Posted on: Friday, December 19, 2003
Heavy rains leave produce crops mired in muddy fields
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
It's been two weeks, and the Manoa lettuce at May's Wonder Gardens in Hale'iwa still hasn't recovered from the torrential rain that poured down on O'ahu earlier this month.
For most people, a heavy downpour ties up traffic and keeps people indoors for a matter of hours, maybe a couple of days.
But for some farmers with delicate crops, the effects of flooded grounds and washed-up crops can last for weeks. For consumers moving into the holiday season full of cooking, it means shortages or imperfect local produce on grocery shelves and restaurant tables — and possibly higher prices.
At May's, which grows lettuce in Hale'iwa, the water carries viruses and bacteria to the leaves.
"It's sort of like a wet rot," said Duane Lau, sales manager at May's. "You lose a lot of crops like that."
Manoa lettuce is particularly susceptible, followed by butter lettuce, he said. About 60 percent of his Manoa crop was damaged by the recent heavy rains. Instead of the usual 150 cases of Manoa lettuce he harvests on a weekly basis, it's been closer to 60 cases for the past couple of weeks.
With the crop's six- to eight-week growing cycle, it could take another few weeks to recover.
Too much rain also dilutes the nutrients that plants absorb and washes out access roads to the fields, making it harder for harvest crews to work.
All of this adds up to tangible losses for farmers, although the amounts won't be immediately calculated.
Hawai'i farmers produce about 1.2 million pounds of lettuce a year, yielding about $600,000 in sales, according to state statistics for 2001, the most recent annual figures available.
According to the state agricultural weather review, rainfall in the first week in December caused crop damage in low-lying central O'ahu fields and seriously muddied Windward O'ahu fields. Some crops suffered fruit cracking from the excess moisture, and the waterlogged soil curtailed some harvesting. But intermittent sunshine helped to dry out most fields.
By the end of last week, tradewinds helped relieve the wet conditions, but farmers working some windward and central fields still were coping with mud and standing water. The rains damaged plants like cucumbers in central O'ahu and Maui onions.
The heavy rains earlier this month caused some damage for May's, but then it took another hit when the rains returned. Because of that, "We've been shorting Safeway all week," said Lau, who also supplies Costco, Daiei and food distributors.
Owen Kaneshiro, who grows lettuce, Chinese greens, mizuna and daikon in Wai'anae, said the rain stunted everything on his farm.
"Right now we're slowly recovering," Kaneshiro said. He's producing about 30 percent less produce since the heavy rains and thinks it could be a month before the harvest is back to normal.
The rain, he said, keeps his plants from getting oxygen from the soil and makes the plants more susceptible to disease.
"We had our share of rain. That's enough already," Kaneshiro said. "The weather's just like playing havoc on us."
Food wholesaler Y. Fukunaga Products has been running short on Japanese cucumbers, green onion, watercress, lu'au leaves and various types of Asian vegetables because of the rain this month, said Karen Wakuzawa, who runs the business supplying restaurants and other outlets.
She has been bringing in more Mainland produce to make up for the shortfall "until local can get back up."
"It's been a while since we've had this kind of a heavy rain," Wakuzawa said. "It's supposed to be temporary," but it's already been nearly two weeks of crop damage from the rain with the rest of the winter typically unpredictable.
She also found the mixing of rain and dirt made some crops unusable. Some lettuce get so muddy Wakuzawa said she can't even sell it.
"My restaurants won't take it all muddy. They don't want mud in their kitchens," she said.
Then again, one farmer's flood is another farmer's feast.
Heavy rains mean reservoirs get filled and pastures that have lasted through months of rain deprivation find relief.
At Parker Ranch on the Big Island, "the pastures are green and beautiful. We love that," said Diane Quitiquit, vice-president of marketing.
Sumner Erdman, president of 'Ulupalakua Ranch in Upcountry Maui, wouldn't mind seeing more rain clouds coming his way.
Other than a few days in early December, "I don't remember what rain's like," he said. "We're very green but we're still pretty much in drought conditions."
Larry Jefts at Sugarland Farms in Kunia said the showers this month could bring this year's total rainfall to about average for his farm, which grows produce including tomatoes, watermelon, cabbage and cucumbers.
There was some soil erosion from the rain, but "it was not anything that we haven't planned for," Jefts said. "We're OK here."
Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470, or at kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.
