When Rain Falls, So Do Produce Prices

A funny thing happened on the way to last week’s rain-induced price hikes. Produce prices--at least at the wholesale level--actually declined.

Never mind that picking was done by yellow-slickered workers ankle-deep in muck. Never mind that none of the heavy machinery that makes up a modern vegetable harvest was usable.

The bottom line is that the bottom line dropped. Broccoli and cauliflower that were selling in the neighborhood of $10 to $12 a carton declined to $7 to $8. Romaine lettuce, sky-high at $12 a case (“I sure hope people can live without Caesar salad,” one producer was quoted as saying), dropped to $8.50. Iceberg and mixed lettuces saw similar declines. Celery, which is coming almost strictly from Oxnard and Santa Maria, is the only crop to maintain its high prices.

Two things happened. First, because the rain has been accompanied by fairly warm temperatures, plants are ripening more quickly than normal. There are actually more crops in the field now than if the weather had been dry, and this is forcing farmers to pick when they normally wouldn’t. Second, wholesale buyers, anxious about supply and quality after the three weeks of rain, have been buying only enough vegetables to get by.

Keep in mind that these are wholesale prices. What grocery stores actually charge for vegetables hasn’t dropped much at all, but earlier retail prices hadn’t jumped nearly as much as wholesale prices, either.

In fact, we’ll probably have to wait three months or so until we feel the real impact of this winter’s storm. With California’s year-round growing season, as soon as a field has been picked, it’s replanted. And while picking has proceeded, the replanting and the five to 10 days of work that precedes it have been impossible.

There are ways around that. Farmers can shorten the growing season by starting with transplants rather than seeds. But since no one has been able to plant, the transplant nurseries are backed up and unable to start new seeds.