Colorado’s cantaloupe crop is expected to be significantly smaller this year in the wake of a listeria outbreak that killed 13 people last year.
The Rocky Ford Growers Association said Thursday that only 30 percent of the fields have been planted this year.
Diane Mulligan, spokeswoman for the association, said that many of Colorado farmers planted fewer fields of cantaloupe because they thought there would be less demand for the melons after what happened last year.
She also said Jensen Farms — the Holly-based company that was revealed to be the source of the listeria outbreak — didn’t plant cantaloupe this year.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Denver Business Journal