Don Christopher’s garlic fields have survived droughts and El
Nino, gophers and beetles, white mold and roundworm.
But the founder of Christopher Ranch, the nation’s largest
garlic producer, says low-priced exports from China could doom U.S.
commercial production of the pungent bulb.
After more than a decade of lobbying politicians for tariffs and
trade regulations to ward off Chinese exports, Christopher Ranch
began importing garlic from China last week.
Don Christopher’s garlic fields have survived droughts and El Nino, gophers and beetles, white mold and roundworm.
But the founder of Christopher Ranch, the nation’s largest garlic producer, says low-priced exports from China could doom U.S. commercial production of the pungent bulb.
After more than a decade of lobbying politicians for tariffs and trade regulations to ward off Chinese exports, Christopher Ranch began importing garlic from China last week. Christopher’s largest competitor, The Garlic Co., began importing Chinese garlic this week. Smaller farms are expected to follow.
Christopher, whose Gilroy-based company spent $400,000 last year on attorneys and lobbyists to fight Chinese exports, said he considered the move “unthinkable” even six months ago.
But the dramatic rise in exports from China in recent months has driven wholesale prices so low that customers – including restaurants and grocery chains – demanded bulbs for less money than they cost to produce.
“We’ve held off the Chinese for 12 years, but now it’s time to give up,” Christopher said as he surveyed a dusty garlic plot in nearly 100-degree heat. “We know there’s a market for California-grown garlic. But if you look at history, people always go for the least expensive price. There are no secrets to the garlic business – it’s all about price.”
China’s growing market share brings a palatable sense of disappointment in Gilroy which has been losing market share for a half-decade. A white mold scurge decimated Gilroy garlic in the late 1990s, when California’s Central Valley, Nevada and Oregon filled the void.
Gilroy still anoints an annual Garlic Queen, sends young pickers to college on garlic scholarships, and will host nearly 130,000 visitors to the 25th annual Gilroy Garlic Festival that begins today.
But it’s unclear how long the city can hold on to its self-proclaimed status as “Garlic Capital of the World.”
China produces 66 percent of the world’s supply of garlic, according to the Agriculture Department, while the United States produces 3 percent. Nearly 70 percent of garlic sold in the United States during the off-peak winter and spring comes from overseas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Things evolve,” said Gilroy Mayor Tom Springer, who is trying to reposition Gilroy as a Silicon Valley biomedical hub. “We’ll keep celebrating garlic, even if it’s our heritage, and even if China is the world’s biggest garlic region.”
Garlic was ripe for Chinese domination because the 5,000-year-old plant, classified as both an herb and vegetable, has a shelf life up to nine months. It can easily be stored and shipped around the world.
The decline in U.S. commercial garlic production has been swift. The average American consumed 3.1 pounds of garlic in 1999, nearly three times consumption in 1989, thanks to spicier palates and an influx of garlic-eating immigrants from Southeast Asia and Mexico. Garlic demand grew faster than demand for any other vegetable in the 1990s.
But domestic farmers began struggling shortly after the first Chinese bulbs came to the United States in 1993, when they underpriced American garlic despite tariffs of 376 percent. Growers say the bullish free trade policies of the Bush administration, and loopholes that eliminate tariffs, could speed their demise.
Christopher Ranch will produce 70 million pounds of garlic this year, down 30 percent from the 100 million pounds it produced five years ago. The company plans to produce 55 million pounds in 2004. The Garlic Co. will produce 2 million pounds of garlic this year – one-fifth of its 10 million pounds four years ago.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds of Chinese garlic arrives in California, Florida and New Jersey on container ships. Buyers such as Christopher Ranch then sell it to wholesalers, grocery stores and restaurants.
American garlic sells wholesale for 60 cents to 80 cents per pound, compared to 40 cents to 50 cents per pound for Chinese exports.
The average Chinese laborer gets about $1 per day, compared to about $8.50 per hour in California.
Christopher, 68, a third-generation garlic farmer, said the withering of his industry makes it easier to cede his business to his son, Bill. The company will focus on mechanical processing – pressing garlic into oil or other products – and peeled and organic cloves, which consumers are willing to pay more for.
“I’m a realist,” Bill Christopher said on his cell phone. “When we have our customers telling us, ‘We want to buy Chinese garlic,’ it doesn’t give us a choice.”
