Source: UC DAVIS, RURAL MIGRATION NEWS, 1/19/22


Head (iceberg) and leaf (romaine, butterhead, and baby) lettuces are the most valuable US fresh vegetable. Lettuce is produced year-round, with 70 percent from CA and 30 percent from AZ. Americans are consuming less head and more other lettuces, so that each type was about half of the 25 pounds per person available in 2019.

Labor. Lettuce seeds are inserted into the ground or lettuce is transplanted when seedlings are 20 days old. Fields are thinned and weeded by machine and by hand, and the lettuce is ready to harvest after 60 to 90 days, depending on the time of the year and the weather. Growers plant lettuce each week so that there is always a crop to harvest, and two and sometimes three crops can be harvested each year from one piece of land in the Salinas area.

Mechanical thinners and weeders have reduced the need for pre-harvest hand workers. Machines recognize the location of each desired plant and can remove other plants and weeds with knives, flames, or chemicals, allowing hand clean-up crews to cover more acres in the same time as they follow up after the machines, especially in organic fields.

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