We are in a pickle for pickers, packers

While perusing a printed product this week, I came upon a problem of potentially prodigious proportions. It seems there is a problem with pickle packers and pickers. The pickers and packers normally produce enough product but the problem is that pickers and packers are plying their profession in other areas of prime agriculture.

Ohio is ground zero for pickers and packers. Blame the problem on paltry pay, say the professionals. Pickers and packers can produce more income in other crop productions.

Migrant families are the prime pickers and packers. But there's proof that the pickers and packers are abandoning the pickle profession. What was once picked by migrant families is now being picked principally by single workers who are less dependable.

Another problem is that cucumbers - which become pickles - simply don't produce enough product to keep professional pickers and packers in plentiful supply. The short cucumber season is being pinpointed as the primary problem.

Pickle farmers are predictably perturbed. Without pickers and packers their product may waste in the field. That is a prickly problem that is also pricey for the pickle farmers.

According to the publication I read, the cucumber plants are now prime for picking. But pending some potent change, there simply will not be enough pickers and packers in the days and weeks ahead.

Consumers will likely feel a pinch in their pocketbooks as the picking season progresses. Price is always paced by production.

So prepare for higher prices on pickles.