At one point in early April, farmer Keith Wright of Harrow, Ont., watched helplessly as the spears appeared through the soil on his 42-acre farm south of Windsor, only to find them frozen a few days later.

The early spring weather has been a “mixed blessing,” he says. “It’s advanced crops earlier than we would normally expect, and if we happen to have another frost we could potentially see a greater crop loss.'”

Night-time temperatures have not warmed up even when day-time highs have been up in the range of 18 to 20 C in recent days in southwestern Ontario, where much of the asparagus is produced.

“The traditional start of the season is between the 5th and 10^th of May,'' says Brenda Lammens of Simcoe, Ont., chair of the Ontario Asparagus Growers Marketing Board.

That is the time the board has enough inventory to start shipping to market, she adds.

Asked what steps asparagus farmers can take to halt the damage to crops from freezing, Wright says not much.

“Years ago farmers would try to have a straw and hay burn to warm the field and spray water on them to keep the air moving and sometimes it helped.”

In terms of a growth in consumption of the first local spring vegetable to appear on market stands, Lammens doesn't see much change.

“However, I think the awareness and increase in interest has grown. And I see an established clientele who eat asparagus all year around, and then there is the die-hard group who only eat it in season.”

For Manitoba, another major growing region for asparagus, the upcoming harvest looks positive.

“We have had milder weather and the snow melted early, so there is lots of moisture in the soil,” says Larry McIntosh, president and CEO of Peak of the Market in Winnipeg.

This grower-owned not-for-profit vegetable co-op is a supplier of fruits and vegetables from 40 or more of the province's family

“We have one very large asparagus grower and several smaller operations and we supply most of the western provinces as far as Alberta and sometimes B.C.,” he says.

McIntosh says the only drawback to locally grown asparagus is its time frame.

“Unfortunately, it is a very short crop and lasts about seven weeks.”

Lammens says that consumers are being encouraged to try grilling asparagus.

“Grilled vegetables have become popular and grilling the large-sized asparagus is catching on because it is tender and lends itself to various marinades from simple lemon and oil to other mixtures,” she says.

Lammen says that people are being brainwashed into thinking asparagus should be pencil thin “because that's what they see the other 10 months from Mexico and Peru.

“The perception is that thinner is tender and the larger is fibrous, which is totally incorrect.”