From The News Service of Florida:
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam is heading to Panama later this month with a coalition of growers and port officials to observe the ongoing widening of the Panama Canal and to promote Florida’s farm products.
“When those ships unload Asian products, what goes back on them?” Putnam said Wednesday during a briefing with reporters in the Capitol. “The business model for post-Panamax ships, when you unload these goods, you’re not going to send an empty ship back to its ports,” Putnam continued. “What is the product that Florida produces that can go on those ships?” He said perishable agricultural commodities “will be an attractive component.”
The widening of the canal is expected to be completed in 2015, at which time the massive post-Panamax ships are expected to be able to traverse the isthmus.
The Jan. 26 to Jan. 29 trip is also expected to include PortMiami Director Bill Johnson, Robert Behr, COO of Florida’s Natural Growers, and Gary Wishnatzki, owner of Wish Farms in Plant City.