Near-record rainfall affects many crops in California and Arizona
Near-record rainfall affects many crops in California and Arizona
Except for a couple of light rain storms expected five to seven days out, a near-record onslaught of rainy weather in Southern California showed promise of coming to an end as what growers hoped would be the last major storms of the season moved out of the state on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
The latest series of storms dumped another eight to 11 inches of water on already soggy soil, causing additional damage to various crops and disrupting both planting and harvesting schedules and bringing rainfall totals year-to-date close to a record.
Strawberries in Oxnard and other Southern California districts have suffered the greatest losses during a winter that has brought one series of storms after another.
But Carl Lindgren of Sunrise Growers in Placentia, CA, which grows strawberries and vegetables in several districts around the state, is very optimistic about the season from here on out.
In an interview with The Produce News on Wednesday, Feb. 23, Mr. Lindgren said, "In the southern strawberry districts, we have had, in the last 10 days, about eight inches of rain, depending on the location. But as we stand here today, that weather front has cleared, and ... I think we are going to come back very strong and very quickly."
Mr. Lindgren said that he had looked at "several strawberry fields today in both [Oxnard and Orange County] districts," and the plants are "in excellent shape." While the rain has caused damage to berries on the plants, the plants themselves are healthy, and the rain has been good for the soil. "All the salt has been leached out of the ground," he said. "We lost some berries off of the plants due to the rain, but I still see that the crop looks very strong for the balance of the season."
He expects that "once this rain quits," the berries produced by the plants will be very good quality. "It is going to be one of the better years, I think."
A "significant portion? of the berries that might normally have been harvested during December, January and February have been lost due to the rain, but "in reality, that is not that many berries anyway," he said. "The main deal is yet to come."
The rain has also delayed planting of green beans, and Sunrise also lost some of its lettuce plantings on its San Clemente Ranch, Mr. Lindgren said. However, the company?s pepper program "remains intact."
Rainfall totals year-to-date in Ventura County, since the water year began last July, currently stand at about 41 inches, according to Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail. "Our normal for the whole year is 15 to 17 inches," he said. "We?re within a couple of inches of our most rainfall ever."
In January, 17 inches of rain fell within a five-day period, he said.
As of the end of January, damage to crops in Ventura County, primarily strawberries and row crops, were estimated at $51 million, he said. "Right now, we?re working on figures for [additional damage from] last week?s storms." Mr. McPhail expected that figure to be another $5 million to $6 million.
The row crops affected in Ventura County included celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and spinach, he said.
In addition to crop damage, there were losses due to the inability to plant or harvest as well as "field restoration? costs. Some fields had "a lot of silt buildup? from the runoff. Flooding damaged irrigation and other systems in some fields. In addition, "we?ve had a lot of erosion, especially in citrus and nurseries along Santa Clara and Ventura rivers," he said.
Some celery transplants that had been put in the ground just a week ago will have to be replanted, said Mr. McPhail.
As fields dry out enough that farmers "can get equipment in there, it is probable that those who had to delay planting because of the rain will all go in and plant at once. That can cause some problems, obviously, with marketing down the road," as those fields will all come into production at the same time. Normally, the plantings would be staggered to spread out the harvest, according to Mr. McPhail.
The weather?s effect on crops was not limited to coastal Southern California. An unusually wet winter has affected a variety of commodities from California?s Central Valley to the inland desert growing areas of Southern California and Arizona.
The desert seldom receives much winter rainfall, but this year nearly every storm to hit the California coast has also dumped torrents of water on the winter desert vegetables being grown in the Coachella and Imperial valleys of California and in the Yuma and Phoenix areas in Arizona.
?The first rains in October threw us off balance," said Tom Russell of Pacific International Marketing in Salinas, CA, which has growing operations in Coachella, Yuma and Phoenix. "We had some warm weather, and then we had kind of a cool October, then we had rain, and that just really made a mess of the Thanksgiving pull and the Christmas pull, because our product either was not growing? or couldn?t be harvested because of wet fields.
More rain came in December and January, followed by "abnormally high? temperatures followed by more rains " warm rains coming up from the south.
The result, he said, is that "we are seeing mildew on our baby leaf. We are seeing mildew on our Romaine. " I don?t believe we?ve seen the mildew pressure that we are having now. I don?t remember it in 25 years.
In addition to the mildew problems, the warm weather and the warm rains caused the products to grow rapidly, resulting in "a lot of twists? in the Romaine. "We?ve got a lot of Romaine that is barely harvestable," he said. Yet in spite of the resulting shortage, "somehow the market on Romaine has basically crashed down to $5."
On top of all that, some of the fields were hit by hail on Tuesday, Feb. 22. "We got pounded," he said.
In California?s San Joaquin Valley, Fresno?s rainfall totals were just under 10 inches for the year as of mid-February " about 150 percent of normal " with another inch or two added in the latest series of storms.
Dennis Plann, deputy agricultural commissioner for Fresno County, said that the persistent rains over the last several weeks have affected planting schedules for both processing and fresh-pack tomatoes. "We don?t have any seeded tomatoes in the ground yet."
That could delay the start of the tomato harvest, but on the other hand, a warm spring could make up for the delay.
The rain does not seem to have bothered the Iceberg lettuce in Huron on the west side of Fresno County that bridges the transition from the desert to the Salinas, CA, lettuce deal, Mr. Plann said. That lettuce is growing and should be ready for harvest on schedule beginning around mid-March.
On the other hand, there is broccoli in the Mendota and Firebaugh areas that is ready for harvest, but growers haven?t been able to get into the fields to harvest it, he said.
Almonds, a major crop in the San Joaquin Valley, are in full bloom and growers have expressed concern about pollination, he said. "We haven?t had very many good days of flight time." It has either been too wet or too cold.
Stone fruit was also in bloom. About half of the varieties of peaches, plums and nectarines as well as apricots and cherries were at bloom stage in Fresno County, but Mr. Plann said he had not heard any concerns yet about pollination in those crops.
?We don?t anticipate any problems," he said. The wet winter, however, could create some concerns with brown rot and other fungus problems. "Growers will be putting on fungicides? as soon as they can get in the orchards to do it, he said.
In the Salinas area, rainfall has also been above normal, but it has been "fairly spread out," and so far has not caused much problem, said Eric Lauritzen, Monterey County agricultural commissioner. "We have had no significant flooding. In terms of planting schedules, it delays things a little bit."
But in contrast to the desert, "this is the time of year when we get rain anyway, so it is not particularly unusual? at least with regard to timing.
Artichokes "don?t like the amount of rain that we are getting," but otherwise "things are really not that out of the ordinary for us," he said.
The latest series of storms dumped another eight to 11 inches of water on already soggy soil, causing additional damage to various crops and disrupting both planting and harvesting schedules and bringing rainfall totals year-to-date close to a record.
Strawberries in Oxnard and other Southern California districts have suffered the greatest losses during a winter that has brought one series of storms after another.
But Carl Lindgren of Sunrise Growers in Placentia, CA, which grows strawberries and vegetables in several districts around the state, is very optimistic about the season from here on out.
In an interview with The Produce News on Wednesday, Feb. 23, Mr. Lindgren said, "In the southern strawberry districts, we have had, in the last 10 days, about eight inches of rain, depending on the location. But as we stand here today, that weather front has cleared, and ... I think we are going to come back very strong and very quickly."
Mr. Lindgren said that he had looked at "several strawberry fields today in both [Oxnard and Orange County] districts," and the plants are "in excellent shape." While the rain has caused damage to berries on the plants, the plants themselves are healthy, and the rain has been good for the soil. "All the salt has been leached out of the ground," he said. "We lost some berries off of the plants due to the rain, but I still see that the crop looks very strong for the balance of the season."
He expects that "once this rain quits," the berries produced by the plants will be very good quality. "It is going to be one of the better years, I think."
A "significant portion? of the berries that might normally have been harvested during December, January and February have been lost due to the rain, but "in reality, that is not that many berries anyway," he said. "The main deal is yet to come."
The rain has also delayed planting of green beans, and Sunrise also lost some of its lettuce plantings on its San Clemente Ranch, Mr. Lindgren said. However, the company?s pepper program "remains intact."
Rainfall totals year-to-date in Ventura County, since the water year began last July, currently stand at about 41 inches, according to Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail. "Our normal for the whole year is 15 to 17 inches," he said. "We?re within a couple of inches of our most rainfall ever."
In January, 17 inches of rain fell within a five-day period, he said.
As of the end of January, damage to crops in Ventura County, primarily strawberries and row crops, were estimated at $51 million, he said. "Right now, we?re working on figures for [additional damage from] last week?s storms." Mr. McPhail expected that figure to be another $5 million to $6 million.
The row crops affected in Ventura County included celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and spinach, he said.
In addition to crop damage, there were losses due to the inability to plant or harvest as well as "field restoration? costs. Some fields had "a lot of silt buildup? from the runoff. Flooding damaged irrigation and other systems in some fields. In addition, "we?ve had a lot of erosion, especially in citrus and nurseries along Santa Clara and Ventura rivers," he said.
Some celery transplants that had been put in the ground just a week ago will have to be replanted, said Mr. McPhail.
As fields dry out enough that farmers "can get equipment in there, it is probable that those who had to delay planting because of the rain will all go in and plant at once. That can cause some problems, obviously, with marketing down the road," as those fields will all come into production at the same time. Normally, the plantings would be staggered to spread out the harvest, according to Mr. McPhail.
The weather?s effect on crops was not limited to coastal Southern California. An unusually wet winter has affected a variety of commodities from California?s Central Valley to the inland desert growing areas of Southern California and Arizona.
The desert seldom receives much winter rainfall, but this year nearly every storm to hit the California coast has also dumped torrents of water on the winter desert vegetables being grown in the Coachella and Imperial valleys of California and in the Yuma and Phoenix areas in Arizona.
?The first rains in October threw us off balance," said Tom Russell of Pacific International Marketing in Salinas, CA, which has growing operations in Coachella, Yuma and Phoenix. "We had some warm weather, and then we had kind of a cool October, then we had rain, and that just really made a mess of the Thanksgiving pull and the Christmas pull, because our product either was not growing? or couldn?t be harvested because of wet fields.
More rain came in December and January, followed by "abnormally high? temperatures followed by more rains " warm rains coming up from the south.
The result, he said, is that "we are seeing mildew on our baby leaf. We are seeing mildew on our Romaine. " I don?t believe we?ve seen the mildew pressure that we are having now. I don?t remember it in 25 years.
In addition to the mildew problems, the warm weather and the warm rains caused the products to grow rapidly, resulting in "a lot of twists? in the Romaine. "We?ve got a lot of Romaine that is barely harvestable," he said. Yet in spite of the resulting shortage, "somehow the market on Romaine has basically crashed down to $5."
On top of all that, some of the fields were hit by hail on Tuesday, Feb. 22. "We got pounded," he said.
In California?s San Joaquin Valley, Fresno?s rainfall totals were just under 10 inches for the year as of mid-February " about 150 percent of normal " with another inch or two added in the latest series of storms.
Dennis Plann, deputy agricultural commissioner for Fresno County, said that the persistent rains over the last several weeks have affected planting schedules for both processing and fresh-pack tomatoes. "We don?t have any seeded tomatoes in the ground yet."
That could delay the start of the tomato harvest, but on the other hand, a warm spring could make up for the delay.
The rain does not seem to have bothered the Iceberg lettuce in Huron on the west side of Fresno County that bridges the transition from the desert to the Salinas, CA, lettuce deal, Mr. Plann said. That lettuce is growing and should be ready for harvest on schedule beginning around mid-March.
On the other hand, there is broccoli in the Mendota and Firebaugh areas that is ready for harvest, but growers haven?t been able to get into the fields to harvest it, he said.
Almonds, a major crop in the San Joaquin Valley, are in full bloom and growers have expressed concern about pollination, he said. "We haven?t had very many good days of flight time." It has either been too wet or too cold.
Stone fruit was also in bloom. About half of the varieties of peaches, plums and nectarines as well as apricots and cherries were at bloom stage in Fresno County, but Mr. Plann said he had not heard any concerns yet about pollination in those crops.
?We don?t anticipate any problems," he said. The wet winter, however, could create some concerns with brown rot and other fungus problems. "Growers will be putting on fungicides? as soon as they can get in the orchards to do it, he said.
In the Salinas area, rainfall has also been above normal, but it has been "fairly spread out," and so far has not caused much problem, said Eric Lauritzen, Monterey County agricultural commissioner. "We have had no significant flooding. In terms of planting schedules, it delays things a little bit."
But in contrast to the desert, "this is the time of year when we get rain anyway, so it is not particularly unusual? at least with regard to timing.
Artichokes "don?t like the amount of rain that we are getting," but otherwise "things are really not that out of the ordinary for us," he said.
