Stalking the waning asparagus

WSU research works to save once-lucrative Washington crop


In Thomas Friedman’s much-talked-about book, “The World is Flat,” globalization is shown to have an equalizing effect on parts of the world economy through advances in technology. This may lead to unforeseen unfavorable changes in U.S. manufacturing, construction and agriculture. But being forced to change also can be a good thing.
For example, why continue trying to sell canned asparagus when there aren’t many people left in this country who like or buy it?
That’s the question being addressed by the Washington asparagus industry, whose once booming business began collapsing in the late 1970s, culminating in last year’s closure of the Seneca “Green Giant” and Del Monte canneries in southeast Washington.
In an effort to help save the industry, a team of WSU researchers is developing new technologies to streamline the harvest, storage and packaging of fresh asparagus. Backed with federal and state money, the multipronged effort is overseen by Ray Folwell, professor, associate dean and director of academic programs in the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences.
Tastes change, rivals surface
In the late 1970s and early 1980s — in response to a large and historic market for canned asparagus — farmers had planted up to 32,000 acres of the crop in Washington. The perennial vegetable costs around $2,000 per acre to plant and may produce up to 14 years. Though there were several large canneries operating within the state, the thriving industry produced an overflow crop which was funneled into the fresh market. Over time, little by little, the demand for canned asparagus dwindled and that for fresh asparagus grew.
The problem was compounded in 1991, when the U.S. government created the Andean Trade Preference Act with Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. The goal of the pact was to offer these countries an alternative to their lucrative coca crops. By curtailing coca production, the U.S. hoped to decrease the supply and trafficking of cocaine.
Looking for a correspondingly high-value crop, the Peruvians chose fresh asparagus and were given the right to bring it into the U.S. duty free. With their ample supply of labor and much lower wage, the Peruvian asparagus industry began to prosper. Together with other factors, that soon impacted the U.S industry.
Coincidentally, Washington state had instated the highest minimum-wage law in the country. Today, at $7.63 per hour plus labor taxes and other expenses, it costs Washington industry nearly $10 per hour for agricultural labor. In Peru, labor costs about $6 per day. As a result, many U.S. retailers source their asparagus supply from Peru.

Add to that a shortage of agricultural labor in the U.S. — especially for the back-breaking asparagus harvest — and many growers have been forced to pull their crops out of production. There are now just 13,000 actively growing acres in Washington. Only two other states — California and Michigan — grow significant amounts of asparagus.
Harvester hopes
As they watched their market wilt before their eyes, those in the Washington asparagus industry turned to WSU for help. In 2001, under Folwell’s leadership, a team of agricultural economists, technologists, chemists and plant physiologists was assembled to begin work on a variety of projects. In 2004, the Asparagus Harvester Project was born.
“Basically, the focus of the project is to help the asparagus industry find a way to economize their harvest, or they will be out of business,” said Carter Clary, assistant professor, agricultural technology and management, in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture.
The initial plan involved a worldwide call for anyone who was developing technology for a mechanical asparagus harvester. Ten different companies responded, and their machines were analyzed by the economists for efficiency. Based on the results, four companies were chosen, and their machines will be field-tested this spring in Pasco.
WSU does not own any asparagus acreage, nor does it own the machines that will be tested. Clary and others on the team will help evaluate the harvesters’ potential and offer suggestions for improvement. The team will set up the study design, follow the harvesters, run hand-harvested controls, etc.
Of the four machines being evaluated, the Geiger-Lund harvester has been around the longest.
“Trials done in 2004 netted close to the ‘magic number’ of 70 percent of what a hand-harvested crew could pick of saleable asparagus,” said Clary. “Seventy percent is about the break-even point when you consider all the field costs.”


Fine tuning
This year’s trials will include the Geiger-Lund harvester (built in California) as well as the Oraka harvester from New Zealand; a design by Larsen Manufacturing & Machine in Pasco; and an entry from High Tek Services in Alabama. Each machine must have two basic components: A way to detect the asparagus spears and a way to cut and pick them up. And, of course, it must be able to do the job economically.
The detection system is the most difficult part of the design. Fresh market asparagus normally is cut when the spear reaches nine inches high, so the detectors must be able to accurately detect that height. Problems occur when spears do not grow straight up — they often grow skewed to the side.


“Last year, the Geiger-Lund used a one-dimension laser beam as the sensor,” said Clary. “This year, they may try a three-dimensional beam that can look at the tilt of the spear.”
The pick-up mechanisms also vary with each of the machines. The Geiger-Lund harvester uses a wide row of cutting knives that can cut, capture and pick up a number of spears at once. The Larsen, Oraka and Hi Tek models employ an individual arm that moves back and forth across the row, cutting spears one at a time.
“Our goal is to get a step closer to having a commercially available machine for the Washington asparagus industry in the next few years,” Clary said.
“In the overall picture, agriculture is facing some very big challenges as we increasingly become a global economy.” he said. “Current research efforts on the asparagus harvester may one day help other commodities, such as tree fruit, if they too are forced to become more mechanized in the future.”