Sep 29, 2015

Asparagus prospects looking good for Michigan, March 2013

The market outlook for Michigan and U.S. asparagus is strong, and producers are in position to capitalize on crop production shifts in Mexico and Peru.
That was the assessment of John Bakker, executive director of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board, at the 2013 Oceana Asparagus Day, held March 12 in Hart, Mich.

“With the total acres projections in the U.S. and other areas, I see the need and the market for U.S. asparagus being better than any time that I can remember,” Bakker said.
“The anticipated increases in Mexico will be offset by declines in production in Peru,” Bakker predicted.

There will be 18 million to 20 million pounds of asparagus produced in Michigan in 2013, with 35 percent of that fresh and 65 percent processed.
“And with process price taking a nice nickel a pound jump, that is good news for Michigan,” Bakker noted.

“About half of our 10,000 acres to be planted will be Guelph Millennium,” Bakker indicated.
Bakker said it wasn’t long ago that Michigan, California and Washington state produced 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of asparagus a year. That total now falls 25 percent to 30 percent below those levels.

He projected California will produce 7,000-8,000 pounds in 2013.
“This year’s new plantings are going to exceed plowouts, but they can’t get the seed variety (UC157) they like,” Bakker said.

“There is a worldwide shortage of asparagus seed right now,” Bakker said. “(California) is not planting as much because they can’t get seed.”
With that state’s growing emphasis on the buy-local market, “more than half of what California produces never leaves the state. They still do some export because of the prices, but there is not a lot of asparagus from California anymore that is able to come east. That’s certainly good for (Michigan).”

Washington state asparagus growers will harvest less than 4,000 pounds. Bakker said those growers did not plant much crop between 2005 and 2011, “and getting behind is really catching up with them now.”
With the highest minimum wage in the country – hovering at about $9 an hour – Washington state has an unstable work force that “gives them some problems.”

“They lost a third of their acres last year just because the labor didn’t show up,” he said.
Bakker called Mexico a “wild card” in the production equation. Growers there are doing a lot of plantings in several areas, and with the Easter market a concentration for those products, the supply of Mexican asparagus availability can take a hit early in the season, benefitting Michigan down the road.

“Their supplies will be going up, but no one can agree on how much it will be,” said Bakker.
Growers there have typically avoided the May-June window because of the potential conflict with the U.S. market, but that could change with a shift into this country’s more traditional marketing season.

“They also are exploring doing some more processing,” Bakker said.

Bakker said asparagus production in Peru declined this year by 3 percent to 7 percent off the previous year.
“The blush is certainly off,” Peru’s asparagus performance, Bakker said.
The dry, desolate coastal areas where Peru’s asparagus is grown, particularly in the Ica area, face serious irrigation issues.

That country’s labor costs also are rising. “Labor is still plentiful, but it’s costing them more as the cost of living is going up.”
The crop is also hindered by widespread invasions of a midge that is tiny and plentiful.

“When the asparagus gets out of the ground, they sting the spear, creating major problems for green (asparagus) production. Like the asparagus miner, it’s around for a long time, and this little bug is giving them a lot of problems.”
The country’s extensive exportation to Europe of canned white asparagus came “way short of anticipation, creating a ripple through the entire asparagus process deal in the world,” Bakker said.

Peru is “always going to be a major player in the asparagus industry, but I think we withstood most of what they are going to throw at us,” Bakker said. “Fortunately for them, they have some very profitable options to asparagus, including avocados, grapes, citrus – all things to possibly be more profitable than asparagus.”
Ontario and New Jersey asparagus production is expected to be up slightly in 2013, Bakker said.

– Gary Pullano