Following the weekend’s Tropical Storm Hilary, growers and shippers were out early this week assessing the situation on crops and plantings.
At Fillmore-Piru Citrus, it had planned on finishing its lemon harvest early this week--however, due to the weather, it now won’t be doing so until the end of the week. “Rain started in our local Ventura County region around noon on Sunday and it didn’t stop raining till about 6:30 a.m. yesterday,” said Chris Diaz. “There were periods of rain that were heavy and hard that followed with huge gusts of wind.”
Over in its Valencia orchards, some have rocky soil and the weather will only delay the harvest in those by one to two days. “Other Valencia orchards we were planning on harvesting this week are now being pushed to next week due to those acres having more of a clay/sandy soil. That soil needs a couple of extra days to dry out from the rain,” says Diaz.
As for road closures, they have been minimal in Ventura County. However, there are customers with trucks coming in from Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside and San Diego counties weekly. “With the combination of those road closures and shortened citrus supply this week, it will be a much slower packing week for us,” Diaz says.
Views from Yad Sandhu as he checks his almond farm. Photo: Custom Almonds LLC.
Affecting harvest?
Then there are also harvest delays in the mix. Bikram Hundal of Custom Almonds LLC says the southern counties of Tulare and Kern saw 1-1.5 inches of rain. “Lots of almonds are already shaken and were on the floor and got rained on,” he says. “I’m estimating at least four to five days delay in the harvest or maybe more in some areas. The nuts are wet now and that could create a bit more pressure on the few handlers who have commitments to ship. They will not be able to ship on time.” He also notes that the harvest, which had just begun, was already late and this will add to that delay. “There also might be a chance of mold issues if the nuts are not dried out. The harvesters will be under a lot of pressure,” he adds.
In grapes, Ray England of DJ Forry says there was a great deal of rain, particularly in the mid to southern-growing regions of the Central Valley. “Actual damage will be assessed as the week moves forward while grower activities, for the most part, this week will be focused on the mitigation of the rains' impact vs. harvesting,” he says. “No doubt this will cause a gap in supply and we’ll know more towards the weekend.”
Delayed plantings are another aspect to stay mindful of post-Hilary. As Russ Widerburg of Valley Produce points out that the Oxnard area received more than 3.5 inches of rainfall--a significant amount for this time of year. Even though Oxnard isn’t a main growing area at this time of year, celery being planted for fall harvest could be pushed back. “Though not enough to really affect anything at the start of the harvest in November,” says Widerburg.
Green onions Mexico
California of course wasn’t the only region impacted. Widerburg says that growing regions in Mexico such as San Luis and Mexicali also received significant rainfall that will affect green onions in particular. “The green onion market was already trending up rapidly and this storm just ignited that fire,” he says. “Prices were in the mid $30 range early yesterday morning and it sounds like they will go higher. Growers are implementing escalator and Act of God clauses in contract pricing and this much rain will cause problems for the next month if not longer.”
“Those routes were inaccessible over the weekend due to the rain and flooding. However today flooding has subsided and the avenues are still muddy,” said Angulo. Photo: Baloian Farms
Delays in lemons
In the Hermosillo area, Andy Martin of A&A Organic Farms notes that it will have a delay in its first organic lemon harvest in the region following two inches of rain on Saturday and another two inches on Sunday.
At Baloian Farms over the weekend, rain and flooding were seen around the fields and arroyos around fields in Baja, Mexico. “There were avenues around the ranches where we would move field equipment and crews would travel along to get to work,” says Jay Angulo of Baloian. “Those were inaccessible over the weekend due to the rain and flooding. However today flooding has subsided and the avenues are still muddy.”
That said, he does note that the plants look good--it currently has squash, beans, chilies, red peppers and green bell peppers in Baja. “We’re thankful the storm wasn’t much worse. With the forecasts we were seeing late last week, we were really bracing for a big hit,” Angulo says. “Harvest and packing crews should start to return to some of the fields as early as today and we believe by mid-week we’ll get back to normal production.”
For more information:
Chris Diaz
Fillmore-Piru Citrus
https://fillmorepirucitrus.com/
Bikram Hundal
Custom Almonds LLC
www.customalmonds.com
Ray England
DJ Forry
www.djforry.com
Russ Widerburg
Valley Produce
russ@valley-produce.com
Andy Martin
A&A Organic Farms
https://www.aaorganic.com/
Jay Angulo
Baloian Farms
www.baloianfarms.com