“More rain than usual fell throughout the Guanajuato region and this affected broccoli, as well as other crops grown there,” said Michel Veyan of Babia Ice and Produce, LLC. For much of the summer, Guanajuato farmers were unable to get into the fields to harvest their broccoli, but within the past three weeks, the amount of rain has gone down. This has allowed farmworkers to harvest the broccoli and prepare it for shipping and sale. Now that the weather in the Guanajuato region has gone back to normal, farmers and workers are preparing their fields for the new crops.
Aside from keeping workers out of the fields, too much rain affects the quality of broccoli. According to Veyan, “the raindrops stay on the broccoli and in the ground. When the sun comes out, the combination of the sunlight and the water on the florets burns the broccoli. The excessive humidity makes the broccoli rotten as well.”
“The supply of broccoli is fair right now. It’s not the best, but since the rain has stopped, it should go back up again,” said Veyan. “The bad weather affected the prices, but the oversupply has affected our farmers more. Farmers in California, Wisconsin, Maine, Georgia and Canada have been sending their broccoli supplies to market. And this affects the current prices.”
