Lull Between (Price) Storms

Considering the weather that the nation’s two main vegetable-growing areas suffered last month, the outlook for produce prices is remarkably sunny.

Despite the crippling freeze on the west coast of Florida that reportedly destroyed as much as 80% of the winter vegetable crop, wholesale prices for eggplant, beans and zucchini--which had soared sky high immediately after the freeze--are gradually subsiding.

And so are prices for California crops, which have been getting soaked by one of the rainiest months in memory. In fact, wholesale prices for cauliflower and broccoli are about normal for this time of year, and lettuce is downright cheap.

But some farmers warn that there may be trouble around the corner.

That’s because rainy weather affects not only the crops that are already growing but those that have yet to be planted. In trying to keep a steady supply of produce coming to market, vegetable farmers work on a timetable that is every bit as tricky as that of any major corporation.

When fields are too wet for farmers to work, schedules are thrown off. And since Mother Nature can’t be hurried, what can’t be planted today can’t be harvested when it’s needed.

“Head lettuce that should be planted today takes from 75 to 80 days to mature,” says Dick Nutter, Monterey County agricultural commissioner. “That means it won’t be ready to pick until the end of April. But with the ground too wet to plant, there could be a significant impact on what will be available in late April or the first part of May.”

On top of that, unseasonably warm weather in the winter growing areas of California’s Imperial Valley and at Arizona’s border is pushing crops along more quickly than normal.

“We’re really going like gangbusters down here,” says Dick Dillon, Imperial County deputy agricultural commissioner. “We might be done as much as a week earlier than usual. With the problems they’re having up north, there could be as much as a 15- to 20-day window where there’s not much getting picked.”