We are a family farm that produces blueberries. There are many like us. Every year our harvest season comes and we see our market price drop rapidly. We are not the only crop affected. When our season begins, so does Mexico’s. Instead of selling American grown produce, with all of the government regulation that we have to deal with, berries flow into the country from the south and it dilutes our market. Often, it makes it very difficult to move our product. Towards the tail end of our season in New Jersey, Canadian berries begin, which floods the market and drives down the price even further.
I suggest prioritizing the produce grown in the United States before accepting other countries produce. If we cannot keep up with demand, then allow imports to cover.
It’s time we put the farmers in this country first.
If tariffs are added to foreign goods, it will make the cost of foreign competition higher, leaving American farmers a better shot first.
Yes and no. We need produce from other countries during our winter months to fill the gap. I think there needs to be specific policies in place to safeguard food. We don’t want to drive away countries that we depend on when we aren’t producing.
My farm is in Rome, NY. Has an apiary and was hoping for cover crop or hay/clover after 2 years of drainage ditch clearing attempts. My farm is under constant attacks. Some think it may be a land developer wanting the land for cheap. FOIL requests to find out who is behind my farm attacks is met with “protection” for the caller. Litigation in 2023 was expensive. We “won” but we lost the whole season of produce and the fields remain a mess. I have 2 acres of 38 cleared so far because of Rome’s NO right to farm policy. NYS needs to start doing better. No one will stand with us small farmers. We are so screwed.
This is where tariffs would be perfect to keep the price equal and not allow foreign importing to flood the markets