Shortage Drives Up Asparagus Prices California Floods Slash ‘95 Harvest

Fresh-market asparagus prices have hit record highs, leaving growers scrambling because they have little product to take advantage of the going price of 80 cents per pound.

“We hear all these big prices (but) you can’t cash in on it because we don’t have the product,” said Jeanne Pickel, who farms with her husband, Gary, near Outlook. “When it gets like this, it is pretty frustrating.”

The Pickels have cut their crop sporadically since April 12. Their biggest day of 1994 was April 24, but the anniversary Monday doesn’t look promising.

“There is nothing you can do. It is strictly due to the weather,” said Pickel, a member of the Washington Asparagus Commission.

The demand for asparagus is fueled by a shortage in California. Flooding in the Stockton Delta area, which is California’s major asparagus district, has sharply reduced the harvest there.

Washington’s 400 growers last year produced about 84 million pounds - enough for 2.8 million 30-pound boxes. About 30 percent is sold on the fresh market, but most goes to processors.

Production has declined in Washington since prices hit a low of 23 cents in 1991, and acreage has dropped 10,000 acres to this year’s 23,000, Pickel said.