USA - Salinas Valley crop damage tops $500 million

24.03.2023 235 views

Preliminarily, Monterey County officials and agricultural experts have indicated that crop losses from the torrential rains that have hit the Salinas Valley this year could easily top $500 million. 

Those numbers are just guesstimates with no expectation that a final figure will be available for several months. What seems to be certain, however, is that crop losses are significant and the vegetable market will soon be feeling the effects with much higher prices.

Dan Walker, a commodity manager with Salinas, CA-based Church Bros. Farms, said on Tuesday, March 21, “the vegetable market is still stagnant, but we see that changing within the next two to three weeks. The desert is starting to run out of product and when that happens the market will react.”

He said Church Bros. is scheduled to transition to the Salinas Valley in mid-April, with most other shippers following suit sometime during the first few weeks of April. Walker said he couldn’t hazard a guess as to how many acres have been impacted because the water hasn’t receded yet in so many places. He added that many fields will have to be replanted for food-safety reasons. “We will be dealing with this for the next three to four months,” he said. “I would guess that tens of thousands of acres have been affected.”

Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, said that growers of flooded fields must follow necessary food-safety protocols, which will cause a delay in replanting. Any crop on a field that is flooded has to be discarded.  “Once the water recedes, growers can begin the testing protocols that they have to pass before they can replant,” he said. “When flooding occurred in January, we witnessed that it typically took 30 to 60 days to get through those protocols.”

Groot said the number of acres underwater will certainly be much more than the 15,000 acres that were flooded in January. Salinas Valley has 220,000 acres of irrigated crops.

Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo didn’t dispute that the affected acreage could run into the tens of thousands. He told The Produce News that the damage is very significant, but no firm estimate had been made. “It is going to take us about a month to come up with a good number,” he said, adding that his office is in the process of surveying growers throughout the county.

“I can tell you that this is the second flooding event we’ve seen this year,” he said. “The first one was in January where the damage assessment was $330 million in direct impact and future losses. There was also about $10 million in infrastructure damages.”

Hidalgo said close to 16,000 acres were impacted by flooding. “Given what we have seen from the latest storms (in early March), it appears that the damage will play out in a similar fashion with even more extensive flooding.”

He added that there are still several areas in Monterey County where the water has not receded. “We are just looking at lakes,” he said. “We don’t know if they were planted in crops or not.”

Hidalgo said that is why the entire grower community needs to be surveyed, which is a time-consuming effort. “That could take several months,” he added.

The ag commissioner said the hardest hit areas were farms in close proximity to the Salinas River as well as the entirety of North Monterey County’s Pajaro Valley and the town of Pajaro, which was flooded. “The Salinas River runs 60 to 70 miles down the valley,” he said. “Any farm along that river was in jeopardy. And a levee broke on the Pajaro River, which flooded lots of acres and that small community, unfortunately.”

He said the levee has been fixed, which has at least put an end to the flow of water.

On March 17, government officials joined together with ag community members to discuss the flood issues. According to a newsletter from the Salinas-based Grower-Shipper Association, topics of conversation included flood impacts and regulatory concerns that will affect berm repairs and Salinas River channel improvements.  

The newsletter noted that preliminary estimates indicate that about 12.5 percent of the overall farm gate crop value of $4 billion for Monterey County could be lost. “As for the potential economic effect on the region, covering wages, and a hit to the services sector, a 12.5 percent mark equates to a $1.5 billion impact (out of a $12 billion economic contribution by the agricultural sector). Combined, the effects could reach $2 billion ($500 million crop loss plus $1.5 billion economic impact),” the newsletter reported.

Source - https://theproducenews.com

01.12.2023

France - Concerns about endive harvest quality

There are still a lot of questions surrounding the current French endive campaign. Although harvesting resumed at the end of last week (delays due to flooding), the recent rains have once again halted the work of endive producers.

01.12.2023

Germany - Rainfall in the last week made harvesting conditions even more difficult

In addition to the dominant domestic supply, potato imports from abroad also increased slightly. According to the BLE, demand could be met without difficulty. In Germany, there are still individual areas of potatoes that still need to be harvested.

01.12.2023

Spain - The production of vegetables will be reduced this season in Andalusia due to the drought

The campaign for open ground vegetables such as leeks, carrots, kohlrabi and cabbage is now starting in southern Spain, limited by factors such as water scarcity, which has led to a reduction in the estimated volumes for this campaign, and difficulties in finding sufficient labor.

01.12.2023

Australia - Storms hit wheat harvest

Heavy rain sweeping through southeastern Australia has damaged wheat crops, potentially shrinking production by more than 100,000 tons and turning up to 1 million tons of milling wheat into lower-quality feed grain, analysts said.

01.12.2023

India - Karnataka govt to pay crop loss compensation of up to ₹2,000 per farmer

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said with the Centre delaying drought relief, the state government has decided to pay the first instalment of crop loss compensation, of up to ₹2,000 per farmer, as immediate relief.

01.12.2023

India - Six more districts in Maha hit by rain; affected land increases to 4L ha

Six more districts in Maharashtra have been hit by hailstorms and unseasonal rain, taking the count to 22 districts and increasing the area under crop damage by three times from 1,32,272 hectares to 3,93,325 hectares.

30.11.2023

India - Maharashtra govt to give aid up to 3 hectares for crop losses due to unseasonal rains Shinde

The Maharashtra government will give financial assistance up to three hectares of land to farmers who have suffered crop losses due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in the last few days, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Wednesday.

30.11.2023

Spain - Lower yields for early clementines and oranges

The excessively mild climate is having a noticeable impact on Spanish citrus cultivation this year. The lack of cold hours is generally reflected in weaker tree growth and the low rainfall is leading to more depleted soil, which in turn is harming production volumes.

istanbul escort şişli escort tbilisi escort şişli escort şişli escort maslak escort istanbul escort beşiktaş escort taksim escort izmir escort ümraniye escort mecidiyeköy escort şişli escort taksim escort ümraniye escort kartal escort şirinevler escort maltepe escort istanbul escort ümraniye escort kadıköy escort vip escort mersin escort istanbul escorts ataköy escort avcılar escort beylikdüzü escort okmeydanı escort şişli escort tuzla escort işitme cihazı sex shop sex shop sex shop sex shop sex shop sex shop sex shop sex shop