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The Nation's Pulse
Blueberry Economics
The road to automated harvesting equipment.
SEA ISLE, N.J. — I should be worrying about how the politicians are killing the nation financially, but that’s on the back burner today because the 25th annual Red, White and Blueberry Festival is right up the road and they’re estimating that 10,000 of us will show up and eat a million blueberries.
That works out to just 100 blueberries each — a piece of cake. Or a nice stack of blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup and a side of blueberry sausages.
The party is in Hammonton, N.J., the “Blueberry Capital of the World.” What lobsters are to Maine, what wings are to Buffalo, that’s what blueberries are to Hammonton, home to sandy soil and dozens of blueberry farms.
Check the blueberries in your refrigerator or at the supermarket, and it’s a good chance they’re from a farm in Hammonton (and now’s the time to buy, with supplies at their peak and prices down in half from the $3.95 per pint in June).
“Festival items for sale this year include blueberry bagels, blueberry loaf, blueberry cannoli and blueberry pie, along with crates of just plain blueberries,” reported the Press of Atlantic City.
There’s also blueberry mustard and a classic car show featuring “blueberry cars” — vintage cars painted in blueberry colors — plus a big “four-tiered blueberry masterpiece,” a supersized cake baked by the celebrity chef of the cable-TV show “Cake Boss.”
Economically, blueberries are big business in South Jersey, a welcome boost for a region with a current unemployment rate of 13.4 percent, 46 percent higher than the national rate.
“Agriculture officials say New Jersey’s blueberry crop is worth $62 million per year,” reports the Associated Press. “There are nearly 300 farms that devote roughly 7,500 acres to blueberry cultivation, yielding approximately 6,980 pounds per acre.”
The hitch, in terms of employment, is that blueberry picking doesn’t seem to be much done by the locals either because Americans don’t want to do that kind of work anymore or because it doesn’t pay enough.
“What’s the price to escape torment?” asked a recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Ask Anthony ‘Butch’ DiMeo Jr., who owns Columbia Fruit Farm, a 300-acre blueberry farm. He’ll tell you $1.54 million — the amount he and his cousin William DiMeo spent to improve living conditions for the 300 Haitian workers now picking blueberries the size of marbles on their farm in Hammonton.”
Said Butch DiMeo, “They were tormenting us,” referring to the U.S. Department of Labor inspectors who routinely dropped by his farm. “They just torment you.”
DiMeo had to add new dormitories, shower facilities, toilets, lockers and a kitchen.
There were overcrowding violations — 151 people living in a camp designed for 130, for example — because, explained DiMeo, “the workers sometimes brought along family members.”
The end result might be automated harvesting equipment.
“Down the road, they’re not going to use pickers,” said Rutgers professor Gary Pavlis, Atlantic County’s agricultural agent. “If they’re going to be hassled constantly, they may as well move on to something else.”
About the Author
Ralph R. Reiland is the B. Kenneth Simon professor of free enterprise and an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (28) | Leave a comment
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Stuart Koehl| 7.26.11 @ 6:16AM
Analogously, when I was analyzing the European aerospace/defense industry some years back, I was told because of rigid labor laws and onerous regulations that made workers both expensive and impossible to fire, whenever companies had capital to invest in expansion they always put it into automation, not personnel. Gradually, they squeezed the labor content out of their product, so that production processes that half a century ago required fifty workers today require five.
Workers cost a lot in Europe, and when the economy goes south, you can't fire them, which is hard on the bottom line. Robots cost a lot up front, but when you don't need them, you simply turn off the power, and nobody complains--yet. I'm sure at some time in the future, somebody will legislate the right of cybernetic beings to full employment.
masly | 7.26.11 @ 12:24PM
Welfare payments, food stamps, earned income tax credits, and the whole plethora of popular entertainment are the modern equivalent of bread and circuses and these are provided for the exact same reasons – to mollify and distract and attempt to keep a lid on things.
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PolishKnight| 7.26.11 @ 2:40PM
One of my fondest childhood memories was my father cursing over a broken dishwasher "Damn labor saving devices my *!@!!!"
In my career, I've seen more labor saving automation devices bought for millions to be discarded a few years later than "salad shooters" on late night TV. The salesmen come in, pitch their product as if it's going to do their dry cleaning on top of it's other wonders, and show the charts they really drool over ("cost" (labor) cutting savings) and then take the execs on a golf trip and sell them the cool aid.
The cool aid arrives and doesn't do everything they thought it would (the demo was set up in a very limited case basis that only applies to 5% of their scenarios.) No problem! An upgrade is available for that! Just like MSword! By the time they're done, they've gone 3 times over budget. But that's ok since the guy who signed off on buying the thing took his million dollar bonus and left for another company...
I just typed this on Windows7 which is now crashing and slower than my 11 year old MAC. Sigh...
jppc| 7.26.11 @ 6:58AM
One of the reasons why the US has lagged behind in automated farming technology is because we have allowed large numbers of illegal immigrants from south of the border. Sheer numbers of available labor retards automation.
Agricultural automation can and should help retard the huge flow of "migrants" - if put into use.
JP| 7.26.11 @ 7:45AM
You should stop by some of the farms in my neck of the woods. Outside of a small number of farm hands (many with ag degrees), it's all automated. One such farm consists of almost 100,000 acres of corn, wheat, tomatoes, and beans. At least in the Midwest, migrant farm workers are a thing of the past.
c. j. acworth| 7.26.11 @ 7:02PM
Do they have machines that can pick blueberries? The berries are easily bruised and the bushes easily damaged aren't they? I'm just wonderin'. Here in southwest New Hampshire I have wild blueberries growing in my back field. Real sweet, but pretty small; not really worth the effort.
GM Strong| 7.26.11 @ 7:03AM
Stop by on your way home and I'll buy some of that excess tuna. I'm not far from any of the bridges.
JP| 7.26.11 @ 7:43AM
What happened to Jersey's agriculture also occured in Southeat England (Kent). Kent was once called the garden of the UK. Besides its fruit, Kent was also known for its hop farms. Laborers used to make a decent living during the summer months. And many of the poor of London's Eastside helped in the harvests. But industrialization did in the old rual way of life. Hop pickers eventually replaced humans; and high tech centralized hop processing facilities replaced the old oast houses. Real estate in Kent went through the roof. Today, most of the old farms are gone. Bed and Breakfasts and vacation homes are the norm.
Mike Hawk| 7.26.11 @ 9:02AM
Thats hops. Hops go in ale and beer brewing. Hop is what rabbits do.
John Barlycorn| 7.26.11 @ 12:18PM
From Wiki:
Hops are the female flower clusters (commonly called seed cones or strobiles), of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and ...
In my neck of the world where we actually grow Kent Goldings, we refer to them as Hop.
Petronius| 7.26.11 @ 8:04AM
A few years ago ABC did a hit piece on a blueberry farmer in Wisconsin over child labor. They played the same shot of a five year old lugging a bucket in front of the camera about 15 times and accused the owner of torture. The farmer did not employ any children. The parents were making them work. And the farmer knew that telling them their kids were not allowed in his fields, that family would have left his operation to find one which would look the other way and his crop would not get harvested. And if he said that to the correspondent, it didn't get aired. ABC didn't care. They found out he was selling to Walmart and hounded them too. Walmart canceled the contract and his business for that season was ruined.
As to mechanizing berry picking, fuggettaboutit. The fruit is to delicate. There aren't enough growers to make designing, producing, and marketing harvest equipment viable. Then the Dept. of Labor and the FDA will find other ways of hassling the farmers. They only way they can retaliate is by refusing to advertise on ABC.
Bruce Abbott| 7.26.11 @ 8:08AM
I worked in the blueberry industry in Maine for 15 years. At its peak, the company that employed me shipped 4 million pounds of fruit a season. We employed both locals and imported labor to harvest the fruit; many kids earned their school clothes and mad money in the fields. You were paid by the box; rake a little, make a little, or rake a lot. It was your choice. Then the US Dept of Labor mandated effective minimum wage for all workers; if a kid didn't rake enough berries in a day, his price per box went up to equal the minimum wage. Within four years we had 6 mechanical harvesters in the field, and those jobs were gone.
PCC| 7.26.11 @ 8:52AM
Sorry, Bruce, but those kind of real world examples cut no ice at all in the fantasy world of government edicts.
Pecos Pete| 7.26.11 @ 8:52AM
I remember the cotton fields of Texas being hand picked by lots of people. Now cotton strippers do the picking and there are no jobs except for the remaining farmers. The collateral damage on local businesses was huge. Drive around west Texas today and you will see 1930's depression era damage. Empty buildings, houses sitting empty with windows boarded up. People moving to cities. Whole stretches of land with no buildings as the farm homes and buildings have been removed to provide for more tillable land.
When King O's depression hits the cities the only people with food will be the remaining farmers/ranchers in rural areas.
diviz| 7.26.11 @ 10:00AM
Automization and mechanization lead to increased productivity and prosperity. It is the only way to compete with low wage countries and to solve immigration issues.
Accelerate depreciation and whatever other steps to facilitate investment in capital and machinery.
skip| 7.26.11 @ 10:50AM
Blueberry capital? New Jersey?
2009 total utilized blueberry production
(source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service)
1) Michigan 99,000,000 lbs
2) Maine 88,500,000 lbs
3) New Jersey 53,000,000 lbs
4) Oregon 48,000,000 lbs
5) Georgia 43,000,000 lbs
6) Washington 36,000,000 lbs
7) North Carolina 32,700,000 lbs
8) California 23,000,000 lbs
9) Florida 13,500,000 lbs
10) Mississippi 6,500,000 lbs
11) Indiana 3,700,000 lbs
12) New York 2,100,000 lbs
13) Arkansas 500,000 lbs
14) Alabama 300,000 lbs
Nice try.
skip| 7.26.11 @ 12:50PM
An aberration, you say?
2008 total utilized blueberry production
(source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistical Service)
1) Michigan 110,000,000 lbs
2) Maine 89,950,000 lbs
3) New Jersey 59,000,000 lbs
4) Oregon 43,100,000 lbs
5) Georgia 41,000,000 lbs
6) Washington 32,000,000 lbs
7) North Carolina 28,500,000 lbs
8) California 14,000,000 lbs
9) Florida 9,800,000 lbs
10) Mississippi 4,000,000 lbs
11) Indiana 3,800,000 lbs
12) New York 2,300,000 lbs
13) Arkansas 800,000 lbs
14) Alabama 360,000 lbs
Ironically, the best, bar none, variety is the Michigan 'Jersey' blueberry.
Go Blue(berry).
Capt G| 7.27.11 @ 2:02AM
You haven't had blueberries until you've had Michigan blueberries. Michigan is to blueberries what Idaho is to spuds, and you'll pay a premium for them. They're worth it.
Mechanization, in literally these fields, doesn't happen until labor costs rise making it desirable.
Kevin Compton| 7.26.11 @ 10:59AM
I picked blueberries every summer from the time I was 8 until I was 16. ( I started working on my uncle's dairy farm bailing hay) In 1967, the first summer I picked we made 8 cents a pound. By the time I moved on to other work in 1975 the price was up to 14 cents a pound. The picking season lasted from just after July 4th until school started in the end of August. We began as soon as the dew had evaporated and worked until 5 or 6 in the evening with an hour for lunch. Most of the pickers were kids, a few adults no one who could be considered a migrant or immigrant though. I have no idea what a pint of blueberries went for in the grocery store in the early 70's, maybe 50-75 cents? I always ate plenty of blueberries but managed to make enough by the end of summer to buy my school clothes for the coming year.
Dacron Mather| 7.26.11 @ 11:34AM
Would God TAS supinely vegetative political writers had the competence of its outstanding blueberry correspondent.
Bravo, Mr.Rieland !
Ohiolad| 7.26.11 @ 11:34AM
During the height of the Roman empire, most of the real work of the economy was done by slave labor. Agriculture, once a product of small, independent farmsteads, was taken over by huge plantations centered around provincial villas owned by the land-owning patrician class. A large underclass of plebeians whose labor was no longer needed was forced out of the countryside to congregate in the cities. This underclass, being idle and aimless with much time on their hands were a constant social irritant for the rulers of the day and needed to be placated and distracted by bread and circuses, lest they riot and generally cause trouble. It seems that with increasing automation, we are developing a similar situation as the one in ancient Rome. Like Rome we have also developed a large underclass whose labor because of automation has become increasingly less in demand. Welfare payments, food stamps, earned income tax credits, and the whole plethora of popular entertainment are the modern equivalent of bread and circuses and these are provided for the exact same reasons – to mollify and distract and attempt to keep a lid on things.
Dai Alanye | 7.26.11 @ 2:14PM
Partly correct. The more critical problems are high unemployment compensation and easy welfare. "Jobs Americans won't do" come into existence due to lack of incentive for the poor.
As with you or I, when allowed to choose between the dole (and encouraged to go on it by the government) and working at hard jobs, they avoid difficult labor. It's to their benefit to collect a payment and enjoy leisure, perhaps bringing home a fish in their spare time.
It's not pure laziness, as many of these folks are willing to do odd jobs if you pay them under the table. But instead of demanding work we encourage sloth.
Unfortunate for them, unfortunate for the nation.
PolishKnight| 7.27.11 @ 10:47AM
It's useful to keep in mind that the welfare classes of early Rome were two parent families and the slave classes were literally slaves.
In modern times, single parent families are the norm in the welfare classes and illegal immigrants expect themselves, or at least their children, to be full citizens entitled to a portion of the welfare largesse or even more.
Bob K.| 7.26.11 @ 12:18PM
On the other hand, here in the Poconos of Pennsylvania you can drive up to many Blueberry farms with your family and for a fee pick all you want.
JimP| 7.26.11 @ 12:54PM
No doubt CATA exists off of federal grant money with the occasional donation from Soros or some other socialist billionaire.
Mich| 7.26.11 @ 10:42PM
I live in Michigan where 35 years ago, local farmers hired a lot of Mexican migrant workers (as well as any locals) to pick cucumbers (for pickles). According to the farmers many made enough to go back to Mexico and live until the next season. The farmers did have to provide living quarters; I don't know the minimum standards. The federal government paid for the local school system to employ local teachers and administrators for education of the workers; children, all ages. Buses were run and meals provided at the school. Today, there are hardly any migrant workers, and most picking is mechanical. I don't know if there is still a migrant program at school or not. The guarantees to the workers (I had heard 1/2 the crop) and the expenses (not to mention hassle) of providing living quarters made mechanization more feasible.
POST American| 7.26.11 @ 10:50PM
--Great piece! and who doesn't like blueberries?
BTW ---when is anyone at A.S. or in media generally going to
take up the issue of former Canadian PM Harper's profound collusion with and sellout to the Monsanto GM-EUGENICS
stealth op across Canada.
As we're now dealing with the 5th person under
40, clean living family types, dying from stomach
cancer (GM linked) ---it's really starting to get
to us.
And, as ever, the same stealth program of GM
saturation of the food grid is, if anything, MORE
advanced right here in the U.S.A..
REALLY
TRULY
wayne| 7.27.11 @ 1:41AM
Mechanize ASAP. The various levels of public subsidization of farm stoop labor will eventually end. Maybe oversimplifying, but IMO, agricultural serf labor has been the bane of the country's existence from the beginning. Time to end it using robots.