Leafy Green Growers Will Survive COVID-19

How is COVID-19 impacting the leafy green industry? Ultimately, time will tell.

The 2020 leafy green season ran headlong into the outbreak of COVID-19. It’s a year-round crop category, shifting from region to region as seasons change. By the time it became apparent how extensively the pandemic would change fresh produce this year, fields in California were already being harvested.

“The lag in adjusting to the situation is mostly a two-month window for a crop like lettuce,” says Richard Smith. Smith is a University of California Vegetable Crop and Weed Science Farm Advisor at the Cooperative Extension in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties.

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The pandemic affects all areas of the vegetable industry, but none more so than the foodservice sector.

While that sector serves hospitals, the military, and prisons, two thirds of foodservice giants like Sysco are to restaurants.

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“Roughly half of this [restaurant] segment is local independents and the other half is various chain restaurants. Many of these customers are still safely operating under take-out, drive-through and/or delivery options,” Sysco’s President and CEO Kevin Hourican said in a statement to his company’s investors.

So the impact on lettuce growers has depended on which customer they sell to.

“Companies varied in their level of exposure to this market that just collapsed,” Smith says. “Some were more exposed than others. Given other issues with the food distribution system, in general, some growers think that they may be 30% overplanted.”

Finding New Customers

A widely recognized strength of the vegetable industry is its flexibility. With the numerous tasks related to production and the variety of crops involved, growers are accustomed to finding solutions on the fly.

“Our members compete in the marketplace and have always done so without the market-distorting subsidies that some other commodities receive,” says Cory Lunde, Sr. Director, Strategic Initiatives and Communications. The nimbleness is an attribute the industry is relying upon like never before, because this is unlike anything the industry has faced in modern times.

“This situation is more akin to a disaster scenario and not the norm,” Lunde says.

And it’s a disaster that affects all parts of the world simultaneously. Generally, disasters are highly localized, and the rest of the industry can step in to help.

So growers are doing what they do best and figuring out ways to make it work.

During the early stages of the pandemic, the solutions were highly individual.

Demands from grocery stores spiked early, before leveling out at a higher level than the non-COVID-19 era, Forbes magazine reports.

“I heard of some old-fashioned horse trading, where growers with crops in their field were making deals with those selling to grocery stores,” says Michael Cahn, the Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor at the University of California, Cooperative Extension in Monterey.

But naturally, the increase in grocery store demand did not meet the plunge in the food service sector.

So the industry continues to innovate.

Those who sell directly to consumers, whether through farmers markets, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), or on-farm sales, are ramping up those areas. They’re having to solve logistical problems along with finding ways to handle the new labor load. While there are plenty of unemployed, farms tend to be rural.

Smaller growers have a distinct advantage, since their size matches local populations more evenly, removing the need for long-distance transportation.

“We cannot keep up with the demand,” says Gail Vanik. Vanik and her husband grow greenhouse vegetables and host a winter farmers’ market.

“Local produce is perceived as a safer option possibly because it hasn’t been transported or handled as much as that in the grocery stores,” she says.

Florida Industry Mobilizes

This innovative spirit also can be found in other crops. Take a look at how the vegetable industry in Florida has responded.

South Florida grower R.C. Hatton plowed 100 acres of green beans (or about 2 million pounds) and 60 acres of cabbage (or 5 million pounds). Tony DiMare, Vice President of DiMare Fresh, estimated that by season’s end, about 10 million pounds of the company’s tomato crop will go unharvested.

Many farmers in the Immokalee area were forced to empty coolers as perishable products found no buyers. Just one farm had reported the need to dump more than 100,000 pounds of product by the first week of April.

According to Gene McAvoy, UF/IFAS Vegetable Extension Agent Emeritus, with normal markets drying up, some farms are trying new ways to move product. Sam S. Accursio and Sons Farms’ packinghouse in Homestead opened its doors to direct sales. The family sold produce boxes for $10.

Over two weekends, 120,000 pounds of produce (squash, tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers) were sold. In addition, they partnered with a blueberry grower, H&A Farms in Mt. Dora, to move 20,000 flats of berries sold at 12 pints for $20.

“While we’re doing our best to divert supplies to the grocery segment, it will not be nearly enough to offset the losses from the reduced business in food service,” says Michael Schadler, Executive Vice President of the Florida Tomato Exchange.

“Needless to say, this is a disaster for most of our growers as we’re fully planted for the spring crop, which was just beginning to be harvested.”


How COVID-19 Changed Production Plans for Leafy Greens

We conducted our State of the Industry Survey just as the pandemic took hold. Here’s how growers’ plans for 2020 differ between those who answered prior to March 13 and those who responded after that date.

Leafy greens production plans 2020 chart

* Percentages do not add up to 100%. The remaining amounts are the percentage of operations not growing leafy greens.

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