Produce Update-January 16 2015

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. This is the price list header from the largest organic wholesaler on the West Coast (OGC in Portland, Oregon).  “Produce news often revolves around the weather with this week being a great example. Freezing temperatures over the past two weeks from the California desert into Mexico has burned the leaf, slowed production of greens, zapped salad greens, reduced production of zucchini, slowed cucumber and eggplant.It’s a tough deal with the worst part being that it never made the national news. The situation has been so under the radar that customers are completely unaware and are baffled by out of stocks and spiking prices.”That being said, we have been surprisingly lucky with supply on most items, although we are also seeing some issues with tip burning on romaine, smaller bunches of this and that etc.  Some shippers in affected areas have simply withdrawn from the market for 10 days, which has tightened the market even more.  By far the best quality is coming out of central Mexico and it has been a saving grace for many of the biggest American shippers who have moved tens of thousands of acres of production of conventional leaf south, a decision they made after the 2011 and 2013 freezes – same reason we moved some of our winter production south as well, and it was worth the effort.  Production has increased at Agrofresco (Ecocampos), arrivals are more frequent, turns are good and quality is excellent.Apple supply is strong, although you will see a transition on several varieties across the border as our BC growers run out of supply – Gala has already moved south, and expect to see Granny, Pink Lady and a few others shift.  Avocado quality to continues to be excellent and with increased sales we have increased our order frequency.  It is kind of sad that avocado sales spike substantially the week before Super Bowl (2 weeks away,) even here, but we never see a bump for the Grey Cup!  Citrus supply is good, generally, although there is a tighter market for lemons and limes, with prices spiking on limes quite a bit.  Our next load of Pragor Grapefruit has wheels under it with expected arrival mid-week.  We got totally caught with our pants down on the last load with much faster sell through than expected.  Berries have been awesome – considering continuous problems plaguing producers in all four districts (2 in California and 2 in Mexico), prices are still high, although dropping (and quality is excellent)  – but who would have thought that blackberries would be your best selling berry!   Mangos are arriving well but we are itching to get our hands on our Peruvian Fairtrade supply.  We were selling them already a year ago, but the entire crop was 3 weeks late, so our first container won’t be here for at least 2 weeks – then the fun will begin!On the veg front, supply is OK on most items except the most delicate – where there has been hits on leaf, radish, spinach and cilantro, pushing prices hard.  The lettuce we just received from Agrofresco makes all others pale by comparison today, and bright green broccoli without the purpling I’m seeing on shelves which happens when broccoli is frozen.Salad Mix is the worst mess with all production coming from ground zero of the freeze, affecting production on both sides of the border.  Please bear with us – we aren’t giving anyone special priority here – just prorating everyone’s orders, and we’re a couple of weeks away from any recovery. (A lot of the newest seedings in the ground were ruined and the rotation to new production is 21 days.).    The worst price increases and iffy supply issues are on tomatoes, cukes, English cukes, zucchini and eggplant, so just hang in there and wait it out, just like we are.  Luckily, when prices are this high, some major supermarket chains in the US will drop those commodities for a few weeks, which helps bring more volume into the market.   The rest of the line-up – roots, yams etc. are all in good shape.Isn’t produce fun???  Well, we actually love the excitement and challenges – gets you out of bed early, but some days are way more fun than others!