Industry News - California Garlic

California Garlic - January 12, 2026

Spices, Inc. is experiencing a significant disruption with our domestically sourced, California-grown garlic. 

The critical supply gap is the result of a “perfect storm” of agricultural factors. Industrial garlic requires a two-year seed-to-market cycle. Bulbs are harvested in spring, from which the seed cloves are selected. The cloves are planted in the fall, and are ready to harvest the following summer. The San Joaquin Valley underwent a lackluster 2024 seed harvest. The environmental conditions that contributed to the 2024 harvest started in 2023, with the dry conditions from California’s extended drought causing garlic bulbs to be small and express accelerated senescence, or deterioration with age. This was followed by an uncharacteristically high incidence of landfalling atmospheric rivers, which funnel moisture from tropical regions to higher latitudes. This helped California’s reservoirs recover from their drought levels but ushered in catastrophic flooding and snowfall. Commercial crops, like garlic, that are exposed to floodwater are often considered contaminated either by microbial or chemical impurities found in the water, and the heavy increase in moisture in the soil contributes to the emergence of “white rot”, a soil-borne fungus that causes alliums not contaminated by flooding to undergo leaf dieback, root rot, and bulb decay. 

The best way to manage white rot is to avoid planting in infected soil, which limits the amount of available acreage farmers can plant in at all. Suppliers are re-prioritizing garlic to protect future seed stock and are diverting away from secondary processes, like roasting and granulation. Consequently, the industry does not expect a return to surplus inventory for processed granulated and roasted fractions until the Q3 2026 harvest cycle is fully dehydrated and stabilized. Since garlic is usually harvested from June to August, and requires some time for drying and processing, we do not expect a return to normal garlic supply until September 2026.