Produce Update-March 20 2015

Happy Spring! -  Although it has felt like it for most of what we used to call winter here on the west coast!  A few brave farmers have already brought us their very first greenhouse greens, earlier than usual, and with warm and dry drought conditions forecast on all the long term forecasts, we expect a very early start to local greens season.  We are nearly past the last possible frost dates across the Fraser Valley, so it doesn’t look like there will be any loss on the blueberry crop, which started to bud out ½ a month earlier than historical start dates.  Grim reports continue to flow in on losses to the avocado and citrus crops in Michoacan but that is the only bad weather related news to report.We’ve scooped up as many local apples as possible with all the producers we work with now done for the year.  Washington is expecting good supply for a couple of months on most varieties.  Avocado prices are up substantially, although we’ve done our best to mitigate this.  Without too much explanation, most orchards in Michoacan are certified by the USDA to meet rigid and presumably protectionist US regulations, as Mexico certainly competes with the California and Florida crops.  USDA certified fruit is more expensive.  For several reasons, many of our Pragor growers have little large fruit left on the trees, and have experienced substantial losses over last weeks’ extreme weather.  To be able to get a full size range going forward, we are having to buy fruit from Pragor’s USDA certified orchards.  Market pricing also jumped about 12% after the storms – so those two situations have driven prices up.  Limes are grown in several areas of Mexico, but Michoacan is one of the largest production areas, and hail damage last week was horrendous.  Prices have doubled on the east coast Veracruz crop and expectation is to see very little and very expensive fruit.Our last Peruvian mango container arrives early next week – this should hit in perfect time to fill the gap between the last of the short Tommy crop from Oaxaca, with the first of the Michoacan crop not expected for 3 weeks.An abundant supply of a wide range of citrus, although you should expect the specialty fruit to slowly drop off the list over the next month.  Pixie Tangerine’s are the last to be picked, and we are rocking as usual with Churchill Orchards on these.Asparagus prices are now at the seasonal low, with producers in Caborca, Imperial, Huron and Oxnard all in the game – a great time to promote with prices in this range – just don’t expect it to last for more than 3-4 weeks before Mexico and the deserts are over.Final warning – the California transition has hit hard, with desert growers winding down very quickly and cleaning fields, and coastal growers are not where they need to be.  Sometimes it works out perfectly, sometimes not, this time not, with price lists from most producers quite pathetic really.  We are so lucky we’re able to maintain really good stock levels on broccoli, lettuces, kale etc. from Agrofresco for several months.  We worked on this contract farm program for 2 year,s specifically to have a solid supply line through the fall and spring transitions.Potatoes are becoming slim pickin’s – with only a reasonable supply of Russets still in potato pits coast to coast.  Washington and Oregon are also basically done and what is left there is over-the-top on price.