Valley farmers warn floods could cause price of groceries to rise
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Valley farmers are having a difficult time with heavy amounts of rain and flooding in their fields, orchards, and dairies.
The Fresno County Farm Bureau said when it comes to future pricing of produce, it's going to be hard to gauge currently. And it may end up coming down to what specific product you're buying.
Adolfo Rangel has been a local farmer in Fresno for about four years. He owns about an acre of land where he grows cucumbers, peppers and other produce.
With the excessive rainfall, he's behind on planting new crop.
Prices for his fruits and vegetables will rise. But Rangel isn't the only one who will have to hike prices.
Yudchia Tchieng said the rain has made things complicated. Vegetables from his family's farm will also rise in price.
"Either we sell less based on the demand and just sell what we can without any losses so consumers will just have less to buy, or we have to raise our prices," said Tchieng.
Tchieng's family has farmed on this specific 20 acres of land for about ten years. His family sells Asian and American Vegetables at local farmers markets.
"We can't afford anymore losses. I'm losing half already. If I take my vegetables to the farmers market and I only sell half of that, that's not going to work for us," said Tchieng.
Ryan Jacobsen is the CEO for Fresno County Farm Bureau. He said it's still too early to tell how high prices will rise.
"We're definitely unsure of what these increases are gonna look like," said Jacobsen.
But it's not just the flood consumers should be worried about when it comes to pricing.
"Right now, it's important to recognize you're not just seeing the increases from the storm effect. You're seeing the inflationary come up from the last two years compounded with some of these storm affects," said Jacobsen.
There is an upside to this. Jacobsen said crops may still be able to get into the ground and we might just have a small window high prices at the supermarket.
