Fewer shipments of spring vegetables this season and a delay in volume loadings is occurring in a key California growing region, the Salinas Valley.
Frequent and excessive rainfall are prime culprits.
At Pacific International Marketing of Salinas, plantings were interrupted in January and February. The disruptions in normal, consistent plant schedules for the early season is making forecasts challenging regarding yields and total volume.
Winter production challenges from the deserts of California and Arizona and Mexico has made the seasonal transition to Salinas more difficult to predict as well.
Ocean Mist Farms in Castroville, CA reports winter rainfall in the Salinas area was has been about 130 percent above normal. This has resulted in some vegetable crops such as broccoli and cauliflower maturing slowly, with uneven growth. .
Duda Farm Fresh Foods of Salinas notes rains prevented farms from conducting necessary cultural practices, such as applying fertilizer.. Planting schedules also could throw off harvest and shipping schedules since multiple plantings were being done in one week during the breaks in weather rather than planting over several weeks
Salad Savoy Corp. of Salinas reports delays in planting have been one to two weeks depending on the crops.
Salinas vegetables – grossing about $4400 to Chicago.