Why California Barely Grows Asparagus Anymore?

One of the vegetables that always signals the true arrival of spring is asparagus. When those first spears start pushing up through the soil, it means the season is turning. The fields are waking up. The soil is warming. Spring vegetables are finally here.

This year the season feels a little slow. A few cold snaps pushed things back about a week. Asparagus runs on soil temperature, not the calendar. Once the soil warms up enough, those spears grow fast, sometimes several inches in a single day.

But asparagus has a deeper story in California. One that many people don’t know.

When we visit Urban Edge Farm in Brentwood, Barbara sometimes tells us about the asparagus days. Back in the 1990s, their farm was one of the larger asparagus producers in the region. California once had a thriving asparagus industry, especially in places like the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta where the soils were perfect for growing it.

For generations, California farmers supplied asparagus across the United States.

But things changed.

Trade agreements like NAFTA in the mid-1990s dramatically shifted the economics of the crop. Imports from countries like Mexico and Peru began entering the U.S. market in large volumes. These regions had lower labor costs and different growing seasons, allowing them to ship asparagus year-round.

For California growers, the math became harder and harder to make work.

Over time, many farms that once grew asparagus moved on to other crops. Fields that once produced thousands of pounds of spring spears every year were replanted with different fruits and vegetables.

Barbara saw that transition firsthand.

Today Urban Edge Farm focuses on seasonal produce and community agriculture, but the asparagus stories are still part of the farm’s history. They’re a reminder of how much the agricultural landscape in California has changed over the past few decades.

So when asparagus shows up in the spring, it’s worth appreciating.

Not just because it’s delicious. Not just because it’s one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables of the season. But because it represents a piece of California farming history that fewer and fewer farms are still part of.

Every spear still coming out of California soil carries a little bit of that story.

And when they finally arrive each spring, it feels like the season has truly begun.

California once harvested around 36–37k acres of asparagus around 2000, but today fewer than 3,000 acres remain. 

Fading but not gone...

Even though much of California’s asparagus industry has faded, a few farms are still keeping the crop alive.

One of the farms we work closely with is Durst Organic Growers out in the Sacramento Valley near Esparto. The Durst family has been farming in California for generations, and they continue to grow beautiful organic asparagus each spring.

They produce both green asparagus and purple asparagus, which is a little sweeter and slightly more tender than the traditional green spears most people are familiar with. Seeing both varieties side by side in the field is a reminder that asparagus can still be something special when it’s grown locally and harvested fresh.

The season is short, usually just a couple of months, and the harvest requires constant attention. Once the spears start emerging, they can grow several inches in a day, which means fields often have to be harvested daily.

Working with farms like Durst allows us to bring asparagus to our members that was harvested very recently, sometimes within a day or two. That freshness makes a huge difference compared to asparagus that has traveled long distances before reaching the store.

While California no longer grows asparagus at the scale it once did, farms like Durst Organic Growers are proof that the crop still has a place in our agricultural landscape.

For us at Raw Food and Goods, being able to connect you directly with farmers like the Durst family is exactly what this is all about.