September 1st is seen as a turning point for some in the table grape industry, with over half of the yearly harvest coming after that date per the CA Table Grape Commission.
- 23ABC spoke with Margaux Hein, farm manager for Hein Ranch, who grows crops all over Kern County. 23ABC last spoke with Hein earlier in the summer during a heat wave at the peak of the growing season and she relayed that she was unsure of what the heat would do to the grapes, but it likely wasn't good.
- In a conversation on Thursday afternoon, Hein said the grapes she's seeing in her fields are smaller than they typically would be when harvested, attributing the size differential to the heat. Hein said in conversations with various other professionals in the industry, the issue seems to be present elsewhere.
- 23ABC also spoke with the future president of the California Table Grape Commission Ian LeMay who says at this point the market and demand for table grapes this season are trending positively compared to the last few years, noting this year is significantly more 'normal' overall than 2023 despite the heatwave many experienced this summer.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A key part in any fruit salad and the fruit of royalty, I'm Sam Hoyle, your Shafter neighborhood reporter. As we barrel toward September, grape growers across California are heading into the thick of their season.
Earlier this summer, we spoke with Margaux Hein from Hein Ranch, who said during a July heatwave it was unclear what that period could do to their crop, but as temperatures have begun to level off, she says while they didn't see a loss of crop, but rather a different change.
"We saw a huge decrease in size. And we're attributing it to the heat spell. People I've talked to, different growers, PCAs, agronomists, industry-wide, size was a complaint this year," said Hein.
This isn't the first time, that California table grapes have struggled. Last year following Tropical Storm Hilary, conditions decimated part of their crop.
"California Table Grapes, definitely last year, took it on the chin. Roughly 20% of the crop statewide was lost," said Ian LeMay.
That's Ian LeMay, the incoming president of the California Table Grape Commission, he said following last year's destructive storm was an anomaly and certainly not something he or anybody else wants to see happen again any time soon.
As we head into the latter half of the growing and harvest season, the outlook is 'grape' and very few things are 'raisin' concerns.
"The good news is, the numbers again that we're looking in, looking at, we have high demand globally for California table grapes, a number of our export markets are up over the previous two," said LeMay.
But for Hein, while it was nice to have a normal year, she says it's not going to be one for the record books.
"At least this year, you've given it all you can, right? You've done your own inputs, and things all under your control, and at some point you have to hang your hat on 'you did all that you can do,' you hang your hat on Mother Nature and find a little bit of comfort in knowing it was an industry-wide struggle, it was not just you," said Hein.
Hein also noted that this time of year, their focus isn't solely on grapes, but they're harvesting almonds as well, and in a few weeks, they'll point their focus towards pistachios. In Shafter, I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter.
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