Until recent years California was known as the asparagus capital of U.S. because of the high volume of the vegetable the state’s farmers produced, along with the quality of the varieties grown, such as the “Delta Queen” variety, known for its thicker stems and sweeter taste compared to imported asparagus, which used to be grown abundance in San Joaquin County.
Unfortunately, the title no longer fits the reality of asparagus-growing in California.
In the last 20 years, California’s asparagus acreage has plummeted. At the turn of the 21st century, California growers were farming more than 36,000 acres of asparagus.
As an illustration of the rapid decline in production consider this: California growers harvested 58 million pounds of fresh asparagus in 2007 on 20,000 acres. That fell to about 20 million pounds of production, on 8,000 acres in 2016, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Far fewer than those 8,000 acres are in production today.
Three regions in California historically produce asparagus: the San Joaquin Delta Region in San Joaquin County, the Contra Costa County/Capay Valley regions and the Central Valley.
At its height, about 60,000 acres of asparagus was grown in the San Joaquin Delta region, The crop is down to 200 acres today, which Jeff Klein owns. Klein is the last commercial asparagus-grower in the county. He sells his asparagus to a handful of local supermarkets in the region and directly to consumers at his own farm stand. He’s also the only supplier for the annual San Joaquin Asparagus Festival, which is held in Stockton every May. It too is a nod to the past legacy of California being the asparagus capital of the world and San Joaquin County being its epicenter.
At this year’s asparagus festival Klein, who owns Moon Dust Farms, said: “We require a premium to stay in the business. We cannot compete with the asparagus that comes in from overseas.” Overseas means primarily from next-door Mexico, which is the primary importer of asparagus to the U.S..
Asparagus is a labor-intensive crop, which requires care seven days a week.
“If you do not cut it on a daily basis, it will flower and the tip and the spear are essentially worthless,” according to Klein.
Asparagus that comes from countries such as Mexico are sold in U.S. supermarkets at cheaper rates, and due to labor costs and overtime laws, California growers can’t compete, According to Bruce Blodgett of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau.
“Our labor costs are so much more expensive in this state compared to any place else, and it’s really tough to make a living and you can’t make a living at two bucks a pound,” he says.
Imported Mexican Asparagus sells in California supermarkets for around $3.99 per pound and is often featured on special for as low as $1.99 per pound at the height of the Mexican harvest season.
Imported cheap Mexican asparagus is the main reason for the demise of California asparagus.
This decrease in asparagus acreage in the Golden State began with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that took effect in 1994. Until that time, growers were able to get a premium for their high-quality California asparagus. With NAFTA in place, the difference between California’s labor costs and its strict safety regulations, and those of Mexico’s for producing the asparagus, have had a major impact. (NAFTA was replaced in 2019 by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement but nothing has changed for the better for farmers in California.)
The difficulty in finding farm labor and the drought and the resultant lack of adequate water allocation for irrigation are also behind the decrease in asparagus acreage in California, particularly in recent years.
For example, up until last year Joe Del Bosque grew premium asparagus, including an organic variety, at his farm in Firebough on the Westside of the Central Valley. Del Bosque’s asparagus had a ready market from premium grocers like Whole Foods Market who bought the crop annually. But with the flood of cheap Mexican imports, including organic asparagus that’s not held to the same government-mandated standards as organic asparagus produced in California is, along with the drought and labor struggles – asparagus is much more labor-intensive than many other crops grown in California are – he decided to stop growing asparagus after many years of successfully doing so.
If you add in the increase in freight costs to all the other challenges of growing asparagus in California – it costs nearly twice as much today than it did in early 2020 to ship a truckload of fresh produce from the farm to its destination – Del Bosque’s decision makes perfect economic sense, even though many consumers miss his premium asparagus and hope he’s able to grow it again some day soon.
The same trifecta – cheap Mexican asparagus, high labor costs and lack of irrigation water – has led to most if not all other asparagus growers in the Central Valley – and there weren’t very many to start with – to stop growing asparagus.
In the Contra Costa County/Capay Valley areas a couple asparagus growers remain. They grow premium quality asparagus, including organic, and sell it direct to consumers and to select upscale food retailers and restaurants.
The ship has sailed when it comes to growing asparagus in California – it’s not coming back in the form of significant acreage devoted to it – for the reasons I’ve outlined: cheap Mexican imports, drought, and expensive farm labor.
I do, however, encourage readers to view the story of the demise of asparagus growing in California a the canary in the coal mine for California agriculture because if farmers aren’t allocated additional water for crop irrigation and if the farm labor situation doesn’t improve, we will likely see other crops grown in California go the way of asparagus.
Additionally, many farmers and others in California supported President Trump because he promised to “fix NAFTA” with his 2019 repeal of it, the U.S-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. But “the fix” was mostly politics and has done nothing to alleviate the problems for farmers caused by NAFTA, which was written and passed by both Democrats and Republicans.
California grows over 400 crops. Many will say, “So what, it’s only one crop,” when it comes to the demise of California asparagus. I disagree. I suggest we use it as a cautionary tale for the future of California agriculture. Water, labor, cheap imports. All of these challenges endanger many existing crops too.
My Job Depends on Ag Magazine columnist and writer Victor Martino is a food industry and agribusiness consultant, entrepreneur and writer. One of his latest passions and consulting projects is working with farmers who want to develop their own branded food products. He’s interested in talking with any farmers who have an interest in doing this. You can contact him at: victormartino415@gmail.com
