Buyer's Notes - April 16, 2021
Buyer’s Notes - April 16, 2021
Stefan Misse, Carter Selmes-Blythe, Brody Irvine - Discovery Organics
From Stefan:
Apples - last of the BC Galas are being packed this week which should give us supply for 2-3 more weeks. Ambrosia, Fuji and Pink Lady are expected to go for a while longer. Natures First Fruit will be packing Spartans again shortly to add into the lineup. Normally done by Xmas, if you remember there have been Covid related labour issues for both harvest and packout – so these just got bumped over and over for higher priced fruit – so a bit weird to have Spartan in April, but also nice to have a low priced fruit in the mix this time of year.
Blueberries - Why no blueberries anywhere right now? 5 weeks ago there was a bizarre frost in Mexico in the main blueberry growing areas. All the blossoms that were on the bushes were killed and those flowers should have been supplying fresh berries in this current period. Supplies are going to be short for a couple more weeks, although we should be good until Wednesday?
Blackberries - similar story here as the blues except they are grown under plastic.
Raspberries - limited supplies again with things looking to improve in the next 10 days.
Strawberries - 10-14 more days of tighter inventories and then first week of May we expect to see the big volume push from Watsonville.
Oranges - still going strong with Navels though a few shippers are noting more limited supplies overall. Valencias from Mexico will run for another 3-4 weeks depending on overall demand.
Melons - We are going to be flush with mini watermelons by the end of next week. Things are a little short to start the week but a bunch of grower/shippers are just on the cusp of load volumes. Cantaloupes have just started from a couple ranches and Regular Watermelon bins are just getting started as well.
Pears - no changes here.
Pineapples - lots of 9ct size to promote right now from Covilli.
From Carter:
Asparagus – supplies healthy out of Mexico going into next week. Hippie/Devine, could see one more purple asparagus arrival Friday next week.
Beans – a one week gap in the transition from coastal Sonora to the inland but what an awesome run we had from Covilli - 6 week of perfect arrivals. Rico Farms in Hermosillo is always a great choice for us – Francisco emailed us specifically to tell us his start date – now arriving Thursday April 22nd.
Carrots – Fountainview is officially done for the season. Last drop arrived yesterday – once we’re done we’re done. And congrats to them for working this right through the season with limited labour.
Cucumbers – Good quality and availability on all sizes and counts.
LE Cucumbers – we have fantastic supply on our local program with OriginO.
Persian Cucumbers – Snacking cucumbers are back and ready to eat.
Garlic – white porcelain Argentinian garlic looking real good. Should have an update next Friday on purple garlic from Del Cabo.
Onions – WA/OR/MB wrapping up. We’ll have new crop MX Red Onions from Devine arriving April 21st.
Peppers – OriginO up and running. L/XL sizing coming in real nice. Thick walls and super sweet.
Tomato Heirlooms – focus switches from import to local from OriginO.. Light volume from Wholesum arriving April 22nd.
Tomato Cherry Grape – clean arrivals from Master’s Touch. Promotional pricing available for next week.
From Brody:
Broccoli – some pretty great quality coming out of the Salinas valley these days and market remain very promotable. The deluge of ridunculously cheap product from Mexico that had driven coastal California growers into tantrums is over and done. Hope that never to be repeated pissing match was fun for everyone involved :P
Cauliflower – supplies became very limited very quickly. We’ll do our best to have good arrivals and inventory this upcoming week, but we will be short on the 12 and 16CT sizes. We will have some 9CT sizing arriving on Sunday and should be able to price it well to keep retail prices reasonable… plus they’ll be nice big heads of cauli!
Brussels – we are bringing in some 25# boxes from Hippie Organics. Pricing should be nice and sharp for a better $/# in relation to the 10# option.
Celery – continued supplies from the Southern Desert and some of the Salinas fields now. Quality has been quite excellent and our Ecocampos program is really shining here. They’ve been superb on celery this year.
Green garlic – we have tremendous bunched green garlic from Coke Farm in California and our own Close To Home Organics in Abbotsford. It’s like thicker green onions with a mild garlic flavour! Delicious.
Kales – green and black kale from Ecocampos is fantastic quality at the moment.
Parsley Italian – this is the time of year when flat Italian parsley is going through a bit of a supply gap/transition. Pricing is up due to low supply.
Peas – those sugar snap peas from Tutti Frutti will have you dancing. Nice and crisp and tasty.
Radish – getting on with local radishes from Two Ees! A nice early season crop.
Spinach – if you have not tried the spinach from Olera yet… now is the time. These are healthy bunches of rich dark green variegated spinach which Riyad and his team treat with such care through the winter months.