Bama Tomato Company has its own fleet but still has to deal with both fuel costs and new requirements. “We have our own trucks that run back and forth to California, so we can manage our own logistics,” Griffin notes. Unfortunately, to be in compliance with California Air Resource Board vehicle emission requirements, he explains, “we’ve had to buy a lot of new equipment, which has been very costly. Also, it seems like gas is down, but diesel not as much. We’re adjusting to hundreds of thousands of dollars in increases to our fuel bill. We’ve had to increase our prices to our customers.”
FOOD SAFETY: GETTING THERE
Food safety, of course, is an important issue for wholesalers as buyers want assurances about handling, traceability, and safety protocols. In Alabama, food safety plays an interesting role among smaller farms and in the farmers’ market model.
“As a distributor, we’re very concerned about the products we sell and follow food safety standards,” Williams comments. “Most of our customers have safety and traceability programs in place and expect suppliers to comply. We support our suppliers with the documents, certifications, and audits required. In addition, we’ve worked hard to bring the local farms we buy from into compliance with these programs, so we can safely and without liability source produce from them.”
Williams goes on to say that getting into compliance can be a financial obstacle for some of the smaller farms, and he and other wholesalers cannot source from them for commercial clients. However, the massive network of farmers’ markets in the state provides an alternative outlet for these growers.
“Right now, the farmers’ markets are exempt from some of the requirements,” Wambles stresses. “A grower does not have to be GAP [U.S. Department of Agriculture Good Agricultural Practices] certified to sell at a farmers’ market.” He does keep an eye out for potential hazards or threats occurring at other farmers’ markets, to relay the information to area growers.
“It took our customer base to push us, and our farmers, to comply with the food safety requirements,” Stone admits. “I would say 80 percent are now in compliance, the other 20 percent we can’t work with. And the smaller farms are finding out they need to come into compliance to have outlets for their produce beyond the local market.”
“The days of you and me driving down the road and buying a case of yellow squash off the back of a pickup truck are disappearing because of food safety,” Williams confirms. “And while food safety is good for all of us, it’s a costly and difficult program to put in place for the smaller farms that don’t produce big volume. I understand both sides of the coin.”
LOCAL AND SEASONAL PRODUCE RULES
Yet, perhaps more than anywhere else, Alabama produce sales are a modern version of that pickup truck on the side of the road. With 155 farmers’ markets and the potential for 12 more to be added this year alone, along with a robust local produce industry and a ready-to-boom farm-to-school program, Alabama produce is looking at another promising year.
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