In the next four weeks, it will be peak strawberry season in California. This is when U.S. producers switch from Mexican imports to domestic crops of the popular fruit.
For Driscoll's, the world's biggest supplier of berries, that means the most important part of the year is overlapping with the fallout of coronavirus.
"This year it looks like we're going to have a record crop of strawberries," Soren Bjorn, president of Driscoll's, told Cheddar. "We have a few challenges ahead of us, for sure."
The biggest concern for the California-based company is keeping farmers, who are used to working in tight-knit groups, from congregating in the fields.
"Social distancing in the field is a very different thing than in an office or a factory," Bjorn said.
While there is plenty of space, workers often gather in packs around wash stations. As a result, Driscoll's has brought in additional stations to make sure everyone can safely wash their hands.
Some of these measures work against the culture of farming, particularly among the largely Hispanic workforce, Bjorn said.
Driscoll's does not anticipate a labor shortage, however, even as President Donald Trump closes the country to immigration, including temporary workers.
"I think we will be okay in terms of the supply of labor," Bjorn said. "In California, we're not that dependent on H2A guest workers. We mostly have a domestic workforce that lives here year-round."
He added that, unfortunately, there are 15,000 hospitality workers who are out of work in Monterey County alone. Many of these workers are going over to agriculture.
"I think we will be able to find enough workers, as long as we can keep everybody healthy," he said. "That's really been our number priority from day one."
Headline updated April 23 to reflect that Soren Bjorn is the president of Driscoll's, not CEO.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
