California-grown asparagus reaches market

The state’s remaining asparagus farmers hope shoppers will look for California-grown asparagus in markets before Easter. Asparagus acreage in the state has declined during the past 20 years, in large part due to lower-cost competition from Mexico. But California farmers still grow about 7,000 acres of asparagus, mainly along the Central Coast, in the San Joaquin Delta and the Central Valley. Harvest will continue through mid-May.