With warm temperatures arriving, volumes of artichokes from California will continue increasing throughout May. Though there are signs that peak volumes might arrive earlier than last year, growers are quick to point out that the season's timing is still very much dependent on variable weather.The season usually starts in mid to late March, notes Pat Hopper of the California Artichoke Advisory Board. Last year, it was closer to late March, she says, but the weather might speed that up by a couple of weeks this time around.
“Central Coast production should pick up in about two weeks,” she says. “I think the season should start on time, if not a little earlier because of the somewhat mild winter we've had.”
That timing, however, could be altered by the weather, says James Delorimier of Growers Express in Salinas. “The timing of the season is very weather dependent,” he says, “and the mild temperatures and rain in Spring are what make production go up, so it just depends on how much rain and warmth we get.”
He says they already have some production and volumes are rising between 10 to 15 percent every week. Peak volumes are anticipated in April with a crop similar in size to previous years expected.
According to Hopper, supplies should be good, but they won't be much higher than what's been normal the past few years. “Because of selective breeding of crops,” she notes, “we no longer have huge spikes in production like there were 20 years ago, but we should have very good supplies. We should have similar numbers to past years, which have been about four million cartons, and we should have about a quarter to a third of production done by May.”