Horkey has struggled with steady workers as well. “It’s hard to find good help who want to grow with our business; we’re just a stepping stone, so we end up hiring new workers all the time.” And while the lack of a steady pool of workers is still a thorn in every producer’s side, it is somewhat better than several years ago when a number of growers were forced to leave up to 25 percent of their crops in the field or orchard, since there were so few workers to pick and pack at harvest time.
Riggio cites labor and transportation as his top challenges in 2017 and 2018, and Russo echoes these sentiments. “It’s a challenge to find stability in bringing truckloads across the country with the logistics of new laws in place,” comments Russo. “But that’s something everyone is dealing with.”
“Our biggest obstacle is we can’t find drivers,” agrees LoPiccolo. “It’s our Achilles’ heel; all local, regional delivery has a high turnover rate.” And, with the city exploding in growth, “we have tons of business, but we could even do more if we had the right people,” he says.
As a producer of fresh greens, Horkey expresses concern over the E. coli outbreak on romaine lettuce this past spring, which led many big retailers to pull all product from their shelves—not just romaine from Arizona, but romaine from everywhere and other lettuces as well. “It scares people on all leafy greens,” he says, and worse yet, such fear can cast a wide net that “hurts all fresh vegetables.”
Full Speed Ahead
For Detroit’s fresh produce industry, the road is clear and it’s full speed ahead. High demand continues to provide new opportunities and greater returns for the city’s wholesalers at both the Detroit Produce Market and the Eastern Market, as well as plenty of attention and profit for retailers and restaurants.
Images: THINK A, Palokha Tetiana, Jose Diez Bey/Shutterstock.com
