While grappling with Mexico’s booming specialty crops, Florida also struggles because consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables by Americans is notably down, said Hodges, who works in the Food & Resource Economics Department.
For years, farmers, scientists, economists, academicians and politicians have been concerned about what’s happening to fruit and vegetable crop production in Florida. But fixing challenges in the industry – from labor costs, labor shortages, declines in profits and technology issues – isn’t easy, and there are concerns that the state’s strawberry industry, for example, could collapse in a decade if issues aren’t addressed.
Just recently, Florida’s agriculture industry was pinning its hopes on the Trump administration’s negotiations with Mexico on a revised North American Free Trade Agreement, but the preliminary agreement announced last week didn’t address the industry’s concerns.
