There's only two weeks to go before the start of the sugar cane crop - and because of the impasse between ASR/BSI and the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association - there are concerns that, once again, the crop won't start on time, resulting in major losses to both sides.
But, there is some hope tonight - because, finally, a mediator has been agreed upon and appointed. She is Juliann Bradley a court certified mediator with a long track record of success in court ordered mediation.
Now, she has to jump right into the middle of this protracted commercial dispute - with the game clock running down.
Minister of Agriculture, Jose Mai today said they have an intensive week of meetings planned:
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"The mediator that was chosen is a lady Julie-Ann Bradley. She was the mediator at both parties agreed upon and today at 2pm they had the first mediating session today and tomorrow. If they have not arrived at anything tomorrow, they will reconvene on Friday. But I am optimistic and I do believe that there will still be a crop."
Reporter
"But time is running out..."
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"That's why I am saying that today and tomorrow is critical for the mediating team."
Reporter
"Do you think that it will be ready in time for the proposed date which is December nineteenth?"
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"I think both sides want the crop to start. I don't subscribe to the thought that B.S.I. has long pockets and that they can wait more than the farmer, I do not subscribe to that. B.S.I. is there to mill cane; B.S.I. is there to make money - every day that they are not working, they are not making money. Every day a farmer is not working, he is not making money. And so both of them have the same objective, they both want money. So I don't subscribe to that notion that B.S.I. has longer pockets, they can wait. It is not like that."
Reporter
"It's not just the BSCFA that would be affected should there be a delay in the start of the new crop season, we have 3 other cane farmers association from the north who would be affected by this as well."
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"I would go further than that. I would say that the northern economy would be affected - the northern economy, not only the farmers, the business people who sell tacos, those who sell in the stores, the supermarkets, everybody. Not only the cane farmers or the associations, but the economy in the north as well, at large."
We'll keep following this week's arbitration proceedings.
Notably, Bradley was Mai's attorney in 2018 when he faced a civil suit for causing the death of a pedestrian. Justice Courtney Abel ordered Mai to pay damages amounting to over $200,000 dollars.
