Vegetable Crop Outlook 2012

Bob Martin

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American Vegetable Grower talked to growers from across the country to find out what kind of year 2011 was and what their expectations are for 2012. As you will see from the answers given by the following lettuce, tomato, potato, sweet corn, and bean growers, in spite of all the government regulations and food safety and weather issues, most have high hopes for 2012.

Q1

What kind of year was it for growers in your area?

Q2

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What are the prospects in 2012 for you and growers in
your area, and how are they different from 2011?

Q3

If E-Verify passes in its current form without a viable guest    worker program, how will that impact your operation?

Q4

In addition to labor, what will be the biggest overriding
issues in 2012?

Q5

How do you plan to deal with those issues?

We asked several growers the following questions as it related to specific crops:

Bob Martin                                           
Rio Farms,
King City, CA

Q1. Our spring mix program started out with a bang. Yields and quality were some of the best ever, but in June we saw a gradual decline of quality and yields due to foggy, moist mornings which increased the presence of mildew, bacterial leaf spot, and sclerotinia. These conditions have continued to keep quality and yields at bay. Yields and quality of head lettuce were decent, although until early to mid November, the market conditions have been in the tank. 

Q2. I doubt if lettuce or spring mix plantings will be down as there has been a steady and sufficient demand for these products. We are always an optimistic bunch. We can’t afford
to be anything else.

Q3.  Huge! Many crops will suffer for lack of labor. No labor equals no food! Also, think about it: No labor equals no tax base (and income) for the state of California, which is not a good thing for our government, as most other types of businesses already left the state! We definitely need to turn the head lettuce industry into a more mechanized production.

Q4.  I have to believe that probably the issue of over-regulation by government agencies will be the biggest overriding issue in 2012. Cost of compliance is over the top. Impossible water quality standards are continually a hot topic.

Q5. Working with legislators to convey our concerns is a given. They must learn that the cost of over regulation and no labor will move them further away from a balanced budget!

Vegetable Crop Outlook 2012 ctd.

Keith Masser

Keith Masser
Sterman-Masser Potato Farms, 
Sacramento, PA

Q1. Spring floods, summer droughts, and fall floods as well as twice the normal annual rainfall pretty much sum it up. Half  of the rainfall occurred during the harvest season with about 40 inches of rain coming down in that period of time. We also had seven weeks without rain in late June and August with record heat. The heat was not good.

Q2. The prospects for 2012 are about the same as 2011. 
We are hoping the weather cooperates better and that La Niña takes her effects somewhere else.

Q3.  If E-Verify passes in its current form, it will negatively impact many agricultural operations. We have a Hispanic workforce that comprises 25% of our company’s employees. We have taken every step necessary to make sure all employee documents are in order and have had a recent successful I-9 audit. E-Verify will restrict the available workers from some ag jobs that most people just don’t want to do.

Q4.  I guess some of the regulations that are being imposed in the Chesapeake Bay as well as weather have caused problems and will be the biggest overriding issues. The executive order to clean up the bay in an unreasonable time frame has been hard.

Q5.  We are working with the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and the National Potato Council toward legislation to get these things corrected.

Vegetable Crop Outlook 2012 ctd.

Kent Shoemaker

Kent Shoemaker
Lipman (formerly Six L’s 
Packing Co.), Immokalee, FL

Q1. Coming out of a winter with several freezes and some heavy rain, we had a decent yield this past spring. Overall, Lipman was pleased with the season.   

Q2.  The early tomato crop was fair, due to the excessive rain in Central Florida. Farther south in Estero, LaBelle, and Immokalee, the tomato crop is still young.

Q3.  As the largest field tomato grower in North America, we are one of the only companies in the country to provide consistent, year-round employment for migrant workers. As a result, we depend on our farm workers every day, and it is essential for us to care for them and their families. All our workers have I-9 documentation and are approved to work in the U.S. If they don’t have this documentation, they aren’t hired. We use Job Services of Florida to screen and verify workers.

Q4.  Weather fluctuations affect crop yields — therefore, climate change has a major impact on our business. And, while we can’t control the weather, we can control our farm locations. To continuously provide fresh, seasonal produce, Lipman’s farms are positioned strategically throughout North America.

Q5.  Ensuring we continue to meet our customers’ changing needs is an important factor. Customers want to interact with the growers and see where the produce is coming from. Lipman’s “Access to the Acre” program gives them the opportunity to do this. As part of this program, we have created the “Lipman Vegetable Garden,” a 5,000-acre farm that includes a significant volume of all the vegetables grown across Florida.

Vegetable Crop Outlook 2012 ctd.

John Hundley

John Hundley
Hundley Farms, 
Belle Glade, FL

Q1.  In December we had three major freezes substantially earlier than normal that killed thousands of acres. After those freezes we had a bumper crop but about 25% of our sweet corn crop was left in the field due to market conditions. We had such high volumes in the month of April that we couldn’t sell in the Northern states because it was too cold.

Q2.  The ongoing issues with unemployment and the economy are making things rough. People don’t seem to have the money to spend on fresh products, they are buying more cans and frozen produce. I think the market might become a bit stagnant in that regard. We are anticipating good volumes at the farm level barring some major weather disaster. 

Q3.  [The passage of E-Verify] would actually impact us in a tremendous way. We don’t currently have a good way to determine if people are legal. They say they are, but we can’t verify that. It could make labor shortages that are already tight tremendously more difficult. Hand-picked crops area wide, statewide, nationwide, and industry wide could go to waste due to a lack of a way to harvest them.

Q4.  We continue to watch all of the different legislation that is pending regarding food safety, traceability etc., and the way that different government agencies are coming together to form one standard for food safety, it’s obviously more complicated than that term alone, but we anticipate changes in the way we do things in that regard. That would allow consumers to have quick access to what was applied and how it was handled etc. Consumers are guaranteed knowledge.

Q5.  We are in the process of spending quite a bit of money [in the food safety arena] to control the things that we can control: packaging, quality, labeling, etc. We want to be doubly sure that we are giving the consumer everything that they’re paying for starting at the farm level. That requires additional capital over and above what we normally put in, but we have to pay it forward to make sure that we’re not caught in a bind.  

Vegetable Crop Outlook 2012 ctd.

Jason Turek

Jason Turek
Turek Farms, 
King Ferry, NY

Q1.  We had a lot of problems at the end of the year with the rain. In general, though, the price was better this summer because yields were way down. It was about one-third of what we normally would have harvested. Yields improved dramatically in August. The yields came up and the price came down and then it flip-flopped in September when the storms came through. We had yield and quality problems because of the rain, but the price was pretty steady.  

Q2.  We pretty much do the same thing here from year to year. We don’t tend to change our acreage of green beans or other crops a whole lot. Again, labor continues to be a problem. If field corn and soybean prices stay up, that is a pretty attractive alternative to growing a lot of the vegetables we grow.

Q3.  My first answer is that we would probably convert to field corn and soybeans, but I really don’t know. We will be in big trouble if E-Verify passes.

Q4.  Labor will be the biggest issue and then food safety, which continues to be a top priority.

Q5.  Government regulations will dictate how we will move forward. Every year we wait for something big to happen with the H-2A program or something better to come along, but it has been years of promises and nothing happens.  

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