MOSES LAKE, Wash. — Conventional asparagus acreage in Washington could disappear in the next 10 years, Washington Asparagus Commission officials say.

“I am seeing long-term, generational asparagus farmers leave the industry,” said Travis Meacham, commission chairman and manager of Friehe Farms near Moses Lake. “These are guys that, their fathers grew it, and they are completely getting out of it. When we’re seeing people that have grown for 30, 40, 50 years that are getting out of it, that really scares me.”

Washington’s industry peaked in 1990 at 30,000 acres, the year before the Andean Trade Preference Act went into effect, which provides duty-free treatment to imports from Peru.

“We are lucky if we have 3,000 acres,” said Alan Schreiber, executive director of the Washington Asparagus Commission. “We are a scrap of what we used to be.”

Cheap imports

Washington is the largest grower of fresh asparagus in the U.S.

“It has been holding strong, we have this nice area that we’re able to compete worldwide,” said Meacham.

Washington farmers are beginning to face stiff competition from asparagus farmers in Mexico and Peru, which produce the crop at the same time.

“Peru is very competitive, and they’re hitting our market in the same timeframe, at a price point we can’t quite compete with,” Meacham said.

Asparagus is about $50 to $56 for a 28-pound box, the standard unit of measurement, Schrieber said. That works out to about $2 per pound.

“About $1 of that will go to the grower, and about $1 will go to the processor,” Schreiber said. “At $56 a box, both the processor and the grower are making a little money.”

Declining acres would be replaced by imports from Mexico and Peru, Meacham said.

“… We have just a green flood of cheap, imported asparagus,” Schreiber said.

Labor costs

Asparagus takes approximately two years from planting to reach harvestable maturity. The harvest season in Washington typically runs from late March to June. Asparagus can grow as much as 10 inches in one day in peak season, according to the commission.

Labor is more than 60% of the total cost of production.

“Our cost of labor went up about $1 an hour, and we have to pay overtime,” Schreiber said. “That’s a real problem for us.”

Asparagus workers in Peru or Mexico make $10 to $20 per day, Schrieber said.

“We’re paying over $20 an hour,” he said. “It’s cheap imports flooding in and the high costs for our labor. If we can’t get some kind of relief, the asparagus industry will be non-competitive. We have the highest ag labor costs in the Western Hemisphere.”

“It’s a global-type deal. It’s competition,” he said. “I’m usually not one for government interfering, but we just are not on a competitive playing field with the rest of the world.”

Next steps

Organic fresh asparagus is about 8% of the total crop. Meacham thinks that’s enough of a niche market that it could last a little longer.

But if a few more farmers leave the industry, Meacham’s not certain that gives the industry enough volume to justify continuing.

“It’s a perennial crop and you just don’t see new acreages going in like you did before,” he said. “I’m a little bit nervous that it might be the lifecycle of some of these fields. As they continue out, that might be the end for them.”