In an exclusive update from AgNet West, Western Growers Association (WGA) President and CEO Dave Puglia shed light on a mounting concern for California agriculture: the high cost of freight and input resources.
President, CEO-Western Growers Association
“Freight is expensive,” Puglia acknowledged. “It’s a vexing problem—just like gasoline, diesel, and trucking.” These escalating costs, he explained, are part of a growing suite of economic burdens facing producers in the Golden State.
Despite California’s unmatched scale in fresh produce production—dominating the U.S. market with its Mediterranean climate and crop diversity—Puglia cautioned that competitors from the Southeast, Mountain West, and abroad are rapidly catching up. “They’re finding varieties that thrive in non-Mediterranean conditions,” he said. “And if our input costs keep going up, we’ll lose markets.”
Puglia emphasized that affordability has become a crisis. Regions like the San Joaquin Valley, long known as ag powerhouses, are particularly vulnerable.
To remain competitive, California agriculture must reckon with these regulatory and economic hurdles. “If we want to maintain our position,” Puglia concluded, “we need to get serious.”
Nick Papagni reporting for AgNet West