Produce Update-February 6 2014

Oh it’s a beautiful day on the West Coast – 15C is our forecast high.  Early spring flowers are blooming, garlic in people’s yards is well out of the ground, and the ski areas are all closing – no snow and balmy temperatures don’t allow for snow-making, and again it is raining today to the top of Whistler Blackcomb.  We’re not planning on an early growing season quite yet, and this could turn back to a normal winter, but certainly keeping fingers crossed.Well, thanks for buying all those avocados – we had to load a rush order in Mexico today to get caught up – we will run light on some sizes by Thursday, with the truck due in on Friday.  Quality continues excellent!  Just a heads up – you can also expect to see Fairtrade hard squash from Pragor Coop in a couple of weeks.  This was a trial to grow hard squash between aisles of smaller avocado trees with 11 different farmers and it appears to be working.  Also note price increases on avocado – it’s the normal seasonal increase as growers look at the ratio of fruit on the trees vs. what they have sold, and this always happens right after Super Bowl.Our much anticipated first container of Peruvian mangos arrives at Port on Monday, so we’ve listed them but they may not be available until Tues / Wednesday.  The Peruvian season started 3 weeks later this year than normal, although there hasn’t been a normal start date for several years.  The mango growing areas had virtually no winter, with daytime temperatures 5C above normal because of the El Nino impact of warm ocean temperatures just 2 hours drive away, and this has a major influence on blossom count and pollination.  With a container arriving every 2 weeks, please plan on making this an incredibly successful program like last year and promote the hell out of them.A great selection of oranges, Satsuma, mandarin await and demand is uber-high this year with more consumers trying out the wide selection.  Cara Cara’s are just about done – last picks will be weather related with current storms in California, and current crappy harvesting weather has inched Navel prices up.  California is forecast to receive up to 12” of rain between now and Monday, but most falling north of coastal growing regions, but drifting into the citrus areas in the Central Valley.Slight adjustments up and down on most veg.  Supply on broccoli and celery is improving, but with 5 days of serious weather in coastal California, harvesting is cut because of muddy fields, which has sent prices on other things up a notch.  We have a treat for you – Something Good is our favourite brand of bunch carrots in the winter, and John Givens has spared a couple of pallets of bulk Nantes table carrots, which is a rare treat, along with a raft of his always perfect dandelion greens and fennel.  In fact, John always sends us picture-perfect stuff.  Oops, double order of Agrofresco Kale – note special price on black!Onions will now start to rise as the packers in Washington (where most of N. America’s onions are grown) now start to balance their sales to inventory ratios and adjust pricing to balance out the rest of the season.   Happens every year about now – just watch your retails that you havent’ had to move for a couple of months or more.And a shout out to several BC growers who stretched their storage seasons out farther and farther, as we see the last of BC squash, parsnips and a few other crops slide off the list.  Yams and Sweets will continue to creep up with the new crop harvest still several months away.