Yuma's winter might not be as green this year

  Lettuce's royal status as the prince of Yuma's agriculture is slipping a bit.

  There are reports that acreage of lettuce and other winter vegetables will be down this coming season by as much as 25 percent. That's on top of decreasing acreage over the past two years as the industry struggles with rising costs and weak markets for the green vegetables.

  "Yuma may not be quite as green this winter," said Rick Rademacher, a local grower and president of Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association. He said he's heard there will be an average of 25 percent cutbacks in vegetable production this fall and winter.

  That's not to say fields will lie vacant. "There will be something going on," he said.

  One likely candidate is wheat, which right now is enjoying a hot market.

  "The market looks good for wheat," he said. "The demand is up for wheat worldwide, even for durum."

  That's good news for local growers, who are known as producing the world's premium durum wheat used for making pasta, much of it in mills in Italy.

  "Two years ago, it was going for $140 to $150 a ton," Rademacher said. "Last year it was $175, this year $230 and I'm hearing talk of $400 for next year, although I haven't seen any contracts yet."

 That $400 would come in handy for Yuma-area growers who have seen poor markets for their vegetables for the last five seasons, he said. "And some of those years were big losers."

  Farmers are getting hit as hard as everyone else by the soaring price of oil and petroleum products - whether it's the diesel to power the tractors that work the fields, the fertilizer to grow the crops or the fuel to transport the vegetables to major markets across the country.

  "It's like an octopus," said John Boelts, local produce grower and president of the Yuma County Farm Bureau. "The tentacles are reaching out."

  The high costs of fuel and fertilizer are but the latest challenges farmers here have been facing, he noted. They come on top of the continuing problem of labor shortages, food safety regulations and a supply of vegetables that outstrips demand.

  While Boelts is more conservative in his estimate of this coming season's vegetable acreage, he does think it will be down about 15 percent from last year when planting season arrives in a couple of months. That's on top of 10 percent reductions each of the past two seasons.

  According to Kurt Nolte, head of the Yuma County Cooperative Extension, about 108,000 acres of fresh vegetables were produced in Yuma County in 2006, the latest year statistics are available.

  "Our break-even rate is up twofold from a decade ago," Boelts said. "This is high-stakes poker that makes the Vegas craps tables look like child's play."

  The price of nitrogen fertilizer, made from natural gas, has increased from $375 a ton in December to $640 today, he said. A year ago, it was $233.

  The cost of phosphate fertilizer, used by vegetable growers as they prepare their ground for planting, has tripled in the past six months, going from $563 in December 2007 to $1,727 a ton this month, said Nolte. "A year ago it was $399."

  Phosphate isn't a petroleum product but there is a limited source of it and worldwide demand for it has skyrocketed, especially by India and China, Nolte said.

  Doubling of the price of diesel also is hitting farmers hard, whether they're filling their tractors, running irrigation pumps or paying for the trucking of their crop to market, Nolte said.

  The three agreed that rising costs of food can't be blamed on farmers, who receive only pennies on the dollar for their crops.

  "We're not getting a windfall," Rademacher said. "The price of the crop at the farm is a very small part of the cost of food."

  While vegetable acreage will be down, don't expect to see a shortage of the green stuff.

  That's because, as Rademacher put it, "We're getting better at producing. Our yields are up. Ten years ago, we would produce 600 to 700 cartons of lettuce an acre in the fall. Now we're at least 900."

  What growers are hoping is that the drop in acreage will balance the supply with the demand, which seems to have slacked off perhaps because people are eating out less, Nolte said.

  "The vegetable deal has always been up and down," Rademacher said.

  With it down, thoughts are turning to other crops.

  "I never thought I would see the day when I would make more money off wheat than lettuce," Rademacher said.

  Growers also may plant more alfalfa, which is fetching a good price now, Nolte said. And others may plant more milo for the ethanol plant now in production in Casa Grande. Or they may turn to other specialty crops in hopes of finding a nice little niche market.

  Asked whether there was opportunity for growers because of the flooded fields in the Midwest, Boelts said the answer is limited at best.

  The major crops produced in the Midwest are field corn and soybeans, he explained. Field corn can be grown here in the summer months, but there is an issue with aflatoxin from fungus, which is poisonous to animals. And it's too hot and dry here to grow soybeans here.

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Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.