California growers normally enjoy the harvest and fragrant orange blossoms this time of year, but last month’s flooding requires an extensive clean-up. In Tulare County - the state’s largest producer of navel and Valencia oranges and mandarins - growers are dealing with standing water in groves, mucky sediment and scattered driftwood across their lands.
More than 60% of the citrus crop has been picked, but the wet weather has resulted in missed export windows.
But besides all this, the Agriculture Transportation Coalition claims that the lack of a West Coast labor contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association could be particularly dangerous for the industry.
Shippers are moving cargo from the West Coast to East Coast ports, and Coalition Executive Director Peter Friedmann says that could be a permanent move. U.S. agriculture's largest international markets are in the Asia Pacific, and the most direct route is through West Coast ports.
Source: newstalkkit.com