Tag: Specialty Crop

New estimates of Florida’s orange crop are not so sunshiney: The USDA is predicting the lowest production figures since 1945.

The current estimate is 44.5M 90-pound boxes, down 1.5M from last month’s forecast. Consumers may have to keep their eyes peeled for higher prices in the coming year.

What caused this? One notable culprit is a plant disease known as citrus greening. This disease has been a significant factor in Florida’s orange production decline for over 20 years, with a major drop of 18.1% occurring during the 1998-99 season.

Citrus greening at a glance:

• The spread is caused by a disease-infected insect, the Asian citrus psyllid.
• Infected trees produce fruits that are bitter, misshapen, green, and unsuitable for sale.
• Infected trees cannot be cured.

Soundbite: “The disappointment of another decline in the forecast is hard to overstate. But so too is the determination of Florida’s citrus growers who remain focused on delivering great-tasting and high-quality fruit while–simultaneously–seeking new solutions to citrus greening,” – Shelley Rossetter, assistant director of global marketing at the Florida Department of Citrus.

For some perspective: The last time Florida orange production was at current levels, Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, WWII had just concluded, Elvis Presley made his first public appearance at age 10 at the Mississippi Alabama Dairy Show, and the price of one pound of Ritz Crackers was 21 cents.

The American squash and cucumber markets might be in a little bit of a pickle, according to a new U.S. International Trade Commission report.

Report findings show the domestic market share was sliced, after years of above-average imports of the products from Mexico.

While the U.S. market faces high production costs, volatile weather, and pest problems, Mexico has the advantages of low pricing, government funding, and low-wage rates.

In the 182-page squash report and the 222-page cucumbers report, the ITC noted:

• The U.S. saw above-average squash imports from Mexico for a decade, between 2009 and 2019.

• Without those imports, American summer squash farmers could have seen their revenue increase by about $16M from 2015 to 2020. (U.S. consumption increased by ~25% during that period).
• Economic models also estimate U.S. cucumber production would have increased, and American growers could have gained more than $31M in revenue increases in the November-May period of 2015-2020 (and revenue would have jumped more than $35M from June to October).

Soundbite: “High-volume fruit and vegetable imports flooding in from Mexico are severely harming American growers and jeopardizing our food security. The Biden Administration must implement immediate, effective, enforceable, and durable remedies to combat unfair trade practices and defend America’s domestic sources of food in the winter and spring months,” noted U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in a statement on the report’s release.

California pistachio growers are pleasantly surprised with their harvest this year. Though the nuts be but little, the acreage was fierce.

This year’s California pistachios had an uphill battle on their way to the second-largest crop on record (about one billion pounds).

The comeback crop: Pistachios are alternate bearing, which means higher yields are expected every other year. This year was an “off” year, so producing just under last year’s 1.05 billion pounds leaves the industry shell-shocked. In addition, the drought in the West was expected to roast that extra yield.

How important are pistachios? Well, if California ag commodities were a basketball team, pistachios would be a starter. They are No. 4 behind milk, almonds, and grapes. In 2020, those little pistachios brought in a cracking $2.87B.

And because the crop is drought resistant, and water availability is a little nutty in the West, farmers are planting more pistachios, according to American Pistachio Growers President Richard Matoian.

That works out because global demand for pistachios is also rising, especially in Europe, China, and Hong Kong. About 65 to 70% of U.S. pistachios are exported. Cha-ching.

Down the road: After this pleasant surprise, the industry is looking forward to what happens next year during an “on” year.

The 2021 pumpkin crop is spookier than ever.

But it’s not because of super-scary carvings everyone is posting to Insta.

Yep, you guessed it: There could be a shortage.

And yes—COVID is partially to blame. In some areas the supply chain challenges that have plagued literally everyone are creating backlogs in distributing pumpkins. Other areas have found labor hard to find, like so many other businesses in the past year.

But in the case of pumpkins, there are other factors that could leave some wondering where all the orange is this fall.

Farms in California have faced drought, leaving some with smaller harvests. In other areas of the country, like North Carolina, conditions have been too wet through the spring and summer months.

There’s also this: Illinois produces 80-90% of the total U.S. pumpkin crop, and farmers in the state are seeing high levels of fungus destroying otherwise good-looking pumpkins. Those in the state are predicting the real effects of a shortage might come at Thanksgiving—when demand for canned pumpkin spikes for the year.

Southwestern French wine growers were hit hard this year with devastating frosts and blistering heat. But for Pierre Escudie, his Marselan, Grenache Gris, and Chardonnay grapes fared better than his neighbors’ thanks to the rows of solar panels above the vines protecting the plants.

Throwing shade: The panels insulate the ground below them by around 1.1-ish degrees Fahrenheit. They rotate to allow more/less light to hit the vines depending on the day.

The solar panels at the vineyard generate enough energy to power 650 homes in the area, even though 15-20% of the power production is sacrificed for crop quality.

It’s a win-win for crops that can’t take the heat and the solar panels that work better with the cooler microclimate provided by the crop underneath. Many companies in Europe are developing similar solar panel systems to cover a variety of crops.

More grape tech: Maybe the solar panels can power the new robo-pickers that Italian winemakers are embracing amid pandemic-induced labor shortages.

With borders shuttered by COVID travel restrictions, Italian winemakers haven’t been able to hire the (mostly Eastern European and North African) workers who typically fill their vineyards during harvest season. The use of harvesting machines spiked 20% this year among a group of winemakers in the central Italian region.

Some were able to cut a typical 18-day harvest down to just 10. Wine not make the switch?

Your morning brew may soon look a little more red, white, and blue.

Thanks to some enterprising farmers, a forward-thinking American coffee company, and a changing climate, coffee farms are popping up in Southern California—and this may be just the beginning.

Give me the venti: It’s no surprise that the U.S. leads the world in the consumption of coffee (I’ll take another refill, please). Yet the U.S. produces only .01% of the world’s coffee crop.

And until recently, nearly all of that was grown in Hawaii, thanks to that sultry tropical climate that coffee trees love.

But times (and the climate), they are-a-changin’.

Mainland bound: Frinj Coffee, the California-based specialty coffee company, partners with java-loving farmers and provides them with seedlings, post-harvest processing, and marketing services.

Their latest partnership, with the Smith Hobson Ranch of Ventura, just added 20,000 coffee trees to the Golden State.

But wait, there’s more: Back east, scientists at the University of Florida are currently piloting a coffee plantation in an effort to determine if the crop can survive and thrive in the Sunshine State.

California and Florida, notably, don’t have the historical climate preferred by coffee trees, but unique irrigation and interplanting techniques, along with the warming climate, are making sustainable growing more possible.

Where this goes: With drought and freezing temperatures wreaking havoc on Brazil’s coffee crop, and Vietnam dealing with a major COVID outbreak (cue the broken record), the world’s #1 and #2 coffee producers are having a hard time topping off those lattes. That, paired with warmer northern temps may result in “Product of USA” stamped on your bag of coffee sooner rather than later.