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California, which accounts for a quarter of the world’s tomato production, is facing its worst crisis. The lack of adequate rainfall is forcing farmers to prepare for a water crisis that is destroying crops.
Therefore, low yields have had an impact on the price of tomato products.
Growth in ketchup and ketchup is outpacing a rise in U.S. food inflation, the highest in 43 years, according to Bloomberg.
The outlook for farmers remains uncertain as the weather agency predicts hotter and drier weather in the coming months.
“We desperately need rain. We’ve gotten to the point where we don’t have the inventory to continue meeting the market,” said Mike Montna, director of the California Tomato Growers Association.
In addition, authorities have restricted the use of groundwater, and rising labor costs, fuel and fertilizers have made it difficult for producers to grow tomatoes.
“It’s really hard to grow a tomato crop right now,” Montna said. “On the one hand, drought affects costs because you don’t have enough water to grow all your acres, and then the inflation aspect of your farm causes fuel and fertilizer costs to skyrocket.”
Rick Blankenship, vice president of agricultural operations at Woolf Farming, said it now costs $4,800 per acre to grow and harvest tomatoes, compared with $2,800 a decade ago. The past two years have seen most of the growth.
The crop has been below its recent peak of 14.4 million tonnes in 2015 for the past six years, and this trend will continue in 2022, according to USDA data.
Also read | Study predicts super-rare megafloods in California in coming decades
“Despite low supplies and sharp price increases, contracted production has fallen significantly compared to early 2022,” the company said in its May report, citing water availability as a major issue for producers.
Also read | UK stores limit purchases of bottled water as people empty shelves amid drought
The industry expects this year’s harvest to fall short of the USDA estimate of 11.7 million tonnes.
(input from institution)
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