miami: gateway to america

MIAMI:Gateway to America

Big city, bright lights, and busy ports

Few cities in the United States are as culturally andethnically unique as Miami. The city is known bya number of nicknames, ranging from the ‘Capitalof Latin America’ to ‘Magic City’—though per-haps the most accurate is ‘Perishables Gateway to

the Americas,’ referencing its expanding role as a hub of inter-national trade.

Its name is a variation of Mayaimi, from an Indian tribethat lived around Lake Okeechobee in the 1600s, but itsfounding is credited to Julia Tuttle, a citrus grower. Miami isnot only the sole major metropolitan area in the United Statesestablished by a woman, but its birth and evolution are firmlytied to the fresh produce industry.

Miami-Dade County, with more than 2,400 square milesstretching from Biscayne Bay to downtown Miami toEverglades National Park, boasts a population of nearly 2.6million. Sixty-four percent of residents are Latino, and morethan half of the total population is foreign-born. Here, at thisvibrant intersection of languages, cultures, commerce, andfood, more companies are finding it profitable to do business.In a word, Miami is hot.

Miami-Dade isn’t alone in its growth. Surrounding coun-ties including Broward (home to Fort Lauderdale), Monroe(which includes the Florida Keys), Palm Beach, and Collierare also booming, benefiting from South Florida’s post-reces-sion economic reawakening. So is the agricultural industryaround the state, though it is shifting. Among the beneficiar-ies are growers in the Miami-Dade area and in the Redlandsregion south of Miami near Homestead, which is one of thestate’s major growing regions and the birthplace of the“Redland Raised” marketing initiative.

Launched in 2009 by area growers, Miami-Dade County,and the Florida Department of Agriculture & ConsumerServices, the Redland Raised program and logo were designedto promote the purchase and consumption of hyper-localproduce, fitting under the umbrella of the larger statewide“Fresh from Florida” agricultural branding program.

(For more information and contacts in Miami andSouth Florida, please turn the page.)

By Cristina Adams

County Growth & Local Initiatives

20 — Blueprints | Jan/Feb/Mar 2014

As part of the initiative, Lakeland, FL-based Public Supermarkets, Inc. begancarrying Redland Raised products, raisingawareness of South Florida’s fruit and veg-etables including avocados, okra, greenbeans, squash, sweet corn and, of course,the state’s famous tomatoes, as well asmore exotic offerings like mangos, caram-bola, lychee, pitaya, and jackfruit.

According to Walter Vazquez, chiefexecutive officer of Miami-based FreedomFresh LLC, a full-service distribution andthird-par ty cold storage company,Redland Raised may turn out to beexactly what consumers are looking for.“It’s a great opportunity to support ourfarmers,” he says, noting the program“seems to be popular, it has value, and‘legs.’ And with food safety being such animportant component, people want tounderstand where their produce comesfrom.”

Ecoripe Tropicals, a Miami-based dis-tributor and importer, sources both localand imported produce for its customers.Mark Holbik, vice president of the com-pany, points out local growers provideEcoripe with a range of specialty produce.

“We see the combinat ion of bothHomestead-grown produce and our ownoffshore programs as a great strength,” hesays. “Redland Raised is definitely not justfor roadside stands.”

Homestead’s Brooks Tropicals, LLC, agrower-shipper, packer, and importer, goesa step further by growing its own brand ofavocados, known as SlimCados, as well asstarfruit and some Caribbean Red papayain the Redland region. According toMary Ostlund, the company’s marketingdirector, Brooks also works closely withseveral Redland growers for passion fruit,guava, dragonfruit, and boniatos (oftencalled Cuban sweet potatoes).

The bigger picture shows just howimportant agriculture is to the economy,not just locally but statewide. The stateranks seventh in the country in overallagricultural production, and second infresh vegetables (behind California). Interms of acreage and value, Florida isagain second only to California for veg-etables, bringing in over $1.1 billion in2012, with a great deal of this wealth

attributed to tomatoes (in this category,Florida bests California).

The Sunshine State also outperformsall other states in citrus production andhas the second-largest orange crop in theworld (behind Brazil)—despite devastat-ing bouts with canker and more recentlycitrus greening, which reduced seasonaloutput.

Though the state’s battle with citrusgreening (also known as HLB or Huang-longbing disease) has cost the citrus indus-try as much as $4.5 billion in lost cropsand thousands of jobs, there is hope andmuch needed support for the fight. Inthe spring of 2013, Coca-Cola Companyannounced it would plant 25,000 acres—or 5 million trees—in new orange grovesacross the state, to the tune of nearly $2billion. As the parent company of theMinute Maid line of juices, the companysqueezes profits from about 96 percent ofFlorida’s oranges. And in September,Bayer CropScience awarded $200,000 ingrant funding to help combat citrusgreening through the Citrus Research &Development Foundation.

Aside from Florida’s longtime domi-nance of the citrus industry, what mightsurprise some is that the state is alsoranked first in the nation for sweet cornand squash production, and second in bellpeppers, cucumbers, snap beans, and egg-plant. Other surprises include a snapshotof fresh fruit, vegetable, and nut availabil-ity. Many assume Florida and especiallyMiami’s temperate climate fosters year-round growth, but this is only true for ahandful of commodities, including mush-rooms, guava, papaya, and carambola—and not always on a consistent basis.

Other commodities like peanuts andoranges come close with more than threequarters of the year in production, butmany of the much-in-demand produceitems—both exotics and staples—areavailable only in short bursts of produc-tion due to growing conditions, such asspinach (March, April), blueberries (April,May), cantaloupe (April, May, June),watermelon (April, May, June, July), man-gos (May, June, July, August), lychee(June, July), and longan (July, August)

(For more information and contacts inMiami and South Florida, please turnthe page.)

MIAMI: GATEWAY TO AMERICA

Big Picture Production



according to the Florida Department ofAgriculture & Consumer Services.

Going hand in hand with local lygrown produce is organics, and Florida,l ike many other states, has increased its acreage for fruit, but has seen somefluctuation in vegetable plantings. Overthe last several years, organic fruit acreagerose dramatically from 3,541 acres in 2008

to 15,394 acres in 2011 according to datafrom the U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) Economic Research Service.

Although citrus acreage doubled duringthe period, the bigger news was thedemand for exotic fruit—organic growerswent from zero to over 6,000 acresdevoted to subtropicals in 2010 and2011—accounting for more than 40 per-cent of the state’s fruit acreage.

The same kind of growth was not

found in organic vegetables ; thoughacreage for both tomatoes and mixed veg-etables increased from 2008 to 2010, totalacreage fell slightly to 4,592 acres in 2011.

Not to be outdone by organics, thedemand for tropical fruits has exploded over the past few years. Whether it’s starfruit, papaya, passion fruit, carambola, or guava, consumers want more. New

FRESH FORUMRosann Cabrera, Bayshore Produce LLCCompetition from outside the country, including Mexico and Central andLatin American countries [where] they can grow the same things morecheaply because labor is less expensive, and the transit time is short.

Leslie Simmons, Dave’s Specialty ImportsWhen it comes to blueberries, there are other countries like Mexico tryingto produce and supply during the Florida window. Depending on theirsuccess, it could definitely make for a more competitive environment.

Fernando Fonseca, Olivia’s Best, Inc.The high cost of being a farmer. Between the cost of producing, regula-tion, and labor, they just might sell their land to developers as soon asconstruction takes off again. We have the weather and the facilities togrow product; we need to keep farmers in South Florida and not justbuild condos.

Mary Ostlund, Brooks Tropicals LLCSuburban sprawl is probably the biggest challenge.

Walter Vazquez, Freedom Fresh LLCLabor issues; it has always been a problem for growers. Because of immi-gration laws and the worker’s visa program, it has become tougher tofind skilled labor for operations. There are also the ever-evolving chal-lenges of new requirements in food safety and traceability initiatives.

Timothy Henkel, Henkel and CohenLabor; for growers who need farm labor, they’re complaining that it’shard to get Americans who want to do the back-breaking work. Andnobody knows what’s going to happen with Congress and immigrationreform, which makes things even more difficult and unpredictable.

What are the toughest challenges facing Florida growers?

Clamoring for Tropicals

(For more information and contacts in Miami and South Florida, please turn the page.)


Organics


markets, new outlets, and a wealth ofnutritional information have helped pushtropical fruit into the spotlight and ontothe breakfast, lunch, and dinner plate. AtBrooks Tropicals, production of its signa-ture Caribbean Red papaya grew animpressive 33 percent in 2013, while pro-duction of Solo papayas doubled.Demand for starfruit also doubled in thelast year. Forecasts for 2014 look to beequally strong, with double-digit growthprojected for many of the company’s tropi-cal offerings. According to Ostlund, star-fruit’s unique shape when sliced (i.e., afive-pointed star) turns it into what shecalls ‘table candy,’ in terms of both tasteand looks—which is why photos are criti-cal to any sales push.

As for why tropicals are suddenly theprom queen of the fruit world, Ostlundsays it’s simply a matter of consumerslooking to increase how many fruits andvegetables they’re eating through diversifi-cation. Rather than sticking to the tradi-tional standards, they’re branching out.It’s not far, just an aisle or two over in thesupermarket, but it’s a whole new world oftaste. And with proper merchandising,

many tropicals can become fan favorites.“The great thing about tropicals is that

they cover the gamut, in terms of size,price, and allure—and they’re giving theold standards a real run for their money.Starfruit’s appearance in the fruit bowlmeans that apples and bananas get somecompetit ion for a kid’s grab-and-gosnack,” Ostlund says.

Even with the improving economy, theindustry faces ongoing challenges, fromnew regulations and consumer demand tohigher transportation costs, supply chainissues, and increasingly dramatic weatherevents that affect product availability.Even mergers have an impact, as anythingthat happens on a large scale often createsa ripple effect.

Labor: Uppermost for many Florida companies

were stricter federal policies and standardsgoverning produce traceability, as well asthe ever-present and thorny issue of immi-gration law.

The federal government shutdown in

October exacerbated the labor problem for Florida grower-shippers, as H2-A guestworker visa petit ions sat untouched for weeks while crops ripened in the fields.

Thousands of temporary workers wereneeded for harvests, but were nowhere to be found. After trade groups like theFlorida Fruit & Vegetable Associationapproached the U.S. Department of Labor and urged action, some headwaywas made in the backlog, but workers were late to many of the Sunshine State’sharvests.

Traceability: For many companies, the question of

traceabi l i ty winds up being a cost ly one, as they invest in pricey warehousemanagement systems to implement the programs. “The most challengingpart i s uniformity on what needs to be done at the farm level across a l l countr ies and growers ,” says Les l ieSimmons of Dave’s Specialty Imports, Inc.“We have to be flexible to make sure we’remeeting Produce Traceability Initiativestandards as well as working fairly withour growers.”

Fernando Fonseca, president at Olivia’sBest, Inc., which imports and distributesproduce from Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador,and the Dominican Republic, points tothe supply chain, noting how more cus-tomers want to know where and how theproduct was grown, how it was shipped,what kind of packaging was used, andwhether it’s safe to eat. “You want to makesure the product you give consumers is agood, clean, healthy product.”

Transportation: Some good news related to the supply

chain, however, is the expansion of avail-able shipping modes. Railex, the coldchain rai l shipper headquartered inAlbany, NY, announced it would open anew Florida facility in Jacksonville. Thenew hub will not only broaden the com-pany’s distribution network, but allow forexpress shipping throughout the Southeastto and from major markets includingAtlanta and Miami.

Another rail shipper, Tampa, FL-based


Changes & Challenges


Green Express, will be offering refrigeratedlogistics services from Kingsbury, IN to thePort of Tampa. Green Express is partneringwith CSX Transportation’s Food &Consumer Products Group fordirect, high-speed unit-train railaccess to Tampa, with Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings pro-viding the refrigerated box cars.Once the service is up and runningthis spring, two express trains withtrailer, container, and box car capa-bilities will run weekly from theChicagoland area to the Port ofTampa, with planned expansion to an EastCoast facility in Philadelphia, and eventuallyout to the West Coast.

On the ocean side of the shipping coin,Crowley Maritime Corporation andSeaboard Marine Ltd. joined forces to sharevessels for a weekly service between SouthFlorida (Miami and Port Everglades) to CostaRica and Panama. Other news includes thecreation of the Florida Perishables TradeCoalition, which launched a six-month pilotprogram for bringing cold-treated commodi-ties from Peru and Uruguay directly intoSouth Florida. Both cold-treated blueberries

and grapes have arrived in Miami, bypassingtraditional routes to East Coast ports. If suc-cessful, the program will widen the scope toinclude other countries and perishables.

Weather: Weather, too, is a constant topic. Across

the board, growers, distributors, importers,and exporters agree that weather is the indus-try’s biggest question mark; as usual, it candictate a season’s profits by creating eitherabundance or shortages. “Like anythingelse,” says Vazquez, “we have to figure out asolution, but it’s difficult to plan for.”

A new book edited by University of Florida Institute of Food and AgriculturalSciences researcher Keith Ingram, ClimateChange of the Southeast United States:

Variability, Change, Impacts, and Vulnerability(2013), says wild weather is something theindustry should plan on, not only for theforeseeable future, but the rest of the twenty-

first century. The book’s authorsbelieve unexpected, severeweather events will occur morefrequently, especial ly in thesoutheastern United States—stretching from Virginia down toFlorida, then west to Louisianaand up to Kentucky. The studyalso included Puerto Rico andthe Virgin Islands as well.

Among the forecasts affecting the freshproduce industry were higher overall annualtemperatures and more extreme heat days,but fewer cold and freeze days. Other predic-tions included higher sea levels, fewer yetmore severe tropical storms and hurricanes,and declining air quality. Each of the vari-ables could require growers to alter plantingsand irrigation, as well as harvests, storage,and shipping patterns.

In addition to rising costs and theweather, numerous legal issues have appearedon the area’s produce trading landscape.According to Timothy Henkel, whose Miamifirm Henkel & Cohen, PA specializes in pro-duce business law, legal hiccups can occurwhen one party or another doesn’t follow theUSDA’s Perishable Agricultural CommoditiesAct (PACA) regulations to the letter.

Other common legal issues that plagueMiami businesses are the same ones thattrouble produce companies across the coun-try. According to Henkel, the top three arelabor, immigration reform, and food safety,but the latter continues to be a thornyissue—especially since recent trends indicatebuyers prefer to deal with growers and com-panies of a certain size. Equating size withsafety, however, is a rather dangerous general-ization as many smaller firms have alreadyimplemented strict food safety regimens andearned various certifications.

The ‘size’ perception can also pose prob-lems for smaller operations or newer firmstrying to make their way into the U.S.produce market after implementation ofmore recent trade agreements. It can be

Legal Issues




“The improvements and upgrades at PortMiami are beneficial for the

whole industry. Once it’s all up and running, it will be fantastic and great

for business.”

difficult and expensive for Central orSouth American grower-shippers to workwith U.S. distributors in the first place, andwith more stringent food safety requirementsfor foreign suppliers (as part of the FoodSafety Modernization Act), these companiesmust invest in new or additional equipmentand often add personnel and infrastructure tohave their growing operations certified forsales to U.S. buyers.

Much of the boom in Miami-Dade isthanks to foreign trade. According to the

county’s Department of Regulatory &Economic Resources, total trade for thecounty was $96.5 billion in 2012, an 11 per-cent jump from $87 billion in 2011. Importsthrough the county’s two ports of entry—PortMiami and Miami InternationalAirport—also rose about 19 percent duringthe same time period to $39.6 billion.Exports rang in at nearly $57 billion, a year-over-year boost of 6 percent.

Of the county’s top 20 trading countrypartners, 15 are in Latin America with Brazilheading the list. South America is the area’slargest regional trading partner; 43 percent of

Miami-Dade’s international trade in 2012,about $41.2 billion, came from SouthAmerica with $10.8 billion in imports and$30.4 billion in exports.

After South America, in terms of tradedollars, but no less important to the Miami-Dade economy, are Central America andCaribbean countries. International trade withthese nations rose to $23.3 billion in 2012,up from $20.9 billion the previous year andtopping Europe’s $17 billion third-placeshowing.

At the state level, fruits and vegetables wereamong the top five agricultural exports in2011. According to the Florida Departmentof Agriculture & Consumer Services, theSunshine State accounts for $207 million or72 percent of all grapefruit exports; $1.2 bil-lion more or 62 percent of orange exports;$296 million or 46 percent of bell peppers;$631 million or 45 percent of fresh markettomatoes; and $135 million or 44 percent ofall U.S. snap bean shipments. And that’s justthe top five products.

Agriculture is also an economic power-house at the local level, generating $27 billionannually for Miami-Dade and creating morethan 20,000 jobs. And while the businessenvironment proved challenging over the pastcouple of years for many, things were lookingup in 2013.

“Because the economy wasn’t great, peoplewere being very careful with their spending,and that kind of slowdown affects everyone,”says Vazquez of Freedom Fresh LLC. “Saleswere up in 2013 as we saw a gradual improve-ment, and we’re cautiously optimistic thispositive trend will continue in 2014.”

The city’s terminal market does notdraw business from big foodservice compa-nies and national supermarket chains as it isunable to accommodate the needs of thelarger companies. As a result, it has evolvedinto an assortment of local mom-and-popstores and smaller suppliers. Vazquezmoved his own company out 13 years ago insearch of larger, more up-to-date facilities.

“We were growing, and the market justcouldn’t meet our new requirements,” saysVazquez, whose father spent 30 years onthe Miami market. “You have some smaller



A Shrinking Terminal Market


All About Foreign Trade


niche players down there still, but…the big-ger guys have all moved out.”

Fonseca at Olivia’s Best agrees, notingthat the big chains and wholesalers tend tomake their purchases directly from packinghouses. Even though the market still servesbusinesses that buy in smaller pallet quanti-ties, it can’t compete with the markets inLos Angeles or New York.”

The area’s ports remain a key componentin the industry—where the pace is alreadybrisk and accelerating.

PortMiami, the “Perishables Gateway tothe Americas,” is the county’s second-largestmoneymaker, where trade with South andCentral America and the Caribbeanaccounted for 54.3 percent of the port’s cargo

business in 2012. Much of this trade was infruit and vegetables, with asparagus, snowpeas, melons, and mangos leading the charge.

There are also plans to make the port aglobal logistics hub; to that end, more than$2 billion in private and public funding hasbeen invested in various infrastructure proj-ects, including railway restoration, a tunnel,and channel expansion.

Slated for completion this summer, thePort Tunnel will link port facilities with thestate’s interstate highway network to reducetraffic in downtown Miami and cut vehicleemissions from the estimated 16,000 vehi-cles that travel in and out of the port everyweekday.

The Deep Dredge project will expand theport’s channel depth from 42 to 50 feet, mak-ing PortMiami the only U.S. port south ofNorfolk, VA able to accommodate the hugecargo ships passing through the enlargedPanama Canal. The Deep Dredge is sched-uled to wrap up late this year, ahead of thePanama Canal’s 2015 deadline.

Port Everglades, located north of Miami inBroward County, is already known as a hubfor the cruise industry. In its renovated cruiseterminal, the port hosts 10 different cruise

PortMiami Meets ELMO and CEE

While Sesame Street’s Elmo has long been a favorite of young children and more recentlybecame a darling of the produce industry’s new initiative with First Lady MichelleObama, PortMiami has embraced an altogether different animal—the ELMO Project,

standing for Enforcement Link to Mobile Operations—launched in 2012.

By partnering with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and private investors, PortMiamisped up its import process for fresh fruit and vegetables with the implementation of the ELMOProject, which consisted of handheld devices to scan and process information in real time. Thenew program allowed perishables to pass through the inspections process—getting the loads towaiting trucks or railcars in minutes, rather than hours or days.

PortMiami also doubled its fumigation capabilities and increased refrigerated storage units tomore than 1,000 to maintain the cold chain, enabling the port to process more than 900 refrig-erated containers per day.

In addition to ELMO, PortMiami was also designated as the U.S.’s only Customs “Center ofExcellence and Expertise” (CEE) for agricultural products. Developed by the U.S. Customs andBorder Protection, the CEE program was created to coordinate and streamline theimport/export process for registered businesses with significant volume entering the country.

Ten such centers—each dedicated to a particular facet of trade (i.e., pharmaceuticals in NewYork, NY; machinery in Laredo, TX; consumer products in Atlanta, GA; etc.)—operate at majorports of entry throughout the United States.


Port Improvements

www.producebluebook.com Jan/Feb/Mar 2014 | Blueprints — 33

lines and over four million passengers annu-ally. But it also handles more than 5.2 mil-lion tons of containerized cargo per year,making it the twelfth-largest container portin the United States, bringing in about $18billion per year in foreign trade.

Like PortMiami, this terminal recentlyunderwent an extensive multimillion-dollarexpansion. For many companies, the portprojects are good news for the bottom line.“These improvements greatly facilitate theflow of imported produce, which is key toour success, and have a definite positiveimpact on our business,” says Ecoripe’sHolbik. “Both ports do an amazing job ofexpediting the import process for our freshproduce.”

Frank Ramos, of The PerishableSpecialist, Inc., agrees. His company, a customs brokerage specializing in fresh produce, does about 35 percent of its busi-ness through PortMiami; the remaining 65percent comes by air through MiamiInternational Airport. As far as he’s con-cerned, the city has worked to develop aboth comprehensive, reliable infrastructureand system for importing perishables.

“The improvements and upgrades atPortMiami are beneficial for the wholeindustry,” Ramos says. “The Deep Dredgewill allow super vessels to come in withmore containers, and the tunnel will givetruckers extra access for coming in and outof the port. Once it’s all up and running, itwill be fantastic and great for business.”

Rosann Cabrera, who manages BayshoreProduce LLC, recently opened a secondoffice in Tampa to handle imports and saysPortMiami officials have been enthusiasticabout helping her expand the business.Bayshore Produce began exporting aboutfour years ago, and while Cabrera says therehas been little change in that side of herbusiness, in imports, “there’s been a hugeimprovement” with port personnel willingand eager to go the extra mile.

“We really need these improvements,”confirmed Freedom Fresh’s Vazquez, whodelivers to cruise lines on-site and also hascustomers shipping through the port.“Anything that makes us a viable entry pointcan only help.”

The future of Miami’s produce industryis anyone’s guess—though most believe thecity will continue to dominate imports of

fruit and vegetables. Area growers will con-tinue to take their cues from consumers, asdemand for organics and tropical fruitincrease, and retailers promote seasonallocally grown commodities.

Holbik at Ecoripe Tropicals acknowl-edges the ongoing interest of consumers inthe health benefits of produce. With shop-pers becoming more and more conscious ofhow their food-buying decisions affect theirhealth, he says, “When we do in-storedemonstrations of some of our exoticfruits,” he notes, “we need to make sure theinformation reaches them.”

Social media, too, is transforming how

companies approach their customers, asdetailed information is available through avariety of channels. Who shops for what isalso evolving. “Data shows that male shop-pers and empty-nesters are shopping more,”says Simmons of Dave’s Specialty Imports.“This is forcing us to look beyond the tradi-tional single target of ‘Mom’ as the onlyshopper for fresh produce.”

Cristina Adams is a freelance business writerand editor with more than eighteen years ofexperience. She writes for a number of busi-ness publications and websites.

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miami: gateway to america

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