New Year Supply Chain Jan 20

For California AG today, I'm Mike Stephens. Carolyn Stringer, Trade Director for California Fresh Fruit Association, admits it's too soon to see if there will be more distribution problems in the summer.

For most of our members, this is not a busy time of year because their harvest hasn't started yet, and we represent 13 different commodities. So we keep hearing that Christmas was saved because the ports in L.A. Long Beach specifically were able to move goods in and out. But we're still hearing the same issues with added costs for containers and trucker shortages and and those haven't really improved. I think now the newest fear is that with Omicron spreading as quickly as it is across the nation, there are concerns that folks are going to be getting sick and have to stay home. And that will impact all the people who work in the in the logistics and supply chain industries as well. So that would happen in any industry where folks are physically leaving their home to do the work. And so will it impact the summer fruit? Maybe not. If the peak really does happen in four weeks or something like that, or if it's not as bad and we don't have any additional waves of COVID. So right now, it's just, you know, hope for the best and prepare for whatever comes. But it's too soon to know for for many of our commodities, just because it's not harvesting right now.