Southland Strawberry Growers Halt Harvest Early
Stung by a health scare not of their making, most Southern California strawberry growers are halting their harvest of fresh berries a month earlier than expected.
Area growers, who had planned to ship fresh strawberries through mid-May, said Friday that they are now shipping berries for processing into canned and frozen goods and beverages.
“The shame of this is that the crop is the best it’s ever been,” said Doug Circle, part-owner of Kirk Produce in Anaheim and Laguna Farms in Irvine.
An outbreak of hepatitis A last month in Michigan--linked to Mexican-grown strawberries sliced and frozen by a San Diego company--and the subsequent exposure of Los Angeles-area students “accelerated” the normal transition for Southland berry farmers as they near the growing season’s finale, said Dave Riggs, president of the California Strawberry Commission in Watsonville.
Indeed, a big supply, a customary post-Easter slump and weather damage have helped prompt Southland farmers to abandon the fresh strawberry market.
But the ripple effect of the hepatitis A outbreak “is one of the biggest factors,” said grower Scott Deardorff, an owner of Deardorff-Jackson Co. in Oxnard.
Fresh berries are still plentiful because Northern California growers, who produce most of the state’s crop, are hitting their peak season. Supermarkets are now demanding berries specifically from the Santa Maria and Watsonville areas.
California’s fresh strawberry industry--which supplies 80% of the nation’s harvest--has been hard hit in recent years by heavy rains, a health problem known as cyclospora and the hepatitis A scare, which affected several states in addition to California and Michigan.
After the hepatitis news hit, Southern California growers watched the shipping price drop in one day by $1 per 12-pint tray, to $6.35. Prices have continued to fall.
In Orange County, growers started last week to send their berries to processors.
“Four out of five growers we work with are going to processing,” said A.G. Kawamura of Western Marketing Co. in Irvine.
In the Ventura area, “an increasing number [of growers] are switching over,” said Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. “It’s a good 30 days early to be doing that.”
The hepatitis scare exacerbated other market conditions, notably surging supply. Shipments grew from 508,000 trays on March 25 to 802,000 trays on Tuesday, a 58% increase, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s California Berry Report. Widespread flooding and unseasonably late snow in important East Coast and Midwest markets kept many consumers from buying berries.
In addition, the newer camarosa variety favored by most Southland growers has been hurt by several days of severe heat and strong winds and might be better suited for processing now, said Kirk Larson at the UC Davis Research Center in Irvine.
The industry was heartened by unusually heavy demand the day after Easter, when the slump typically hits, Riggs said. But the hepatitis news hit nationally two days after Easter. For Southern California growers, demand dropped and prices sank, wiping out profit margins.
The typically higher price for fresh strawberries fell nearly to what processors would pay. Farmers save on hefty packaging costs when they ship to processors.
“At $4 [a 12-pint tray], we’re better off going to the freezer,” grower Deardorff said. His company has started shipping berries from about one-third of its 115 acres to processors--two weeks earlier than last year.
Processors are offering about 30 cents a pound, a big increase over last year’s price of 16 cents a pound, Larson said.
So far, growers in the north appear to be unscathed.
“We’re just starting our season,” said Karen Miller of Clint Miller Farms in Watsonville. Demand, she said, appears typical.
“Things are going just fine,” she said. “The quality up here is really spectacular.”
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(Orang County Edition) Berry Big Problem
Southern California crops were in peak season when Los Angeles school officials warned that tainted Mexican-grown berries had been served in school cafeterias. Prices were further hurt when Northern California crops reached market in early April. Shipping prices, per 12-pint flat:
March 17
High price: $9.45
Low price: $8.35
April 1
High price: $6.35*
April 16
High price: $5.35
Low price: $4.35
* Los Angeles school hepatitis scare Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture’s California Berry Report
