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Michigan asparagus harvest cut short

A Michigan asparagus grower says he plans to end harvest about 10 days ahead of normal this season because of labor costs.

Fourth-generation farmer Jordon Walsworth tells Brownfield, “You get a lot of your volume up front, and then as the season goes on, those yields taper off.”

“That cutoff point for us where we would put a field away for the winter is getting earlier and earlier,” he says. “Now because of the labor costs, it doesn’t make sense for us to continue picking.”

Walsworth says his family has been growing asparagus for more than 50 years, but two years ago they stopped renewing fields.

“We’re trying to see if it makes sense to continue, but I think we’re doing everything we can on the farm just to keep the farm going,” he shares.

Walsworth says the cost to participate in the H-2A program has increased astronomically over the past three years and the farm will turn into row crops if the labor issue can’t be solved soon.  

He expects to quit harvesting in less than three weeks.

Michigan is the nation’s largest asparagus producer.

AUDIO: Jordon Walsworth