From the Fields - Richard Bianchi

By Richard Bianchi, San Benito County vegetable grower 

We had good rain, somewhere around half an inch. It was kind of a final slam the door to the season. The season started with rain and ended with rain. It was one of those seasons that you never felt like you got your feet on the ground. From the time it started raining last winter, things never settled in; it was constantly chaotic. 

Farming in the Salinas area has gotten so intense. We go from harvesting to planting, in some cases in 30 days or less. We scale back when the industry moves production to Yuma. At that time, the pace of the work slows, but we have plenty to do. Normally, you plant two or three days a week, and soon we will plant once a week. 

In the Salinas area, we’re taking advantage of the break in between the rain and getting ready for the coming season before everybody moves down to Yuma. With the harvest that has just wrapped up, everybody is getting things ready for the 2024 season. 

A good winter is definitely welcome. Hopefully, we don’t get floods. There’s a certain amount of work to get ready. We are preparing ground, getting planting beds ready and doing some last-minute soil amending. We are starting to plant some of the longer-term crops (such as) parsley, and broccoli will be going in shortly. Lettuce is right around the corner, and celery is not too far off that. 

We keep our core employees busy through the winter. It’s a lot of equipment repair and maintenance. We plan work for employees based on the weather and divide them into groups. One group works in the field, and if it is raining, they’ll move into the shop and work on equipment and maintenance. 

As for the vegetable market, it’s been a lackluster season. I don’t think it’s been extremely bad, but it hasn’t been strong. Demand has been very soft.