MARKET REPORT – SEPT. 16, 2015

Canada Organic week is NEXT WEEK

- with, we hope, some good media attention, so we hope a large selection of local fruit and vegetables will let your racks glisten!What an interesting time for farmers  - Not the normal cool down we expect this time of the year, but a bouncing ball from above normal to downright cool.  Interesting for us as well – having to switch back to California mode in-between surprise phone calls from growers who have squeezed out a pallet of melons or zucchini when they thought the season was done – so beware – on many of the BC listings, there isn’t a lot of volume backing them up, hence duplicate listings from south of the line. Now for the news – of which there should be plenty – starting with avocados – volumes are now increasing steadily and we will now be listing green as well as conditioned fruit.  I got totally pissed the other night when I made a last minute run to the three stores within a block of home for an edible avocado – seems as unexpected guests arrived and Mexican was on the menu.  But every avocado I found could have only been used as a weapon – nothing with any potential for guacamole.  So, as available, we will now be listing both green and conditioned fruit – mix and match so you have something on your shelf that could potentially be used right away.  Many years ago a friend in the industry told us that you couldn’t be in the avocado business in the US if you didn’t have ripening rooms because no one wants hard green avocados.  So now, and as available you can order hard green fruit, or avocados that have started to ripen – just like we started listing bananas by colour, which most of you have told us you appreciate.  We totally under-estimated how successful our grapefruit program would kick off, but we are loading lots more on our next run north from Mexico so the gap should be short.BC Grapes are a stunning success this year – incredible flavor and sugar – the weather worked very well for this crop – three varieties, clams and bulk – enjoy while they last.  The California season on greens and flames is under pressure – with industry expectations of supply winding down a full one month early this year – which means we are just a month away from the end of the grape run.  A surprisingly great run of BC melons continues – cooler nights have slowed production, but they also bring on even more sugar.  4 varieties to choose from!Plums continue to move through quickly with the last harvests underway – the later in the year we go, the plumper and sweeter the late varieties get.  Incredible pear selection with two of our own favourites now listed – the Seckle, which is just the most beautiful sweet pear in the world, and Red D’Anjou’s, which is one of our best-sellers – no wonder – the season has started, and Washington growers put 80% of the crop into long term storage – not only controlled atmosphere, but at temperatures below freezing, so we expect good supply until April or May on what will be a great harvest.The greens front is not as happy a story.  Very cool nights and a cold week ahead are slowing local production substantially, so expect more and more listings from south of the line.  But it’s not all rosy down there – the weather patterns are setting up for this “Super El Nino”, sending a train of cool, rainy weather into Coastal California.  If this continues, as projected, to be a very wet and wild season for California, it will be incredible for drought recovery, but not such great weather for harvesting many crops – our California greens listings, which we will have to rely on more and more as local season winds down are expensive.   Of note – OriginO are winding down on bell peppers over the next couple of weeks, so just bear that in mind.