California Grape Growers Dealing With Herbicide Shortages
December 21, 2021 The supply chain disruptions caused by the global pandemic are reverberating through California where grape growers are reporting problems sourcing the herbicides they have come to rely on to protect their crops.
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources issued a press release this week, calling attention to the problems being experienced by growers such as Hortencia Alvarado who manages nearly 3,000 acres of wine grapes in the San Joaquin Valley. She first noticed the effects of the herbicide shortages this past August during the application following the harvest of early varietals.
Alvarado’s pest control adviser had recommended a different product, instead of their usual standby Rely (glufosinate-ammonium, BASF) – because none of the handful of suppliers in California could find it. Then Alvarado’s foreman started reporting that the substitute wasn’t controlling the weeds.
“We were using some other stuff that wasn’t as good, so basically we were wasting money on stuff that wasn’t doing what we wanted it to do,” Alvarado explains.
Effective herbicides are especially critical to grape growers because vines – unlike tree crops – cannot naturally shade out weeds with expansive canopies. Current reported herbicide shortages are complicating matters. (Photo by Will Suckow)
They quickly pivoted to their mechanical weeder to chop up the weeds, but that’s been an imperfect solution. They only have one machine, and it would take three or four machines to adequately weed that many vineyard acres. Alvarado has had to accept she likely won’t be able to access the herbicides that they usually apply.
“I definitely need to start thinking and considering it because I don’t want to be in that situation where I don’t have [the herbicide] when I need it,” she says.
The need for more machines or labor is just one result of the herbicide shortage, says George Zhuang, University of California Cooperative Extension Viticulture Farm Advisor in Fresno County. Zhuang has received “a lot” of calls from growers about the chemical supply issues, which are also affecting fertilizers. He’s been urging them to move away from traditional herbicides to mechanical means or biocontrol such as sheep or fowl – even though they might be more expensive.
Zhuang estimates that while a weed program comprises 5% to 10% of total production costs in a normal year with the usual herbicides, the use of nonchemical alternatives could hike that percentage up to 10% to 20%. In addition to their impact on the bottom line, effective herbicides are especially crucial to grape growers because vines – unlike tree crops – cannot naturally shade out weeds with expansive canopies.
“Right now, people can still scramble around and find some limited chemicals to make sure the crop is successful for the harvest, but if the situation goes for another year, I think there’s going to be a panic in farming communities,” Zhuang says.
Unfortunately, the availability of certain products is likely going to be “challenged” into at least the middle of 2022, according to Andy Biancardi, a Salinas-based Sales Manager at Wilbur-Ellis, an international marketer and distributor of agricultural products and chemicals. Biancardi says the suppliers he talks to are advising people to be prepared.
The supply of glyphosate, the key component in products such as RoundUp, which is heavily used in the Midwest, appears to be most affected, Biancardi says. As a result, that shortage has put the squeeze on alternatives such as glufosinate, used in products like Rely, the herbicide favored by many California grape growers, as well as growers of other crops, such as almonds.
“The cost of glufosinate has definitely gone up because there just isn’t enough, so everyone is obviously marking it up,” says Biancardi, who estimates that prices for both glyphosate and glufosinate are up 25% to 30% for growers.
“And that’s if you can get it,” he adds.
Alvarado says that while large commercial operations are able to pay the premium prices or shift to other weed control measures, some smaller growers have essentially given up the fight – simply letting the weeds take over.
“They’re just letting it go wild until the dormant season,” she says. “They’re hoping that – by when they do start to spray (around March) – they’ll hopefully have that Rely.”
Large-scale growers and retailers are buying up those scarcer products when they can, in anticipation of future shortages during critical times. Biancardi says that while his company traditionally runs inventories down at the end of the season, they are instead stocking up on herbicides that customers will demand.
“Careful planning and forecasting is going to be more important than ever, that’s really the key,” he says. “At this point we can’t guarantee ‘business as usual,’ based on what we’re hearing.”
Shaking off old habits might actually bring some benefits to business, according to Alvarado, as a forced shift away from chemicals could prove to be a selling point for customers, from a sustainability and marketing standpoint.
“Out of this shortage, there might be some good, some wins,” she says, “but at the same time, we’re going to need some answers – I think it’s going to be a bumpy road.”
Calling the confluence of drought, record heat and a shortage of chemicals a “perfect storm,” Zhuang says consumers could start feeling those jolts as well.
“Eventually, somebody is going to eat the costs – either the farming community or the consumer is going to eat the cost, I hate to say it,” he says.
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