Ag Alert May 19, 2021

Berries Continued from Page 1

vantage theycanhave in themarketplace,” he added. Elwood said the nursery has managed to keep up with farmer demand because it typically produces extra transplants, in case of production problems. The transplants are produced using tis- sue culture taken froma runner, or shoot, off an original plant. This process begins at companyheadquarters inRedding, also home to a screenhouse where the plants are further propagated. From there, the plants are multiplied in the company’s foundation fields in Manteca. The final grow-out takes place in Siskiyou County, because the region can provide the prop- er chilling strawberry transplants need to give farmers a good start once the plants are in the ground, Elwood said. With acreage increasing this year, Fernandez said he wonders whether de- mand for strawberrieswill continue to rise as states begin to reopen from the pan- demic and people start to spend money on vacations, concerts, outings and other discretionary items. At the s t rawber r y commi ss i on, Tomlinsonnotedconsumptionhas grown year over year and people nowbuy straw- berries all year long, so he said he thinks “these habits are here to stay.” “It really does feel like this demand is solid,” he said. (ChingLeeisanassistanteditorofAgAlert. Shemaybe contactedat clee@cfbf.com.)

including California, Florida andMexico, increased plantings in response to higher demand last year, commission President Rick Tomlinson said. About 80%ofCaliforniastrawberriesare sold fresh, henoted. Theother 20%goes to processing, largelyas frozenberries,much ofwhichendup in foodservice,whichalso buys 15%of fresh-market strawberries. In the last year, retail sales for both fresh and frozen strawberries have been strong, Tomlinsonnoted. Consumer panels show strawberries being one of the fruits people purchased more of during the pandemic—with peo- plewhobuy strawberries regularlybuying moreand irregular consumersof theberry becoming regular buyers, he said. “More andmore people really connect withstrawberries,”Tomlinsonsaid. “Toput it in some context, strawberries are now the single largest source of vitaminC from fresh fruit for the American consumer.” Not that there were no hiccups along theway. At the start of the pandemic lockdown last year, Tomlinson said the strawberry market collapsed, with losses topping $60 millionduring the first 30days. Themarket largely stabilized by May, after logistical issues and disruptions with retailers were ironed out. Government programs and food-bankpurchases alsohelped to stabi- lize themarket, he added. TomAmRhein,whogrows strawberries inWatsonville, said2020endedupbeing“a better year thanwe’d seen in a while.” But he said that came after years of struggling to balance supply and demand. California acreage does fluctuate, Am Rhein said, but the increases tend to be limited and move “very slowly,” in large part because planning a strawberry crop requires decisions to be made at least a year in advance, due to land rotation and preparation, and transplants thatmust be ordered. Plus, with water issues up and down the coast and “a very limited mi- croclimate where strawberries can grow,”

Jo Richardson, left, greenhouse manager of Lassen Canyon Nursery, pollinates a strawberry plant as part of the nursery’s in-house breeding program while owner Liz Elwood-Ponce looks on.

farmers cannot quickly add acreage— though they’ve been increasing produc- tionwithhigher-yieldingvarieties, he said. “That’s reallyhowthe strawberry indus- trywould grow,” AmRhein said. “It would not be by expansion of acreage; it would be by the productivity of the acres that we have available to us.” There’s good reason the Monterey variety, released by the University of California in 2009, remains popular for California farmers, said Mark Curtice, who handles sales for Lassen Canyon Nursery inWatsonville andBaja, Mexico. The high-yielding variety yields berries with “reasonably good flavor” well into the fall, regardless of day length or tem- perature. A main drawback, he noted, is the plant’s tendency to shoot lots of run- ners, whichdrawenergy fromthe plant to produce berries, increasing grower costs to cut the runners. High productivity remains important, AmRhein said, and farmers also look for varieties with disease resistance, because they now have fewer chemical tools to protect crops. He said farmers also want a good-tasting berry that holds up during shippingwith good shelf life. “Usually, it’s really hard to find a vari- ety that has all those things,” said Kenny Elwood, who co-owns Lassen Canyon Nurserywith his sister Liz Elwood-Ponce.

LassenCanyonmaintains itsownbreed- ing program, which has been working on varieties withmore flavor and disease re- sistance, Elwoodsaid, thoughhenotedthe varieties may produce 25% less fruit than traditionalUCvarieties.Disease resistance hasbeenamain focus for thecompany, he said, because as fumigation and chemical use becomes more restricted, he thinks farmers will place more importance on that trait. Elwood-Ponce said the company has begun to sell a new variety called Sierra, and Curtice said he knows two farmers whomay order half a million transplants each. Most farmers, he said, “want to try whatever’s newevery year.” “Everyone’s looking for any small ad-

Agricultural Market Review

Quotations are the latest available for the week ending May 14, 2021 Year Ago Week Ago Latest Week Livestock Slaughter Steers – 5-Area Average Select & Choice, 1050–1150 lbs., $ per cwt. 93-115 118-119 118.50-119 Hogs – Average hog, 51-52% lean, Iowa-Minn. market, $ per cwt. 70.70 108.36 109.61 Slaughter Lambs – $ per cwt. 125–175 lbs. National weekly live sales No Quote 170-216 170-218.12 Field crops – basis prompt shipment Barley – U.S. No. 2, $ per cwt. Truck, Stockton-Modesto-Oakdale-Turlock No Quote 14.25-14.75 14.50-15.25 Cotton – ¢ per lb., Middling 1 3/32” Fresno spot market 58.31 77.47 75.41 Corn – U.S. No. 2 yellow $ per cwt. trucked 8.17 8.94 8.60 Alfalfa Hay – $ per ton, quality*, FOB Region 1, Northern Inter-mountain No Quote No Quote 220 (F/G) Region 2, Sacramento Valley 225 (P) 250 (G) 260 (P/S) Region 3, Northern San Joaquin Valley 215-240 (S) 270-280 (P/S) 270-310 (S) Region 4, Central San Joaquin Valley No Quote No Quote No Quote Region 5, Southern California 279 (P) 259 (P) 259 (P) Region 6, Southeast Interior 195 (P/S) 190-230 (P/S) 217-221 (P/S) Oat Hay – $ per ton, quality*, FOB Northern California, dairy No Quote No Quote No Quote Oats – U.S. No. 2 white, $ per cwt. Statewide, trucked price 125-160 (P) No Quote 200 (G)

First almond estimate shows larger crop but lower yields

Almond farmers predict slightly small- er yields from their trees this year, but the season’s first crop forecast shows an over- all increase due to continued addition of bearing acreage. TheU.S.Department ofAgriculture said last week its initial estimate of the 2021 al- mond crop was 3.2 billion pounds, up 3% from last year’s production. The USDA Nat ional Agr icul tural Statistics Service said its survey showed almond yields could decline 3% to 2,410 pounds per acre. But acreage of bearing almond trees rose 6% to a record of 1.33 million acres, more than offsetting the ex- pected decline in yield. Yields would still be higher than histor- ical averages, NASS reported, citing favor-

ableweather formuch of the crop cycle. “Warmtemperaturesprovidedexcellent bloom conditions, with peak bloom oc- curring in late February and earlyMarch,” the report said. “Pollination activity was reported to be very good with long over- lapping bloomperiods.” Known as the subjective estimate, the almond forecast was based on a survey of farmers; an objective forecast will be re- leased in July. “Water availability will be the principal concernongrowers’mindsas theycontin- uetogrowthiscrop,”saidthepresidentand CEO of the Almond Board of California, RichardWaycott. “We look forward to the outcome of the objective report to see if it corroborates this estimate.”

Dry Beans – Grower FOB prices Baby Limas, $ per cwt, (sacked) Large Limas, $ per cwt. (sacked) Blackeye, $ per cwt. (sacked)

No Quote No Quote No Quote

Rice – Milled No. 1 Head, FOB No. Calif. mills Medium grain, $ per cwt. Wheat – U.S. No. 2 or better, winter, $ per cwt. 13% protein, Los Angeles, trucked price

38-42

39-43

No Quote 12.75 (No. 1) Provided by the California Farm Bureau as a service to Farm Bureau members. Information supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Market News Branch. * ADF=Acid detergent fiber; (S) = Supreme/<27%ADF; (P) = Premium/27-29; (G) = Good/29-32; (F) = Fair/32-35. 14.50 (No. 3)

14 Ag Alert May 19, 2021