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- Michigan Asparagus Production
Unchanged, Prices Down
- Prices for Processed Asparagus
Down 30% from A Year Ago
- By Karen Gentry
Associate Editor
- Prices for processed asparagus dropped from 63 cents a pound to 42 cents a pound, which are devastating returns for growers, likely below the cost of production, according to Perry DeKryger from the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board.
“I think 42 cents a pound is below the cost of production from comments I picked up from growers,” said DeKryger.
Michigan growers have produced approximately 24 million pounds of processed asparagus this year, very close to last year’s production. Michigan is expected to produce four million pounds of fresh asparagus, which also compares to last year, according to DeKryger.
A lot of fields in Michigan were left unharvested this year and many fields were picked a couple of times and then abandoned. Poorer producing fields or fields with older varieties were taken out.
DeKryger said because asparagus is drought-tolerant, the crop wasn’t affected by the hot, dry weather that hurt other commodities. Asparagus harvest in Michigan started early because of a burst of hot weather in late April.
Many growers resorted to mowing a fair number of acres early because their labor wasn’t in place, according to DeKryger. “We lost a lot of poundage that way because the first picking is typically the biggest,” he said. The hot weather was followed by cool and wet weather, which slowed down harvest considerably.
Michigan continues to be hurt by imports of asparagus coming from Peru. (See related article in the Marketplace of Ideas on page 31.) “Peru has really shipped a lot of fresh asparagus in the last 10 years. In the last three years they’ve stepped up exports of frozen asparagus,” DeKryger said. He said there’s also more evidence of canned asparagus coming in.
USDA purchase of asparagus
DeKryger is encouraged by the first planned USDA purchase of processed asparagus since 1993. The USDA announced in late August its intent to purchase 51,000 cases (24 soup can size) of canned asparagus to be used for the government’s feeding programs. USDA is also requesting 22,800 cases of frozen asparagus. DeKryger said he believes Michigan will benefit from this purchase as three-fourths of the destinations for the asparagus are east of the Mississippi River. Deliveries from these USDA purchases will be made Dec. 1, 2001 - Feb. 28, 2002.
Andean Trade Preference Act
Legislation that would extend the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) could be one of the first matters the U.S. Senate takes up when it reconvenes in September, according to the Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB). A MFB delegation plans to be in Washington D.C. Sept. 9-11 to lobby against ATPA provisions deemed unfair to Michigan asparagus growers. The group’s message is simple: if ATPA should be renewed at all, asparagus must be excluded, according to Sarah Black, associate national legislative counsel for MFB.
ATPA, adopted in 1991, was meant to help reduce Andean dependency on the production and trafficking of illegal drugs by giving farmers in Peru, Columbia, Bolivia and Ecuador unlimited duty-free entry to U.S. markets. Peruvian growers have rapidly increased their asparagus production and exports to the United States.
The MFB delegation will argue that if ATPA is extended and asparagus is not excluded from duty-free benefits, the act needs to be amended so that it addresses import surges to prevent further displacement of domestically grown and processed asparagus, according to MFB.
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