Ag Alert Mar. 16, 2022

Steady markets, growing conditions favor cabbage

MarketingService.USDAlumpedImperial andCoachellavalleycabbagewithproduct fromwesternArizona andMexico. Of the markets, Howington said that “just fromthemovement, it’sbeena typical year. The harvest has gone pretty smooth- ly as far as being able to keep up with the fields and not getting behind.” This is true even though labor has “al- ways been a challenge,” he noted, “espe- cially paying for it—it’s more and more expensive, like everything else.” “Whether you’re speaking cabbage or

anyother vegetable, you’reat themercyof somanydifferent variables—(andcaught) betweenmarket conditions, demand, la- bor cost and availability, fuel cost” and material expenses, including for fertilizer, tractor parts and tires, he said. “Sometimeswe’re forcedtospendmon- ey that we shouldn’t have to spend just to make sure we have something when we need it,”Howingtonsaid. “I’mgoing tocall it a complicated year in that respect.” (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)

ByKevinHecteman I r i s h e y e s a r e s m i l i n g u p o n California cabbage growers in time for St. Patrick’s Day. “So far, everything’s looking good as far as all the varieties,” said Frankie Oliver, field supervisor at Pacific Fresh Produce inOxnard. “It’s beengoodquality, andev- erything’s coming along just right.” In Imperial County, Scott Howington started planting organic cabbage trans- plants inearlySeptember inhis fieldsnear Holtville and El Centro. “Quality-wise, it’s beenexcellent—probablyoneof ourbetter (seasons),”Howington said. In2019, themost recent yearwith state- wide figures available, California farmers planted 14,800 acres of cabbage and har- vested 14,500, according to the California Departmentof FoodandAgriculture. Yield was 410 tons of cabbage per acre, worth just north of $212.2million. Cabbage acreage in the state was rela- tivelysteady throughout the2010s, accord- ing to CDFA, trending slightly downward from 13,700 planted acres in 2010 before growing to a high of 14,900 acres in 2017. Oliverhas red, greenandsavoycabbage inhis Ventura County fields. “The stuff that we’re in right now was plantedinearlyNovember; that’s just com- ingoff rightnow,”Oliver said. “The redand savoy take a little bit longer, but the green is probably a couple weeks earlier as far as harvest.” Oliver’sbiggestheadacheso far is thedi- amondbackmoth, whichhas been vexing growers inVenturaCountyandelsewhere. “In larval form, it’s like a worm,” Oliver said. “It just goes into the head and dam- ages the crop. Sometimes, it’s unharvest- able. They have to spray a little bit more, andcosts goupbecauseof that. Therewas major pressure last summer.” The pest is dealtwiththroughadditional spraysorbug vacuums, he said. Inthe ImperialValley, thewinter vegeta- ble season is nearing its conclusion. “It’s that time of year where it’s getting warm, a lot of wind, so that’s always hard to deal with,” Howington said, explaining, it’s “pretty much a normal ending for the winter vegetable season down here.” Most of the desert vegetable crops will finish within the next couple of weeks, Howington said. Cabbage could be ex- tended another week or more depending on quality and availability. “If they’re shipping it out ofWatsonville and they have product up there, then ob- viously there’s no reason to truck it from here,” Howington said. “If they don’t have it, andwehave thequality,we’ll extendour season downhere.” Ol iver said markets have most ly bounced back from the onset of COVID restrictions inMarch 2020, when “every- thing shut down, as well as our business, and nobody bought anything,” he said. “After that, after acoupleweeksor acou- ple months, it bounced back a little bit,”

Oliver said, adding that current markets are steady. “It’s remained up and down, just almost normal, and as far as supplies, it’s remained steady as well.” As of March 11, round green cabbage from the Imperial and Coachella val- leys was selling for $14.35 to $18.55 for a 50-pound carton, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural

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March 16, 2022 Ag Alert 3