Produce Update-March 13 2015
Don’t expect good news today – its Friday the 13th after all. Got to start the day reading an article in the LA Times. “California has about one year of water left.” The editorial goes on to say, “As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows. We're not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we're losing the creek too.” Well, when you look at it from a fruit, vegetable and almond point of view, agriculture uses 80% of the State’s water supply and contributes 3% to the economy – so, you do the math of who is going to lose their water first.Next on the Friday the 13th list – the transition for green vegetable production is moving north much faster than normal, basically because record heat is forcing production to wind down in the southern deserts early, and abnormally high temperatures in Salinas and the Central Valley are bringing on crops faster than normal as well. There are always choppy times during transitions, and one that has been hit hard this year is salad mix. So today’s email from our Organic Girl sales rep is: “I would batten down the hatches and prepare for a rough ride on order fill. Like in previous transitions and major quality supply issues, I will not be able to accurately tell you what you are getting on your orders until the day of shipping.” So that’s just a heads up to expect shorts on salad for the next couple of weeks at least.The biggest weather related news of the week, however, is the fact that severe winter hit central Mexico full force. High temperatures where your Eco Campo lettuce comes from didn’t break the mid-teens for several days – high on Thursday was a paltry 11C instead of a normal of 26C. Several tornadoes touched down in Atotonilco in Jalisco, where our Mexican manager Rafael lives – they’ve never had a tornado there in history. Hail damage from those storms has affected at least 20% of lime production. Worse, Uruapan and surrounding regions – the largest avocado production area in the America’s experienced one of the worst storms recorded, with several inches of hail on the ground and snow at the top of some of the orchards. This couldn’t have come at a worse time, because the trees are in full flower. Damage to existing fruit still on the trees has been extensive because these storms had a very wide swath – our growers are talking about 20-25% of all avocados on the trees have been damaged, but no one will know for several weeks how the blossoms for next year’s crop have suffered – but consensus is that damage was extensive and next season’s crop will be smaller. Luckily, although Michoacan is also a large mango producer, and we are just 5 weeks away from harvest, the mango production areas closer to the coast missed the brunt of the storms.Sorry, I feel sometimes that Friday’s are often just a climate-change disaster report, but changing weather patterns affect farmers first, and being on the front-lines with the retail consumer, it is important that you are aware of the direct impact climate has on fruit and vegetable supply.For those who receive this price list by email, we have also attached a Powerpoint of pictures growers have sent us over the last couple of days from Mexico.