Produce Update-January 28 2015

Stefan: Last week Jodi and I travelled to California to attend the yearly Eco Farm conference near Monterey. The hillsides around the area this year were much greener than last year but there is still much concern among farmers about the increasing drought. California is more than halfway through their “rainy” season and the extreme level of drought has started creeping up again after a small reduction from the rains 1 month ago. We had a chance to visit Coke Farm and they are very concerned as they just have well water and some municipal water (this is rationed out) to irrigate with. Last year they had to skip planting on one of their fields as they could not get a guarantee that they would have water for the growing season. In talking to a number of people at Eco Farm it seems ground croppers and orchardists alike are all concerned about what will happen this year if the drought continues.Annie: A welcome drizzle in California has slowed the strawberry harvest, but will help the season progress. Blackberries are going to gap for a few days, but supply will be steady after that. Chilean blueberries are here, but Fair Trade blues are gapping ‘til next week. Broccoli fields will rebound in the next few days, Agrofrescos bunch and crowns are back, celery is very strong as we come into mid-season, black kale is very long and green kale moderate supply, tight items are: curly parsley, spinach, and Cali lettuces, though our Eco Campos label is in good supply. Salad mixes are nearly back to normal supply levels!Jodi: That same tiny amount of rain that Stefan and Annie mentioned above has slowed citrus harvests in some areas to a crawl. We’ve got our first listing of blood oranges for the year, and are slowly trickling a couple new varieties in every week. Prices are stable on lemons, navels and vals, with promotable volumes available. Limes are tightening in supplies, but prices are remaining stable. We’ll have PEI spuds in later this week, as well as California fingerlings. Its transition time in the root cooler and we’ll have just the staple red, yellow and russets for a little while.