The Heat Is on Agriculture, Not Prices

If the heat wave has made you feel like a rotisserie chicken, imagine how Harold Hilliker’s 35,000 layers must feel.

For three sizzling days this week, Hilliker has misted down his hens from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. as the temperatures soared as high as 110 degrees at his eastern San Diego County ranch. The logy fowl, meanwhile, laid 10% fewer eggs.

“I’m physically exhausted, and the stress is hard on them,� Hilliker, the owner and operator of Hilliker Egg Ranch in Lakeside said Thursday. “Some of them think they might just take a little vacation because it’s too dang hot. Others will keep doing it for you.�

From San Diego to Sacramento, the heat wave is causing vegetable crops to ripen faster, singeing walnuts and otherwise creating problems for egg farmers, dairymen and growers of other produce and cotton. But Thursday’s somewhat cooler temperatures and predictions for weekend relief from the recent peaks in many parts of the state mean that consumers won’t necessarily be dinged with higher prices because of weather damage to California’s $22-billion agriculture business.

In fact, for the time being, shoppers could benefit from oversupplies of some fruits and vegetables. In Monterey County, home of the bountiful Salinas Valley, Agricultural Commissioner Richard W. Nutter reported that high temperatures were bringing vegetable crops to maturity ahead of schedule. That “bunches up the harvests,� he said, defeating growers’ carefully ordered agendas.

Consumers could benefit if bigger supplies prompt retailers to reduce prices. But don’t expect any bargains on lettuce. Stung by previous overproduction and low prices, growers planted less lettuce this year. As a result, wholesale prices per 24-head carton have recently reached between $10 and $11, contrasted with last year’s $6-plus per carton and well above growers’ own costs of $5.50 to $6 a carton.

Nutter said the region has not yet noticed any damage to quality from the spate of hot weather. He added that he doesn’t foresee any serious shortages of such produce as broccoli, celery and cauliflower in the weeks ahead, despite the concentrated harvests now.

In Visalia, the Sequoia Walnut Growers Assn., a cooperative, said lofty temperatures are delaying by perhaps a week the hull split that presages harvest. Field representative Richard Reese said the high heat also has created a bit of blemish-producing “sunburn.�

A relatively mild spring and early summer had the nuts surging toward an early harvest, so the delay puts growers back on a more normal track, Reese said, albeit with a bit more stress on the trees. “It shouldn’t affect prices,� he said, but the damage could lower the grade.

Growers of table and wine grapes, already in the throes of an early harvest, were scrambling to bring in their crops amid the blazing heat. Unless the high temperatures persist for several more days, grapes are not expected to show much damage.

Bruce J. Obbink, president of the California Table Grape Commission in Fresno, said cold storage facilities capable of holding millions of boxes are helping growers control the amount going to market. Even so, the industry is seeing record daily sales and a robust market for a tasty vintage with high sugar content and large berries. Last week, the commission reported its biggest seven-day period in history, selling 3.5 million 21-pound boxes.

Mango grower Linden Anderson, who manages the 1,200-acre Three Flags Ranch at the south end of the Salton Sea, said Tuesday’s 120 degrees is actually typical for this time of year. The farm’s citrus and mango crops have endured “a normal hit� from the heat. Workers are scurrying to move the long stems from which the mangoes hang to the insides of the trees to reduce sun exposure.

Anderson said he anticipates a harvest in late August or early September, a few days earlier than he would like, mostly because a warm May pushed the fruit ahead. That means his mangoes will go up against cheaper fruit from the tail end of Mexico’s harvest, possibly reducing the prices he will get.

Gary Van Sickle, field director for the California Tree Fruit Agreement, a marketing group based in Reedley, said peach, plum and nectarine harvests that had been running ahead of schedule are now being put into “slow motion� by the heat. When temperatures hit 103 degrees or higher, he said, “the ripening trigger slows.� That, in turn, will mean that prices could firm a bit, helping growers.

The heat is increasing the sugar content of the plums Mike Vereschagin dries into prunes in Orland, 100 miles north of Sacramento. That’s good. But the stress has also caused some fruit to shrivel and drop to the ground. To try to reduce damage, “we’re keeping up with irrigation demands,� he said.

Just as people do, the 900 dairy cows at Hollandia Dairy in San Marcos in northern San Diego County find the heat tough to take. Despite shades, fans and misting systems, they’re eating less and producing less milk.

“It’s like going from 68 pounds per cow per day to 64 pounds,� said dairy manager William deJong. In Chino, he added, dairy farmers are having it worse, with an 8% drop in production.

“That definitely hurts,� deJong said. “That’s your profit margin.�