As the industry prepares to move from growing regions such as Yuma, AZ. and Brawley, CA. back up the coast of California, there's optimism for a steady growing season ahead. "The weather in the desert has been warmer than normal. There weren't any freezes or cold weather to slow things down so I think they're going to finish on time or a bit ahead of schedule there," says Russ Widerburg of Valley Produce West.
In California's row-crop growing regions of Salinas and Santa Maria, it's been a mild winter. "We had some rains here and there but no major rains to where it kept growers out of fields for weeks at a time because they couldn't work the ground to plant," he says.
In all, he's anticipating a smoother transition of regions which should happen in the early part of April. "It will be better than the last five years. A couple of years ago we saw a big swing in the transition to where everything in the desert finished early and then there were rains on the coast and missed plantings and product shortages but I don't see that this year," Widerburg says.
In terms of acreage changes, of note is a potential shift in cabbage acreage. Historically, Oxnard is a larger green cabbage growing area though that has changed given the challenges with insect pressure and what's permitted to be used to control that pressure. "So a lot of growers have cut their acreage back on green cabbage in this area. That'll put the onus on Santa Maria because Salinas has not also been a big green cabbage-growing area. With that, we may see a little spike in the green cabbage market," he says.
Better demand following winter
As for demand, there's optimism that demand will continue to pick up and be steady for California row crop vegetables after the slow demand for product in January and into February following cold temperatures throughout the Midwest and Northeast.
What about pricing? "Growers are relying pretty heavily on contract commitments so I don't see hitting any of these $30-$40 markets that we've seen over the years on items," says Widerburg. "Lettuce and cauliflower markets are pretty active right now in the high teens. Brussels sprouts are in the low $20s but other than that, everything is in the low teens to single digits. Celery has been a struggle since before Christmas."
With struggles like that, that could mean that growers will begin to trim their open market growing schedules if pricing on items such as celery–which should sell for around $15 to break even but has been selling for $9-$10 over the last few months–continues this way.
For more information:
Russ Widerburg
Valley Produce
russ@valley-produce.com