At the markets, lowering tariffs is popular because bodegas can make more money if they have a steady supply of competitively priced apples - something that isn't happening now. Each morning last week, Andy Brassington, executive vice president of Holtzinger Fruit Co. in Yakima, was canvassing the markets by 6 a.m., tracking down old customers and trying to make new ones. It's information gathering. It's understanding the whole market. Except for about 2 million boxes of premium manzanas from Chihuahua, very little of the Central and South American apple crop would even be picked in Washington, Brassington said.
Competition is fierce inside the vast, smelly chaos of the market.
Arturo Delgadillo, administrator of Solo Frutas Calidad, can watch it all from his plush rooftop office and veranda in the Guadalajara market. Glass desks, leather chairs and a new computer adorn his office. A prominent businessman, Delgadillo last year dug out two cold storage rooms beneath his bodega so he could keep Washington apples fresh instead of letting them swelter. Only three other bodegas in Guadalajara have such storage because they're too expensive. That advance is something Rivera loves to see.