The Enduring Success of Salinas Valley

“Plant Tape is a real game changer,” enthuses Rick Antle, CEO of Tanimura & Antle. “We continue to be amazed by the key attributes of transplanting with Plant Tape in our own production.” The technology is slated for global commercialization in 2017.

Local and Global Implications
The City of Salinas is interested in taking high-tech innovations from its surrounding croplands and setting an example for growers worldwide. A step in this direction was partnering with local leaders to launch the Steinbeck Innovation Foundation back in 2012. The primary goal of the public-private partnership was to connect Salinas Valley to Silicon Valley (just 60 miles north) to create high-tech jobs and solve issues with water, sustainability, and food safety—both in California and the rest of the world.

“Salinas Valley growers are early adopters of new technology and have been for some time,” Groot emphasizes. “There’s a wide range of technology currently in use, including drip tape and slow emitters, soil moisture sensors, weather stations, and computer-controlled irrigation cycles.” He says all of these technologies are designed to improve irrigation technology, yields per acre, or farming practices.

Another testament to the region was Salinas’ hosting of the Forbes Reinventing America AgTech Summit in July 2015, which Groot says “attracted new technologies from all over the world with a focus on our unique growing region.” It was also where Tanimura & Antle received an innovation award for Plant Tape.

EMERGING TRENDS
Salinas growers acknowledged several trends—new, or not—in the past year, including an uptick in organic produce and a dip in produce exports. “Organic production has been steadily increasing,” affirms Roach. In2014, there were 158 organic producers in Monterey County who grew organic product on 46,579 acres with more than $277 million in gross sales. Monterey County’s top organic commodities include strawberries, leaf lettuces, raspberries, spinach, salad mixes, and broccoli. Broccoli acreage is on the rise, reaching 63,651 acres in 2014, up from 42,802 acres a decade ago.

Dill says Pacific International Marketing currently grows about 40 different organic items. “We have been in the organic deal for over 15 years,” he says.

Salinas-grown produce—both conventional and organic—doesn’t just feed families throughout the state and across the nation, as distributors and brokers in the region export product to countries all over the world. While it is true the Valley saw a small decline in produce exports in 2014, Monterey County still shipped a total of 744 million pounds of produce overseas (compared to nearly 786 million pounds in 2013). Given some of the weather-induced shortages in the 2015 growing season, export numbers had to be affected to some degree.

The numbers, however, are still impressive for Monterey County’s top produce exports, which include lettuce (56 percent), broccoli (12 percent), strawberries (11 percent) and celery (8 percent). The county’s primary export trading partners are Canada, Taiwan, Japan and Mexico.

WHAT’S NEXT
Salinas Valley growers, like others across North America and globally, faced their fair share of hurdles in 2015 and into the first quarter of 2016. Yet with each new obstacle, the Salad Bowl of America is able to turn over a new leaf and overcome. “Yes, 2015 was a year of many challenges,” contends Antle Wilson, “but we look at these challenges as opportunities, and often change the way we farm to evolve and adapt.”

By incorporating innovative technologies, trying new growing practices, and rolling out incentive programs for workers, Salinas growers continue to thrive in the face of labor shortages, pests, and drought.