After Hurricane Polo made landfall near Guaymas and moved through southern Sonora, growers are just beginning to assess crop damage across key fall growing regions. Fields in Guaymas and Hermosillo that had recently started production — including watermelon, soft squash, and zucchini — were hit with heavy rain and wind, and growers say it will take at least seven to ten days before real damage totals are known. In Mexicali, fields became too wet to harvest and several packing sheds lost power, though both have since resumed operations.
Hurricane Polo represents the first major storm of the season to push into the Gulf of California and make landfall in Sonora, an unusual track that caught some growers off guard. The fall Sonora season — which typically runs October through early December — is just getting started, and short-term harvest delays are already expected to create a few days of supply gaps and push up spot market pricing for affected items. Asparagus supplies from Southern Baja are also under pressure, with harvests curtailed or canceled and jumbo and large sizes especially tight.
Watch spot prices on squash, zucchini, watermelon, hot peppers, and asparagus over the next week as field assessments come in. The storm degraded quickly after landfall, which is positive news, but residual moisture and mud could extend harvest delays beyond initial estimates. A second system, Tropical Storm Rachel, remains worth monitoring for any potential follow-on impact to Baja later this week.