In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, Sarah Ilyas studies the state of the California grape season. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.
Grape growers across California are facing significant challenges as a prolonged heat wave threatens their crops and increases operational costs.
With temperatures soaring into triple digits, reaching over 110 degrees in some areas, farmers are intensifying their irrigation efforts and implementing measures to protect their vineyards. This includes deploying misters and fans to cool the environment and adjusting work hours for employees to avoid the extreme heat.
Persistent high temperatures pose a substantial risk to table grapes. Philippe Markarian, a grower at Mirabella Farms in Fresno County, is working diligently to prevent damage to his grapes but anticipates some losses. “The vines will be under a significant amount of stress,” he said.
Grape prices have consistently hovered around $30 USD per unit during the past few weeks, significantly higher than the prices in 2023. In 2023, prices experienced a dip before rising sharply around mid-year, but still remained below the price levels seen in the current season.
Many of Markarian's grape varieties entered veraison recently, the stage when grapes begin changing color and ripening. In severe heat, fruit can cook on the vine if exposed to direct sunlight, making it unsalable. To mitigate this, Markarian has increased irrigation and is experimenting with a polymer coating to reduce vine stress by limiting transpiration, helping the plants regulate their internal temperatures. The heat stress is expected to delay this year’s harvest. The high temperatures have also heightened the risk of increased pest pressure, with concerns about mites, worms, and moths, which can further threaten the grape crop.
Overall, the prolonged heat wave is adding to the costs for grape growers as they strive to keep their crops cool and viable. This includes the increased energy use for cold storage and other cooling equipment, which can lead to equipment failures. “We rarely get out of a heat wave like this without some sort of equipment failure,” Markarian noted.
As California grape growers continue to battle these extreme conditions, they remain focused on protecting their vineyards and minimizing losses in what has become an increasingly challenging growing season.
In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.
All pricing for domestic US produce represents the spot market at Shipping Point (i.e. packing house/climate controlled warehouse, etc.). For imported fruit, the pricing data represents the spot market at Port of Entry.
You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 21 commodities we currently track.
Chile and Peru will join forces on August 8, 2024, at the first Global Grape Convention, to be held at the Casino Monticello Events Center, to face the main challenges for grapes globally.
