<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"A M Farms is one of many California asparagus growers where workers said Monday although the harvest season started out slow, production is about to pick up.The only problem is, according to A M Farms, Mexican asparagus started making its way into the market early -- and right now, there is an overabundance of the vegetable.However, the consumer will not see the prices decrease because of it.Marc Marchini, a third-generation farmer, said March was a loss for him. He hopes April will be better.\u00A0Marchini said his workers are trying to harvest as much asparagus as they can, because even if there is a lot of it already on the market, the asparagus out in the field needs to be harvested and sold for the going rate.If you wait too long, the asparagus will start to flower, and then it turns to a total loss, Marchini said.\u00A0He added, he will need up to 20 percent more workers in April and May, when the harvest picks up.The long-term issue for many farmers is that they have a tough time finding workers.A town hall meeting in Manteca is scheduled for Wednesday, hosted by Rep. Jeff Denham, to talk about the ongoing labor issues with workers from Mexico.Marchini said as much as the weather needs to be compliant with growing asparagus, workers are needed to hand-cut the crop, as well -- which is something machines have not been able to replicate, due to the delicate\u00A0structure of the vegetable.Overall, this is a tough industry to be in, because of the\u00A0competition and the\u00A0need for laborers, Marchini said.It's so tough, Marchini continued, that there used to be 30,000 square feet of asparagus grown in California. Now, that number is down to 7,000 to 8,000 square feet, because farmers are turning to less labor-intensive and higher-dollar-yielding crops."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.kcra.com/article/california-asparagus-growers-face-tough-market/6403623>