Hilary’s ag impact being assessed, but prices could be off the charts down the road
From
| 23 August 2023
Overview of grapes from California in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on August 23, 2023.
By the time Hurricane Hilary hit land and headed up through California, it had been downgraded to a tropical storm, which was clearly great news for homeowners and farmers alike.
The storm did some damage across the state, with the Palm Springs area and other desert towns being the hardest hit. It continued on that northeasterly path from Baja California with much of its power and rain unleashed in the Sierra foothills or on the other side of the Sierras. As such, the San Joaquin Valley was not hit as hard as expected.
“We are still trying to figure out the extent of the damage,” said John Harley, vice president of sales and marketing for Anthony Vineyards, headquartered in the southern San Joaquin Valley city of Bakersfield. “We received one to two inches of rain in a 24-hour period. We are going to lose a portion of our crop but we just don’t know how much. It won’t be a complete loss. We still have lots of grapes out there.”
San Joaquin Valley grape growers have transitioned from old varieties to much newer ones over the past decade, which is making it more difficult to determine the damage. “We are in uncharted water,” he said. “For these newer varieties, which is most of our crop, we don’t know how they are going to react to the rain. It’s been 20 or 30 years since we had this much rain in August and these varieties weren’t around then.”
On Tuesday, Aug. 22, Harley said the FOB market had firmed up a bit but that is mostly speculative as it’s going to take the better part of a week to get a good reading on the impact. “By Monday (Aug. 28), we will have a much better feel,” he said, adding that a very strong wind whipped through the valley after the storm that clearly helped in drying the plants and the fruit.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Mark George, vice president of sales and marketing for Westside Produce, Firebaugh, CA, had a similar report for the San Joaquin Valley melons, which are in the second half of their summer season. “We haven’t seen an immediate impact yet,” he said on Tuesday. “We didn’t get as much rain on the Westside (of the San Joaquin Valley) as they did in the south and the east side. We had a shortened day harvesting yesterday but we will be back in the fields tomorrow (Wednesday) and then we will be able to see if there is any damage. We don’t think there is much.”
George said the melon market has firmed up a bit but he said it’s only partly weather related. “Usually this time of the summer, when kids go back to school, we see a bit of an uptick, and that’s what we are seeing,” he said, noting that it hasn’t been an especially good market this summer and every increase helps.
Adam Sides, who sits on the sales desk at Boskovich Farms in Oxnard, CA, revealed that at this time of the summer the company is sourcing its green onions from the Mexicali area in the most northern section of Baja California.
“The fields got wet and the power was knocked out and so we haven’t been harvesting or packing the last few days,” he said. “We are hoping to get back in the fields tomorrow or Thursday to assess the damage.”
Sides said they definitely lost some production but everyone knew the storm was coming so growers did what they could to pick and pack ahead and fill the warehouses.
“The biggest issue is with the newest plantings, which are scheduled for harvest in time for Thanksgiving,” he said. “We’ve seen picture of those green onions lying flat on the ground. We won’t know if they are going to come back for at least a few days.”
The Boskovich sales rep reminded that Thanksgiving is a very heavy green onion consumption holiday. “Some retailers order four times their regular volume for Thanksgiving,” he said.
The green onion market was already approaching a demand exceeds supply situation before the storm hit and it has bumped up again. On Tuesday, Sides said a carton of four dozen iceless green onions was commanding an FOB price as high as $39 for a two-pack of 24s. If the November-timed plants suffer significant damage, the Thanksgiving FOB price could be off the charts.
The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.
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