Late winter rains in California caused planting gaps in Salinas Valley production, says Bill Wynne, sales executive and commodity manager with Pacific International Marketing. The gaps, as well as disease pressure due to a wet start to the season, impacted production, he says.
While these challenges might have slowed the company’s start to the season, Wynne says it did have a positive effect on the market.
“These gaps along with reduced yields caused by disease pressure resulted in very good market conditions to begin the season,” he said.
John Amaral, sales manager for the Nunes Co., says cooler weather in spring also brought smaller head sizes and lighter than usual weights.
As the season has progressed, Wynne says its production in the Salinas Valley and Santa Maria regions looks steady. And its iceberg acreage remains unchanged, too.
Amaral says he expects the crop to improve in size, weight and quality, too.
“As we head into July and get into summertime plantings, our production is getting back on track,” he said. “The healthy crop has good sizing and normalized weights.”
Wynne says while production remains relatively unchanged for Pacific International Marketing, it’s a different story for the Salinas Valley.
“Overall planted acres are down this season in the Salinas Valley,” he said.
Some of this is likely due to the challenges that all farmers face — weather, labor and increasing costs. Wynne says these challenges are often exacerbated by additional legislation in the Golden State.
“In California, there are so many state regulations that growers in other states don’t have to deal with. It puts us in a competitive disadvantage,” Wynne said. “This especially hurts the smaller growers.”
Amaral says increased competition from Mexico, Canada and other states also challenges the leafy green growers in the state. Despite these challenges, the state’s leafy greens growers can still compete in the marketplace, he says.
“There are always opportunities to compete in the marketplace if you can continue to grow, harvest, cool and load and sell at a high-quality level,” he said.
Wynne says sustainability is a key focus for growers, given the fact that growers have been farming in the Salinas Valley for hundreds of years.
“It doesn’t do a farmer any good not to take care of his land or not be concerned about soil health since it is the key to his livelihood,” he said.
Amaral, too, says the team at the Nunes Co. is paying close attention to the state-level discussions to remove single-use plastics from leafy green packaging.
“We monitor these discussions closely, as any movement will have a big impact on all aspects of our industry,” he said.
