Part and parcel with the weather is the Golden State’s critical water shortage, with Governor Jerry Brown declaring a state of emergency and the California Department of Water Resources setting allocations at zero due to drought conditions. Inadequate snow pack exacerbated the problem, and growers were faced with an ongoing struggle to adequately irrigate crops.
“Weather is huge,” commented Ely Trujillo of Superior Growers, LLC, based in Nevada but with growing operations in California, Arizona, and Florida. Trujillo says many grower-shippers are “watching how much water there is before the season starts.”
Mike McDonald, president of M&M West Coast Produce, Inc., concurred. “In Salinas, many farmers will not put product in the ground because of the price of water. We still need more rain and if we don’t get it, farmers won’t put product in the ground and there will be less available.”
Fortunately there has been some precipitation. “We’re getting a little rain and if it keeps up we will be okay,” Trujillo adds. “If not, and we’re limited by government regulations (for rationing), we’ll have to either provide less of everything or choose not to grow some [commodities]. The picking and choosing will be difficult.”
Other Challenges
Labor
For many in the Salinas Valley, labor has become a formidable obstacle to growing and harvesting. Superior’s Kim says, “labor is a major challenge—both the availability and the cost.” It is, he concedes, sometimes very difficult to maintain the region’s signature quality and keep costs down.
Pacific International’s Dill also addresses the shortage of labor. “With the economy better, a lot [of laborers] who used to work in the field now have better options, and we have a smaller labor pool.” This decrease in available workers has forced growers to revise their intricate planting schedules to accommodate a fluctuating labor pool.
Food Safety
According to Monterey County’s Office of the Agricultural Commissioner website, the county’s agricultural industry is recognized for establishing the most inventive and strict commodity-specific food safety programs in the United States.
“The food safety component to our business is obviously a big concern,” says Dill. “Not only from a staffing perspective but accountability standpoint because everything is documented, everything is tested, and those records need to be accessible.”
Dill explains that seven to eight years ago, food safety was a simple process that one employee could handle, but now the company’s food safety department is composed of ten people. “Obviously, it’s necessary,” says Dill, “but it’s an additional cost.”
