In conversation with www.freshfruitportal.com, Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA) president Lance Jungmeyer discusses the importance of new infrastructure projects in Arizona, and hopes for the best when it comes to Donald Trump's stance on Mexican relations if he is elected president of the United States, or at least the ability of Congress to prevent any rash moves on trade or immigration should they arise. 

Jungmeyer is optimistic about a bill signed by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey last week which will put US$25 million towards an overpass for the State Route (SR) 189, but highlights the importance of additional roadworks in parallel.

According to the FPAA, Nogales accounted for 89% of produce that crossed the Mexican border into Arizona in 2014-15, at a volume of 5.9 billion pounds.

The FPAA president says the current connectivity of roads coming out of the Nogales port are "barely adequate" and they won’t support the kind of growth projected for the coming years.

FPAA president Lance Jungmeyer

"The bill is an acknowledgement by the state that this is an important project - it is the link to Mexico and that this is a big part of the future of the state," he says.

"The way this SR 189 overpass is configured and the traffic study that was done at the time, it shows that it could result in saving about 16 minutes per truck for trucks that are going from the port of entry to the main industrial area in Rio Rico, which is part of the Nogales area.

"When you compound that over all these trucks per day that is a huge amount of savings for the system, because there are only a a limited amount of trucks available to go back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico and bring the trailers across. So we have to find efficiencies to keep things rolling.

But Jungmeyer also points to congestion at Exit 12 and the following exit further north at Ruby Road.

"So basically the produce leaves the port of entry, goes on the SR 189 and in the future supposedly there will be an overpass so you won't have to stop, and then you get to the next exit and 'boom', you've got another backlog because it’s not a very well-designed or efficient exit.

"That project is something we feel needs to be improved at the same time. There is not the funding in place yet but we’ve been told that the project will probably be US$12-15 million and we would certainly want to see that the state can leverage the grant money that’s coming in.

"he main project is anticipated to cost anywhere from US$64 million to, depending on how you look at it, US$120-140 million and we’re hoping that top end number comes down quite a bit - there’s one last portion of the environmental and roadworks studies being done, but that will let us know really what the final high-end cost will be."

He highlights the legislation that was passed states the money intended for the project will be reverted to the state's general funds if construction doesn't begin within the 2018-19 fiscal year.

"So the pressure is there to go out and get this project started in 2018-19," he says.

When asked about the feeling in Nogales about Donald Trump's derogatory comments about Mexicans, and plans to build a wall along the border with the southern neighbor, Jungmeyer emphasizes the importance of trade not just for the economy but for the ability to feed U.S. citizens at affordable prices.

He observes that, regardless of political leanings, many people in industry and government are apprehensive about the policies that might come with a Trump Administration.

"We trust that if Donald Trump is elected that Congress will serve as a bit of a gut check for him that you can’t just go blowing up free trade agreements and you can’t just go putting up walls or tariffs on their goods, because that has effects on American consumers that are not even understood, and it has an effect on the import-export business that is not understood."

Jungmeyer's message in response to Trump's election campaign is very simple, whether he wins or not - "We need to have trade with Mexico".

"If there's not an export market for Mexico’s goods in the United States, then that leaves Mexico’s economy struggling even more and makes people even more susceptible to be roped into the cartel business," he says, adding that produce companies do their utmost to track shipments with GPS and self-report to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to prevent cartels from taking advantage of their supply chains.

"So we feel strongly that better immigration at the border, better immigration between the countries is vital to the success of the produce industry - it is vital to healthy eating for Americans.

"In America we’re seeing there is less water available to grow, less labor available to grow, it costs more, so for the sake of healthy eating, for the sake of eating a reasonable diet in terms of how much it costs you, for the sake of improving Mexico’s economy and its middle class, this sort of trade has to continue and if Donald Trump is elected we will work as best as we can with his administration so they understand this."

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