.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wbckfm.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Like many in America, farmers have gone through a difficult year in the face of a pandemic and an economic downturn. But across Michigan and other agricultural regions, we are resilient and hard-working contributors to our economy and our local communities.I have been farming blueberries in southwest Michigan for the past 16 years. Michigan has been growing blueberries for over 70 years and the fruit are a very important crop for Michigan’s economy. Test plantings began in the early 1920s.
US blueberry growers testify to ITC about harm of imports
Members of the American Blueberry Growers Alliance, a group representing U.S. domestic blueberry farmers, provided information to the U.S. International Trade Commission during a hearing on the impact of rising imports during the U.S. growing and harvest seasons. According to the information provided, American blueberry growers across the country – mostly small, family-run farms – have been devastated by an influx in blueberry imports, up by 75 percent in the past five years.
“The massive increase in Mexican imports during our harvesting season has crippled the Florida blueberry industry and threatens its very existence,” said Brittany Lee, Executive Director of the Florida Blueberry Growers Association and owner of Florida Blue Farms. “Over the period 2009 to 2019, we saw imports from Mexico increase by 2,111 percent. We have experienced a significant decline in price per pound for fresh blueberries in Florida, an
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Members of the American Blueberry Growers Alliance (ABGA), a group representing U.S. domestic blueberry farmers, today provided information to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) during a hearing on the impact of rising imports during the U.S. growing and harvest seasons. American blueberry growers across the country – mostly small, family-run farms – have been devastated by an influx in blueberry imports by 75 percent in the past five years, according to U.S. import data. Because of booming domestic demand, we should be enjoying a market in which there is room for both domestic and foreign growers to profit, said Jerome Crosby, Chairman of the ABGA Board of Directors and owner of Pineneedle Farms in Willacoochee, Georgia. However, foreign government policies targeting the United States market and large corporate import interests have combined to bring massive volumes of blueberries