Growing Weary of the Rain : Irvine Farmer Explains Costs of Doing Business

For most, a rainstorm is an inconvenience; for a farmer, it can spell disaster. No one knows better than A.G. Kawamura that the incessant showers and flooding have taken their toll of Orange County crops.

Kawamura, president of Western Marketing Co. in Fullerton, farms 35 acres of strawberries and 800 acres of vegetables in Irvine and distributes the produce through the family-owned business. He estimates that the rare heavy rains have robbed him of 30% of his strawberry harvest.

Kawamura, a 38-year-old UC Berkeley graduate, visits the fields daily and has seen firsthand the effects of too much rain. He also stays in touch with other growers as a regional director of the Western Growers Assn., an agricultural trade association based in Orange County.

He talked about weather and farm issues last week in a muddy field near the El Toro Y as dozens of field workers in yellow rain slickers plucked ripened strawberries.

Question: Has the bad weather hit farms worse than other businesses?

Answer: Weather affects you whether you are a fishing boat operator, a restaurant owner or a golf course operator. No customers, no business. All of them suffer. And some growers are hit worse than others. If you have a field wash out, you can lose your entire investment. There are a few fields in Orange County where portions have been washed away.

*

Q: Are some crops more vulnerable to rain than others?

A: Fruiting crops are more delicate and a lot more vulnerable to rain damage. Something like celery or cabbage are tougher winter crops. With the pattern we follow, we just can’t grow some crops, like corn or beans, during the winter. They can be hurt by a light frost, and cabbage or celery won’t get nearly as much damage.

*

Q: What is the worst kind of weather condition for Orange County farmers?

A: Hail is the most damaging phenomenon. It actually defoliates the plant. With hail there is nothing you can do to protect the crops. With a frost or something like too much heat, you can use watering techniques and sprinkling to help protect the plants. We usually get a night of frost at least once a year.

*

Q: Are there any techniques growers are using to protect the crops from the rain?

A: There is one grower in Irvine who is using strawberry ‘hoops’ that act like an umbrella to protect those berries. He has had some success, but it is very labor intensive.

*

Q: The rain must result in saving on irrigation costs.

A: Through the drought years, we were constantly irrigating. This year, we have hardly had to irrigate at all. Depending on how hot it gets this summer, the winter rains could cut irrigation costs by as much as a fifth or more.

*

Q: Is flooding a problem?

A: Almost everybody in Irvine has fairly decent drainage. In Irvine, there have been some floods when water has gone over the banks and affected other growers. As for our fields, it’s been OK.

*

Q: Is is this a record rain, in your experience?

A: For myself, this is as much rain as we have ever seen. These are record volumes.

*

Q: Can you vary the mix of crops you plant to try to avoid adverse changes in weather?

A: We generally stay with the same mix of crops. Our company doesn’t speculate. We go with a proven recipe, a product mix that reassures the market buyers that they can count on us here in Orange County.

*

Q: Are the rains affecting prices?

A: Price swings are caused by so many different things. Weather is one of them. Another is surplus supply coming out of competing states or countries. A hurricane in Florida or Texas causes prices to rise, or a bumper crop there can cause a price decrease. But it’s yet to be seen how much the current rains affect crop prices.

*

Q: What’s happening with strawberry prices?

A: Strawberry prices have fallen in some areas because of more acreage in production. The total acreage for strawberries has increased even with the rains. Southern California growers depend on a higher price for strawberries, since they are usually some of the first fruit of the spring. Those higher prices help us pay back the costs of having grown strawberry plants since October. When we have lost the January and February production, as many of us have this year, not only is it 20% to 30% of the volume, but it had the highest prices. Now berry plants north of us are beginning to produce strawberries as well, and prices will drop.

*

Q: Is it more costly to farm in Orange County?

A: Costs are definitely higher. We pay more for water, workers’ compensation insurance and rents.

*

Q: Is more Mexican produce coming into the Southland with the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement?

A: I believe NAFTA never anticipated the peso collapsing. Before, with the peso and Mexican economy growing strongly, Mexican domestic production was not coming into our market because they had good markets of their own. Now that the peso has dropped, they would like to see more product sold up here. Definitely, it’s making for an incentive to market their product here.

*

Q: Don’t fruit and vegetable growers receive federal subsidies?

A: No. They apply to staple crops like grain, rice and cotton. When the subsidy programs were established, people grew green vegetables in back-yard victory gardens. There wasn’t a need for subsidies of fresh produce, and there were none. We have always believed the less government interference, the better.

*

Q: Do people take agriculture in Orange County for granted?

A: Isn’t it better to know your food is being produced here, instead of 500 miles away? Wherever possible, a county should support its own industries.

*

Q: How concerned are Orange County growers about pesticide safety?

A: We are constantly . . . trying to use new biologically safe products to produce the same crop. These issues don’t fall on deaf ears. We are moving in that direction as quickly and prudently as we can. There have been tremendous advances.