-January 20,2023-
The Western Growers, California Fresh Fruit Association and Colorado Food and Vegetable Growers Association are actively opposing the proposed merger of Albertson’s and Kroger. The transaction would collectively represent 16 percent of the U. S. grocery market, second to Walmart at 21 percent.
According to the produce associations, Kroger has previously demonstrated predatory buying practices, including:
•Demanding 90-day credit, requiring waivers from the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act that requires 30-day payment. This demand issued in 2018 was subsequently rescinded following intervention by the USDA.
•Kroger bills shippers for private label packaging.
•Suppliers cannot dispute rejections based on quality or discrepancies in quantity.
•Kroger and other large chains import fruit and produce from other nations with lower cost structures to the detriment of domestic producers who are required to conform to minimum wage rates and other legal restrictions.
Based on the unsatisfactory trade conditions imposed by Kroger, many producers and growers have opted to supply Albertson’s, an option that would disappear in a merger.
In a letter addressed to the Anti-Trust Division, of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, Dave Puglia, President and CEO of Western Growers, stated, “The Kroger-Albertson’s merger is anticompetitive and will harm the fresh produce industry, farm workers and farm communities, consumers and threaten national security.” He added, “Eliminating major competitors from the marketplace never leads to reduced prices for the consumer. Rather, food costs – already under pressure by high inflation – will only go up if this mega-merger is permitted to proceed.”
Today instead of being in charge of grading the cotton grown in the Valley, the Visalia center now sorts cotton from four states, California. Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas.
Both the Kings and Kaweah watersheds feed farms and cities in Kings County to the west of the Sierra.
California raisins are not dancing any more as the size of the crop has shriveled to a third of what it was two decades ago.
The decrease in acreage and production in California reflects a similar but even more dramatic drop in another iconic California crop – olives. Olives are an alternative year production crop. This year USDA predicts we will produce just 20,000 tons -46,000 tons the year before. But twenty years ago in 2003 we harvested about 115,000 tons – that’s better than an 80% decline. This year bearing acres of table olives are just 12,000, says USDA compared to 36,000 acres twenty years ago -a drop of two thirds. Canneries that used to populate small towns in California like Lindsay are no more and one of the remaining family-owned canneries- Bell Carter near Walnut Creek recently sold out to a Spanish processor.
The Walnut Bargaining Association is recommending a minimum price recommendation that will return at least 65 cents per pound back to growers.
Agriculture losses in Florida from Hurricane Ian’s high winds and drenching rains could reach $1.56 billion, with citrus, cattle, vegetable and melon operations among the hardest hit, the University of Florida reported Tuesday in a preliminary estimate.