Asparagus Acreage Down Across Washington

Once the national leader in asparagus, Washington is expected to see less than 3,000 acres harvested this year.  Alan Schreiber, Executive Director of the Washington Asparagus Commission, said it’s all about dollars and cents.

“The massive amount of asparagus imports coming in from Mexico and Peru, where they're paying their workers $20 a day, while we are paying over $20 an hour, has just made asparagus, domestic asparagus relatively unattractive.” 

He noted imports from Mexico and Peru are down this year, which should give local growers additional opportunities to sell their product. 

Despite Warm Temperatures, Quality Looks Good

While the acres are down, Schreiber says the yields have looked very good at this point.  He noted this spring has been warmer than usual, and warmer longer than usual, resulting in a harvest that started five days earlier. 

“The quality has been pretty good. We had one bout of frost that took out a little bit of asparagus on one day. It got up to the high 80s and so on one day we had some a little bit of some quality issues, but. Day in, day out, we are looking pretty good.”

Immigrant Workers Vital For Asparagus Farmers

Schreiber noted with the early start, growers are roughly halfway through harvest this spring.  Typical asparagus harvest runs from early April through mid- and late-June.

The farm labor conversation has taken many turns over the years.  But one thing is certain, immigrant labor is critical for asparagus growers across Washington. Schreiber said 100% of Washington’s crop is picked by those that come to the U.S. looking for work.

“If we don't have immigrants in this country, we're not going to have asparagus and a large number of other fruits and vegetables that require immigrant labor to pick and pack and process them.” 

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