California asparagus growers "cautiously optimistic?
California asparagus growers "cautiously optimistic?
While 2004 was considered a "salvageable? year for California asparagus growers, it appears that 2005 needs to match or better that result to keep some growers from throwing in the towel on the crop. But favorable weather conditions " including sufficient rain and ample chill hours " and an aggressive promotion program have growers cautiously optimistic about the 2005 season.
With the end of the Peruvian deal and with normal shipments arriving from Mexico, the California market is expected to firm up. Heightened demand from an early Easter holiday should also strengthen the early market.
Cherie Watte, executive director of the California Asparagus Commission in Stockton, said that there are about 22,000 asparagus acres available for harvesting in 2005. That figure is a drop-off from the 24,000 acres in 2004; in 1999, California asparagus reached a high of 36,000 acres, Ms. Watte said.
?[Asparagus] has natural highs and lows," she said. "The market has not been good."
Ms. Watte said that the volume of asparagus harvested has not dropped at the same rate as the fields pulled out of commission, leading her to believe that the asparagus fields pulled out of circulation are older, less productive fields. Some of those fields eventually will be put back into asparagus production and some never will, she said.
Last year was "OK? because asparagus production in Mexico stopped early, the weather was good and a late Easter prolonged the marketing efforts for what is California?s first vegetable of the spring, Ms. Watte said.
Again this year, growers are funding an aggressive promotion program aimed at consumers, retailers and foodservice operators. Magazine ads and releases to food editors at newspapers will offer suggestions for using asparagus; special emphasis will be given to confirming that all sizes of asparagus can be equally tender and flavorful.
Ms. Watte said that a wide range of effective point-of-sale material is being made available at no charge by the commission. "Asparagus is a high-impulse purchase item, and if retailers properly call attention to it, sales increase dramatically."
Additionally, researchers at University of California-Riverside are working on a new variety desirable for its longer green spear and tighter tip, Ms. Watte said. The first samples of the new variety will be released next year, but it will be another three years before it's in commercial production.
The decision to plant asparagus typically requires a commitment of a dozen years or so, with a large upfront cost and no return on the investment for several years. About 17,500 acres of asparagus are grown in the Stockton Delta area. In 2005, the Salinas Valley will grow about 5,000 acres, and the lower San Joaquin Valley will grow about 1,500 acres. There also is acreage grown in the Imperial Valley and in the Santa Barbara area.
When John Casazza, vice president of agricultural operations for Salinas, CA-based Growers Express LLC, came to Growers Express for a newly created position on Oct. 1, one of his goals was to boost the company?s asparagus program to year-round status and do more with value-added asparagus.
Coalinga-based Harris Farms grows asparagus for Growers Express in the Stockton Delta area. Growers Express is the exclusive marketing agent for Lee Pacific LLC " which supplies asparagus year-round " and Green Giant.
Mr. Casazza said that the levy break at Jones Tract in the Stockton Delta area between Tracy and Discovery Bay would reduce statewide asparagus production in 2005 by about 10 percent. The levy broke June 3, flooding farmland in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta that is mostly below sea level. Cleanup and repair are ongoing; some individual farmer?s crops have been wiped out.
But statewide growing conditions haven?t been bad for the crop, Mr. Casazza said.
?It's been extremely wet this year, but it hasn?t been overly cold," Mr. Casazza said. A production overlap from other growing areas "may play out pretty well," he added.
Jeff Post, a commodity sales manager for Castroville, CA-based Ocean Mist Farms, told The Produce News Feb. 1 that Ocean Mist?s asparagus plantings are up 30 percent over last year. Ocean Mist grows asparagus in nearby San Benito County from the end of January until about the Fourth of July and also grows it in the Coborca region of Mexico.
Mr. Post said that it's been cold enough that there?s been slower growth in the larger sizes. He added that there will be plenty of asparagus for the early Easter holiday. "The rains were beneficial," Mr. Post said. "There?s good color and uniform sizing."
Steve DeGuire, sales manager for Lodi, CA-based Delta Packing Co., told The Produce News in late January that the asparagus crop is on target for a start around Feb. 20. Delta Packing is the sales agent for Holt, CA-based Victoria Island.
The levy break at Jones Tract mostly affected 90-day crop, Mr. DeGuire said. With Easter falling early, "both Mexico and northern California will have to support Easter," Mr. DeGuire said, adding that Easter will be the "benchmark? for the season.
Larelle Miller of All-State Packers Inc. in Lodi, CA, which grows asparagus primarily in the Stockton and Sacramento Delta regions, told The Produce News in late January that Mexico has had very good asparagus production.
?We could see a great season if Mexico gets out by April," Ms. Miller said, noting that the Jones Tract levy break took 15 percent of All State?s asparagus deal.
?Easter?s usually a pretty exciting time for retailers to promote asparagus," Ms. Miller said. "Japan looks like it could be a good market."
With the end of the Peruvian deal and with normal shipments arriving from Mexico, the California market is expected to firm up. Heightened demand from an early Easter holiday should also strengthen the early market.
Cherie Watte, executive director of the California Asparagus Commission in Stockton, said that there are about 22,000 asparagus acres available for harvesting in 2005. That figure is a drop-off from the 24,000 acres in 2004; in 1999, California asparagus reached a high of 36,000 acres, Ms. Watte said.
?[Asparagus] has natural highs and lows," she said. "The market has not been good."
Ms. Watte said that the volume of asparagus harvested has not dropped at the same rate as the fields pulled out of commission, leading her to believe that the asparagus fields pulled out of circulation are older, less productive fields. Some of those fields eventually will be put back into asparagus production and some never will, she said.
Last year was "OK? because asparagus production in Mexico stopped early, the weather was good and a late Easter prolonged the marketing efforts for what is California?s first vegetable of the spring, Ms. Watte said.
Again this year, growers are funding an aggressive promotion program aimed at consumers, retailers and foodservice operators. Magazine ads and releases to food editors at newspapers will offer suggestions for using asparagus; special emphasis will be given to confirming that all sizes of asparagus can be equally tender and flavorful.
Ms. Watte said that a wide range of effective point-of-sale material is being made available at no charge by the commission. "Asparagus is a high-impulse purchase item, and if retailers properly call attention to it, sales increase dramatically."
Additionally, researchers at University of California-Riverside are working on a new variety desirable for its longer green spear and tighter tip, Ms. Watte said. The first samples of the new variety will be released next year, but it will be another three years before it's in commercial production.
The decision to plant asparagus typically requires a commitment of a dozen years or so, with a large upfront cost and no return on the investment for several years. About 17,500 acres of asparagus are grown in the Stockton Delta area. In 2005, the Salinas Valley will grow about 5,000 acres, and the lower San Joaquin Valley will grow about 1,500 acres. There also is acreage grown in the Imperial Valley and in the Santa Barbara area.
When John Casazza, vice president of agricultural operations for Salinas, CA-based Growers Express LLC, came to Growers Express for a newly created position on Oct. 1, one of his goals was to boost the company?s asparagus program to year-round status and do more with value-added asparagus.
Coalinga-based Harris Farms grows asparagus for Growers Express in the Stockton Delta area. Growers Express is the exclusive marketing agent for Lee Pacific LLC " which supplies asparagus year-round " and Green Giant.
Mr. Casazza said that the levy break at Jones Tract in the Stockton Delta area between Tracy and Discovery Bay would reduce statewide asparagus production in 2005 by about 10 percent. The levy broke June 3, flooding farmland in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta that is mostly below sea level. Cleanup and repair are ongoing; some individual farmer?s crops have been wiped out.
But statewide growing conditions haven?t been bad for the crop, Mr. Casazza said.
?It's been extremely wet this year, but it hasn?t been overly cold," Mr. Casazza said. A production overlap from other growing areas "may play out pretty well," he added.
Jeff Post, a commodity sales manager for Castroville, CA-based Ocean Mist Farms, told The Produce News Feb. 1 that Ocean Mist?s asparagus plantings are up 30 percent over last year. Ocean Mist grows asparagus in nearby San Benito County from the end of January until about the Fourth of July and also grows it in the Coborca region of Mexico.
Mr. Post said that it's been cold enough that there?s been slower growth in the larger sizes. He added that there will be plenty of asparagus for the early Easter holiday. "The rains were beneficial," Mr. Post said. "There?s good color and uniform sizing."
Steve DeGuire, sales manager for Lodi, CA-based Delta Packing Co., told The Produce News in late January that the asparagus crop is on target for a start around Feb. 20. Delta Packing is the sales agent for Holt, CA-based Victoria Island.
The levy break at Jones Tract mostly affected 90-day crop, Mr. DeGuire said. With Easter falling early, "both Mexico and northern California will have to support Easter," Mr. DeGuire said, adding that Easter will be the "benchmark? for the season.
Larelle Miller of All-State Packers Inc. in Lodi, CA, which grows asparagus primarily in the Stockton and Sacramento Delta regions, told The Produce News in late January that Mexico has had very good asparagus production.
?We could see a great season if Mexico gets out by April," Ms. Miller said, noting that the Jones Tract levy break took 15 percent of All State?s asparagus deal.
?Easter?s usually a pretty exciting time for retailers to promote asparagus," Ms. Miller said. "Japan looks like it could be a good market."
