Lettuce shortage results in higher prices

The price of produce is just one of the many things still impacted by winter storms.

The issue has to do with timing, when the crops are harvested and planted. Experts say this year Mother Nature just wasn’t on their side.

They say lettuce crops were planted too late. The reason? The wet weather we experienced on the Central Coast.

“It is all because of the rain. The rain not last week, not last month, but the rain three months ago” produce expert Michael Marks says. “Three months ago we should have been planting crops that we should be harvesting now. We can’t harvest those crops because they weren’t planted.”

Carlos Coyt owns Espinosa Produce in Salinas. He says prices have kept his customers from buying lettuce. He himself has had to pay more to keep it on his shelves. Though lettuce is still higher than normal he says the price has come down a little.

“Last week [it was] three dollars a head, so right now it’s a little less” Coyt said. “The weather is not good so I don’t know if it’s going back to the same price.

Experts say another issue that comes with a lettuce shortage is the quality of the crops that are currently making their way to store shelves.

“When you see really low prices, a farmer out there is going to put any lettuce they see into that box. Even if it just looks like a head of lettuce it’s going in the box. So you see really low quality when you see these really high prices” Marks said.

Thankfully the wet weather hasn’t damaged the quality of all Central Coast crops. It’s actually benefited strawberries in Watsonville.

“The strawberries are really big and that’s a reflection of the beginning of the season. said Carolyn O’Donnell with the Strawberry Commission. “The plants are very exuberant. And they are producing really large fruit.”

Experts say once the current lettuce crops are harvested, we should start to see those prices coming down and also see better quality.