The Road to Nogales

Probably the most anticipated weather event in the western United States has been the much discussed El Niño, a climate condition occurring every four to a dozen years. Warming surface water in eastern and central parts of the Pacific Ocean is supposed to spur unusual global weather patterns, including heavy rains to western portions of North America.

Drought Relief?
Arizona suppliers, like their counterparts in California, continue to deal with unpredictable weather patterns—many attributed to El Niño. The system’s rains are a blessing for some growers in California, Arizona, and Texas, many of whom were forced to fallow hundreds of thousands of acres, affecting production and slashing employment in previously high-output regions. But of course, too much rain brings problems of its own.

Despite the prognosticating and research about the cyclical nature of weather patterns, not all are convinced the rains so far have been from El Niño. Growers in the West are adopting a wait-and-see attitude, just like their growing, wholesaling, and retailing partners elsewhere in the United States.

Yuma & the Winter Deal
For Arizona’s top growing area, Yuma County, the winter deal remains pivotal to the vegetable supply (especially lettuce) for Western states, including California. The southwest Arizona region cultivates 90,000 acres and contributes more than $2.5 billion to the county’s annual coffers, bolstering the local and state economy.

Ta-De Distributing’s Bennen believes the much-talked about El Niño may do more harm than good. “A wet start to the season could affect all crops; damage would depend on the maturity of the specific item,” he says.

This turned out to be true last September, when excessive rains hit Yuma, throwing a monkey wrench into the winter deal. For some crops, it was early enough in the season to replant. Though there was a brief shortage of product and resulting gap in supply, the end result was a good crop. Next came high heat in both September and October, in the prime of the lettuce season. Some grower-shippers reported smaller heads and less weight, which put pressure on pricing and the bagged salad market.

But whether the volatile weather is attributed to El Niño or not, Bennan points out, “We’ve had horrible weather in non-El Niño years.”

Effects in Mexico and Elsewhere
On the other hand, weather can be favorable in Mexico’s growing regions and in the border areas, and be highly affected by conditions in the northern markets that have nothing to do with El Niño. Franzone explains, “The majority of our customer base is in the Northeast. If winters there are on the mild side, there’s more demand for produce. Last year there were terrible snowstorms that made people less mobile, and that impacted our business.”