Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other politicians may be inviting cargo ships to offload in the Sunshine State’s ports, but local farmers appear to be struggling to find enough truck drivers.
Growers recently met with state lawmakers in an effort to prioritize moving perishables from the farms to shelves. During a Senate Agriculture Committee in Tallahassee, officials from the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association testified that delays in transporting produce could result in significant economic problems.
“There’s got to be some type of prioritization that can happen in the supply chain,” Tori Rumenik, commodity services and supply chain manager for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, reportedly said. “I’m just going to lay it bare. I think that getting AG inputs to producers and food to consumers is more important than moving televisions and Christmas gifts. That’s just my opinion. But we’re all in competition for the same drivers and trucks.”
Rumenik indicated that growers used to enjoy a reliable supply chain that could move ripe produce in two days. Since the national bottlenecks emerged, farmers are experience delays of up to a month. What’s particularly frustrating is that growers can quickly secure buyers and then not have the ability to bring products to market.
While Washington, D.C., politicians and the White House appear to be focused on the headline-grabbing logjams at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, Florida agricultural businesses are competing for truck drivers at a time when the national shortage is estimated at 80,000. Echoing the mainstream media’s fascination with the West Coast supply chain dysfunction, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki weighed in about progress in California.
“The average time a container is on dock is well on its way back to the level when the president took office in January and lower than last November,” Psaki reportedly said. “That means that we get goods to delivery trucks faster, to shelves, and of course to people’s homes faster.”
That may be good news for big-box retailers and Chinese manufacturing plants. However, Florida leaders appear to be tasked with resolving a local food-to-table crisis.
“We have to do everything we can to support this industry,” state Sen. Keith Perry reportedly said.
Key stakeholders have suggested wide-reaching strategies to improve transportation efficiency and free-up truckers to support the agricultural sector’s needs. Some of the potential improvements have been proposed by members of Congress. But few of the solutions have navigated the gridlock in the nation’s capital.
“If only we could raise the weight limit by 10,000 pounds in the state of Florida, that would help because then a driver could take a full truck, not a full weight limit,” Brittany Lee, executive director of the Florida Blueberry Growers Association, reportedly said. “And even if it were only on state roads, your (Senate) committee could help. That would alleviate some of the problems as it makes that driver more effective. He works 100 percent, not 80 percent or 75 percent of his personal capacities.”
The current supply chain disruption was decades in the making. Federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Transportation already appear to be reneging on solutions such as increasing truck parking along major supply routes. Florida may be best served by ushering in state-based solutions.
Sources: news4jax.com, miami.cbslocal.com
Supply and Demand! Truckers are gonna go where the top pay is. For decades, farm to market truck drivers have been some of the most underpaid in the industry.
Raise the rates to where it’s profitable for truckers to haul FL ag products.
As a driver, it’s nice to finally have the powers that be by the balls. My boss just gave everyone a dollar an hour raise, across the board, just to help make sure we stayed.
Pay more.. I refuse to go to Florida because it doesn’t pay anymore. No saying to be racist, but the last time I was in Florida those for the middle east had taken over down there and you couldn’t get a load to pay enough to start the truck literally. If I’m wrong you’ll have to prove it to me because that’s what my research found.. I got afford 60cents p/m to get out and that was the best the company I lease to could get and they told me just be you weren’t there last wk all they could get was 50cents..so tell them to pay more and the trucks will start coming back. There are always an exception to the rule as they say, but over all this is the Florida truck problem..
“He works 100 percent, not 80 percent or 75 percent of his personal capacities.”
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This mentality has sailed. See Frito Lay, Nabisco, Amazon. Not only are A LOT of drivers (especially in FL) nearing retiring, are retired, or should be retired, no driver should be manipulated into “maxing out his personal capacities”. A driver should, especially a local driver, should be able live comfortably on 40 hours. The ability to manipulate the American driver is gone. Pay him OT after 8 hours and pass the cost on. If he doesn’t want the OT, it can’t be forced. HOS IS NOT “personal capacities”. Drivers have been getting screwed for so long, SOP is run-em-til they drop.
Nobody wants to pay the driver. The trucking business has gone down the tube. TO many foreigners who get got loans India, Russian, Serbia and who knows what. They have cut the rates and know nothing about American trucking or the DOT rules. Most of them have trucks that should not be on the road. They do not keep there equipment up. I have seen so many foreigners driving trucks who can’t read or speak English. Pittyful. The real drivers left as soon as the government wanted CDL.