Produce Update-March 18 2015
Stefan: This season’s BC grown HH tomato harvest will be starting in the next couple weeks depending on of course how much sunshine we get. Origino is forecasting a start date for TOVs in 2 weeks with Beefsteak coming the week after. Michael Allen at GBE Organic is forecasting a start date of April 5th for his heirloom tomatoes. Today we are doing our first pickup of BC grown dandelions and collards at Two EEs Farm in Surrey. Olera Farm in Abbotsford is also adding spinach to their harvest list this weekend. A new load of Fairtrade certified avocados arrived yesterday so we are back on with all sizes and packs. Apple demand in Washington is running high and prices have jumped considerably over the past 10 days. Southern hemisphere fruit is still about 6 weeks away and with the hailstorms and production problems in the Rio Negro Valley in Argentina (where most Argentinean fruit is grown) we expect pricing to remain strong.Annie: This year’s transition from the desert in SoCal, back to Salinas, is moving at a slow pace. Salinas weather is good-in fact we are into strawberry volume starting this weekend-but greens continue in both areas as the hot spring weather that signals the change to desert onions and zucchini is just arriving. Broccoli is limited from most growers through this period, spinach and Napa still gapping, chards, kales, dandies and parslies in strong supply, Cauli is getting tighter, but no gap expected. Asparagus is in very good supply, we will have some #2 grass Saturday-expect bent stems and tips, and varied sizing, but good flavour!Jodi: Lots of citrus items (like Pixie tangerines!) are coming on early this year, and in theory it’s pretty awesome, but it’s a sign of weather issues to come. We’ve been seeing reports of bad/no snowpack which is making for predictions of even less water than previous years in California, Oregon and Washington. This is bad news bears and causing drought predications in big growing areas that have previously had ample water. It seems the general public is vastly unaware of the state of or food supply and that scares me. The good news is its causing a push for eating all the harvest and big players like Loblaws are now offering a bagged aesthetically imperfect product. About time! We can help you all out with this idea too if you want to go that way too!