The Road to Nogales

Another angle of the age-and-experience fray relates to the acceptable age for truck drivers. The U.S. House of Representatives rejected an amendment to the Highway Bill in November aimed at keeping younger drivers out of truck cabs and off the road. The failure of the measure will pave the way for lowering the minimum age for driving a tractor trailer from 21 to 18 years of age, for interstate hauls.

But are there many young men and women waiting in the wings who want to drive big rigs? The answer, and whether this will reduce the driver shortage or exacerbate the problem with more traffic incidents due to inexperience, is just another conundrum facing the transportation industry.

While Mandel is concerned about the shortage of drivers, along with the dearth of refrigerated equipment, he wishes there was more rail availability for shipping perishables. In addition, though fuel costs have fallen from last year, providing some relief for shippers and truckers, he isn’t sure whether it actually lowers his company’s operating costs.

Trends Without Borders
For many distributors in Nogales, greenhouse vegetables, organics, and specialty produce have become prime drivers of growth. The FPAA’s Moore finds the rise in interest is pretty simple: “Everyone looks at traction from the trend toward healthier eating,” she observes. “Consumers demand flavorful, good-looking produce all year long, and Mexico can supply it.”

Mike Righetti, managing member of Righetti Farms, a distributor that deals primarily with foodservice says, “A very positive trend is that we’ve been selling more fresh produce than ever in the school sector, a segment ripe for growth.” Few would be surprised by one of the most popular items sold to the area’s school kids: “They buy a lot of watermelon!”

Mexico’s Protected Agriculture
Ta-De Distributing has partnered with major growing operations in Mexico for over 60 years. “Our production partners are reliable and extremely market savvy,” Bennan says. And like many suppliers, he appreciates the quality and steady yields of Mexico’s thriving protected agriculture sector. “We handle a number of high-volume greenhouse commodities including peppers, tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers.”

Moore applauds the use of greenhouses to help “protect crops from the weather and maintain consistent supplies and quality” and Mandel agrees as well. “The three varieties of cucumbers we handle, plus peppers and tomatoes, are all greenhouse grown,” explains Mandel, who believes quality, consistency, and yields are enhanced by greenhouse operations. There are exceptions, though. “Certain items like squash and melons,” he notes, “do better outdoors and it’s more cost effective.”