In Garlic Capital, Tariffs And Immigration Crackdown Have Mixed Impacts

[DonViejo]

February 20, 20197:48 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition

JASMINE GARSD

Gilroy, Calif., is known as the garlic capital of the world. And two policies of the Trump administration — one on trade, the other on immigration — are having a mixed impact on this agricultural community south of San Francisco.

It's about 50 degrees outside, but for a moment it looks like it's snowing. But the morning air is pungent and savory, and those flakes falling from the sky are garlic skin pieces, drifting away from the peeling facility.

Christopher Ranch in Gilroy is the largest garlic producer in the country.

Ken Christopher, executive vice president, says it didn't always look this busy. In the 1990s, he says, the industry was hit hard by cheap Chinese garlic imports.

"U.S. garlic was trading around $40 a box in the 1990s," he says. "Chinese garlic flooded the market at $10 a box and it severely undercut a lot of U.S. growers."

Gilroy is known for its garlic but only a few farms survived. Christopher Ranch was the biggest. Ken Christopher says about 6 percent of its garlic is bought from China; the rest is homegrown.

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https://www.npr.org/2019/02/20/695938755/in-garlic-capital-tariffs-and-immigration-crackdown-have-mixed-impacts?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

[The Wizard]

1. Chinese garlic lacks flavor (NT)