The state of Michigan is just getting into asparagus production; no promotable supply is available just yet. John Bakker says harvest is just getting underway in the southern regions of the state.
Weather good; crops on schedule
Things seem to be on track for a good season. “We’re actually kind of surprised by favorable weather. We had a really warm February and March seemed to be a little warmer than normal.” He’s definitely not complaining, as it’s likely that they’ll be right on schedule. “Typically the main producing area kicks in the first week of May and that’s exactly what’s going to happen this year.” Michigan’s season lasts for about seven weeks. Some asparagus makes its way west of the Mississippi but most is shipped to the eastern seaboard and southeast of the Mississippi.
25-45 trips per field
Growers could be performing anywhere from 25 – 45 trips over their fields in a season, harvesting spears at just the right height. “It’s a lot of labor. When we have good growing conditions, with temperatures in the 70s and dropping down into the high 50s or low 60s, we typically go over those fields once a day,” he explained. If for any reason the workers don’t show up or other issues crop up, the asparagus quickly becomes too tall and the tips will open up. “At that point the grower is forced to just mow down and unfortunately not only peel off that days crop but usually a couple of days worth. It’s quite a setback if you have to do that.”
Major labor concerns
Speaking of workers, Bakker is extremely worried about staffing this season. ‘I would say that as far as the industry goes we’re very worried that we’re not going to have adequate labor to harvest the crop. We’ve struggled on and off depending on the year (in the past) but I think that this year might possibly be the worst that we’ve seen.” Not enough locals are willing to take this type of labor intensive, outdoor work. “We virtually don’t have any locals harvesting asparagus anymore,” he stated. He relies solely on migrant workers mostly coming from Florida or Texas and an ever-increasing number of H2A workers to ensure proper harvest. “You can’t afford to be in the business and lose the first two weeks of business waiting for help to show up.”
Crop estimate similar to last year
Last year the state was able to produce about 20 million pounds of asparagus. This year’s yield estimate falls between 20-22 million pounds. Roughly 12-13 million of that will go to fresh and the rest goes for processing. Last year’s crop was shortened by the spring frost or adverse conditions. “If we happen to get a lot of asparagus out of the ground that’s not ready to harvest and then there’s a freeze we can lose ten percent of our crop overnight,” said Bakker. “Last year we were actually looking for a really good year and then it turned hot and dry in June and that shortened our crops. What Mother Nature gave us at the front end she took away from us at the end.”
Asparagus is a global marketplace; Bakker says the price of processed asparagus has already been set and is the same as last year. “Supply and demand dictates our fresh price.” At the same time Michigan starts, California, Washington, New Jersey and Ontario are also producing – plus there’s continuous product coming in from Central and South America. “Typically by early June California has dropped out and Washington and New Jersey are tapering off. That tends to be our sweet spot - mid-May to mid-June,” he said. “But we have seen a bunch of imports come in from Peru during that time that pretty well killed our market.”
Peru can still produce year-round
He’s not sure that Peru’s recent issues would have an overall affect on its corner of the asparagus market. “It’s hard to tell – they have the ability to produce there 365 days a year and they control their crop, unlike us – the weather conditions totally dictate when our crop starts and to some extent when it ends.” He says since they’re able to manipulate their growing conditions in terms of irrigation, if there’s any shortage or gap with US asparagus, they can quickly produce. “If they see prices starting to rise mid/late may they can (irrigate) and have asparagus in the United States in about ten days. We’re aware that Peru has had some challenges, but they’re still a very major player in the industry and it doesn’t take too many loads coming in to disrupt the US market.” He does, however, anticipate favorable pricing throughout the season.
New variety from Guelph, Ontario
From a research standpoint, Bakker is excited about the significant strides in identifying new varieties he says that are as productive or perhaps more so than what growers are currently growing. One new variety, the Guelph Eclipse, is from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He says about 75 percent of industry currently uses Guelph Millennium. “The big excitement is the quality of the spears – some of the new varieties we’ve identified have better spear characteristics. The spears stay tighter; the spear diameter is more uniform. We’re excited to constantly work to increase our quality.”
The Michigan Asparagus Industry Research Farm shares information with their growers and then other states as well. “We’re interested in the new hybrids coming out of Ontario, Canada, others from New Jersey, the Netherlands and Germany. We share info and we utilize plant breeding efforts from around the world.” Everything he likes about Millennium is also in the Eclipse variety with better tip quality.
For more information:
John Bakker
Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board/
Michigan Asparagus Industry Research Farm
Tel: (231) 923-6725