What should be a bustling time in California citrus groves and packinghouses has ground to a halt, with pickers not harvesting much fruit and packing facilities sitting idle, due to the Longshoremen work slowdown. Contract negotiations between West Coast dockworkers have dragged into their ninth month, and California agricultural exporters say delays at West Coast ports have gotten worse—with severe impacts to citrus growers and packers, who are at the height of their exporting season. Citrus packinghouse in Fresno County should be packing 15 to 20 shipping container loads a week for export mainly to Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea. California ports are so backed up now that not only are exporters unable to get their cargo loaded onto ships, but they also can't get their fruit back to move it to domestic markets, with containers of fruit sitting at the ports spoiling, said Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual.
Millet