Plant pathogens that are spreading disease in the lettuce fields of the Salinas Valley in California are leading to a nationwide lettuce shortage and higher prices at the supermarket. The higher prices are also impacting fast food restaurants like Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A. The restaurants have stopped serving lettuce on their sandwiches. Other businesses that also rely on lettuce are also feeling the problem.“It’s not a supply issue, it’s a price issue for us right now,” said Josh Gentle, owner of The Salad Shoppe in Salinas, California.Gentle says he’s paying three times more for the same lettuce he was buying a month ago, but he’s not raising his prices for customers.“We are absorbing the cost because the market fluctuates so much that we just know in summer when lettuce is a little cheaper, we’re going to be OK,” said Gentle. “Now we have never seen a $70 box of lettuce, so it’s a little shocking.”Two pathogens known as Pythium Wilt and INSV are to blame. Together, they are spreading a virus among lettuce and other leafy greens that’s likely to destroy crops, similar to what happened in 2020 when a third of the Salinas Valley lettuce crop was destroyed, resulting in a $100 million loss for farmers.“This is the most critical issue for production agriculture here in this region when you’re accounting for the scale and the dependency that the nation has on the Salinas Valley as our nation’s breadbasket,” said Chris Valadez, president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California.Valdez says warmer winters are partly blamed for the spread of the pathogens. Historically, cold winters kill off the pathogens, preventing them from spreading when temperatures warm up, according to Valdez.And there is little farmers can do to combat it. Valdez says there needs to be more cooperation with the county and agriculture industry to kill the weeds that are a host to the pathogens.State leaders recognized the problem and awarded a $1 million state grant to help fund a new task force, while plant breeders and seed companies work to develop new varieties of lettuce.“The longer-term future answer is really a genetic one,” said Valadez. “It’s really identifying those traits that present those characteristics that are promising towards tolerance.”At stake is a lettuce industry that supplies up to 75% of the nation’s supply during a growing season that runs from April to November. “You have an entire infrastructure, you have entire communities, you have entire businesses that employ tens of thousands of people for what has become over decades, the backbone of the agriculture and the county’s economic engine,” Valadez said.The same pathogen has also been found in the Yuma, Arizona, growing region where farmers are now shifting their operations. But ag leaders say the problem in Yuma is not widespread there, likely because of the region’s shorter growing season and hotter temperatures that may prevent the pathogens from proliferating.Valadez believes the lettuce supply will increase and prices will drop when Yuma-grown lettuce starts hitting the market in about two weeks.Watch the video above for the full story.
Plant pathogens that are spreading disease in the lettuce fields of the Salinas Valley in California are leading to a nationwide lettuce shortage and higher prices at the supermarket.
The higher prices are also impacting fast food restaurants like Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A. The restaurants have stopped serving lettuce on their sandwiches. Other businesses that also rely on lettuce are also feeling the problem.
“It’s not a supply issue, it’s a price issue for us right now,” said Josh Gentle, owner of The Salad Shoppe in Salinas, California.
Gentle says he’s paying three times more for the same lettuce he was buying a month ago, but he’s not raising his prices for customers.
“We are absorbing the cost because the market fluctuates so much that we just know in summer when lettuce is a little cheaper, we’re going to be OK,” said Gentle. “Now we have never seen a $70 box of lettuce, so it’s a little shocking.”
Two pathogens known as Pythium Wilt and INSV are to blame. Together, they are spreading a virus among lettuce and other leafy greens that’s likely to destroy crops, similar to what happened in 2020 when a third of the Salinas Valley lettuce crop was destroyed, resulting in a $100 million loss for farmers.
“This is the most critical issue for production agriculture here in this region when you’re accounting for the scale and the dependency that the nation has on the Salinas Valley as our nation’s breadbasket,” said Chris Valadez, president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California.
Valdez says warmer winters are partly blamed for the spread of the pathogens. Historically, cold winters kill off the pathogens, preventing them from spreading when temperatures warm up, according to Valdez.
And there is little farmers can do to combat it. Valdez says there needs to be more cooperation with the county and agriculture industry to kill the weeds that are a host to the pathogens.
State leaders recognized the problem and awarded a $1 million state grant to help fund a new task force, while plant breeders and seed companies work to develop new varieties of lettuce.
“The longer-term future answer is really a genetic one,” said Valadez. “It’s really identifying those traits that present those characteristics that are promising towards tolerance.”
At stake is a lettuce industry that supplies up to 75% of the nation’s supply during a growing season that runs from April to November.
“You have an entire infrastructure, you have entire communities, you have entire businesses that employ tens of thousands of people for what has become over decades, the backbone of the agriculture and the county’s economic engine,” Valadez said.
The same pathogen has also been found in the Yuma, Arizona, growing region where farmers are now shifting their operations. But ag leaders say the problem in Yuma is not widespread there, likely because of the region’s shorter growing season and hotter temperatures that may prevent the pathogens from proliferating.
Valadez believes the lettuce supply will increase and prices will drop when Yuma-grown lettuce starts hitting the market in about two weeks.
Watch the video above for the full story.
