After years of decline, garlic acreage up in California

Tag : garlic product


For many years, the California garlic industry has faced stiffcompetition from low-priced garlic from China. As a result, theacreage of garlic planted in California declined steadily andsharply. But garlic marketers say that while price-sensitive buyers stillturn to Chinese garlic, there are customers that are loyal toCalifornia-grown product, primarily because of its superior flavorprofile.

While no precise acreage figures are available, several industrysources suggest that the amount of acreage planted to garlic inCalifornia this year is up for a change, if only slightly so. There are still "severe acreage cutbacks from [what was planted]years ago," said Paul Auerbach, president of Maurice A. AuerbachInc. in South Hackensack, NJ. "But I am hearing that it is a littlebetter than last year." The significant thing, he said, is thatthis year, California garlic acreage "is finally not down."

California garlic growers seem to have "resigned themselves tofinding a niche," Mr. Auerbach said. "You cannot compete with theChinese garlic on price. You have to resign yourself" to appealingto a different market. "There are going to be two different marketsfor the product." Auerbach handles garlic from "all production areas," he said. "Somecustomers prefer California, some customers want price, and somecustomers just want non-Chinese product."

Mr. Auerbach said that he does see a continued "overall growth indemand" for garlic in general.

Louis Hymel, director of purchasing for Spice World Inc. inOrlando, FL, which grows and packs garlic in California's SanJoaquin Valley, said June 13, "We are finishing up with garlic fromthe central area of Mexico and just getting started with garlic outof Baja, and we will begin next month" harvesting Californiagarlic. This year's California crop was "looking pretty good rightnow," he said, "but you keep your fingers crossed until you get itin the bins in the barn." Mr. Hymel said that he has "no real numbers" on overall Californiaacreage this year, but "it was definitely increased," he said. "Weincreased ours, and I believe our competitors probably did thesame."

Toward the end of last year's California season, "there weredefinitely shortages" because of a "spiked demand" for Californiagarlic, he said. That motivated a modest increase in planting for2008. Because of how garlic is grown, it is not feasible to makequick increases in volume.

"It takes a while to do a 180-degree change, and then it becomes avery expensive commitment," Mr. Hymel said. It is not like somecrops where large acreages can be planted from seed and afterseveral weeks will be ready for harvest. "Garlic is a nine-monthcrop," and increases are limited by seed availability. Spice World has "always believed in following the garlic harvestfrom California to Argentina to [central] Mexico to Baja and [back]to California," Mr. Hymel said. "Offering the freshest cropsavailable year round has always been our key for success."

Chinese garlic continues to come into the market, Mr. Hymel said.The company has customers that request California garlic and arewilling to pay for it, but others will buy the Chinese productbecause it is less expensive.

"The 2008 crop is a great crop," said Bill Christopher, presidentof Christopher Ranch LLC in Gilroy, CA. "We are looking for a goodharvest." Acreage is "about the same or up just a little bit fromlast year." Statewide, "I think acreage is up maybe 5 percent fromlast year, so there won't be a shortage of California garlic," hesaid.

"Demand seems to be pretty good right now," Mr. Christopher added,although restaurant business is "a little bit sluggish" due to theeconomic downturn. The new marketing focus at Christopher Ranch "is all aboutCalifornia-grown" and makes the point that "all garlic is notcreated equal," Mr. Christopher said. "We are stressing the flavorprofiles we have with California garlic." When The Produce Newsspoke with Mr. Christopher June 13, he expected the harvest of thenew California garlic crop to begin within the week and to continuethrough September.

Chinese garlic is still coming in and is still "very inexpensive,"he continued. "[China] still has a lot of garlic from last yearthat they are still trying to push here in the United States atreally inexpensive prices, and I have heard they have a big cropfor next year. So we will face the same difficulties and obstacleswe did last year, but nothing new on that front." What is new and encouraging, Mr. Christopher said, is that "we justthink the consumers are becoming more intelligent" in their garlicpurchases. In that regard, the new country-of-origin labeling thatwill go into effect this fall "is going to be a big boost for us."