Buyer's Notes - September 24, 2021

Buyer’s Notes - September 24, 2021

Stefan Misse, Carter Selmes-Blythe, Brody Irvine, Jon Maheswaran - Discovery Organics

From Stefan: 

Apples - not much new to come on the BC harvests other than everyone’s favourite Ambrosia now on hand and ready to ship.

Avocados - we should see our first Fair Trade fruit here just in time for Thanksgiving week sales.

Bananas - don’t get me started on the delays we are seeing with sea freight still and ongoing. We have some nice Coliman fruit on hand to bridge our Asoguabo gaps.

Blueberries – late-season Washington fruit to finish the “local” harvests. Peru and Argentine fruit are expected in the next couple of weeks for imports.

Grapefruit – limited supplies until our Pragor Fair Trade fruit arrives next week.

Lemons – the Mexican crop volume is building and weather is now conducive to harvesting in most regions again. USA desert crop is just starting. We will be going with the strongest quality for supply.

Limes – good supplies ongoing.

Mandarins - more to come on this in the future but it is looking bleak for supply due to the shipping container crisis around the world. A lack of containers in China has led to limited options for most Chinese mandarin packers who are scrambling to find options for shipping and having to compete with higher value items and Christmas related things.   Container prices have risen by $6 - 9,000 on the line our mandarins come in on.  Will keep you updated if this is going to even be a thing!

Mango - the last of the Mexican fruit is here and after this we jump to Keitts from California. They are the last of the season generally with new crop Ataulfos starting from the Southern Hemisphere in the late autumn.

Pears - BC Bartletts will pack for another 2-3 weeks and then Bosc and DAnjou after that. There are other BC pears available but the serious shortage of labour will leave this fruit in storage bins until more pressing matters are taken care of.

From Carter:

Asparagus – new arrival of Gourmet Trading inbound Sunday. Look for Devine grass to drop Wednesday next week. Look for pricing to be stable for the next couple weeks.

Beans – with the hurricanes and the loss of conventional crop in multiple growing areas (Baja, Mainland MX, Florida, and Georgia) organic beans are extremely limited. We should see some light supply from Crisp Organics potentially the end of next week.

Carrots – 24/2# Earthbound bags arriving Saturday/Sunday! We’ll have Ontario grown carrots arriving Monday, Sept 27th from Ekk Phenning – a long-time Ontario organic farmer and advocate.  Fountainview carrots looking to start the 3rd week of October.

Eggplant – Sundance/2EEs in house.

Field Cucumbers – getting to the end of the local season on slicers and juice. Our first arrival of import cucumbers is due in Sunday.

Mushrooms – any wildcrafted mushrooms you are seeing on our price list please talk with our sales team for pre-ordering. Fresh pickings coming in over the weekend to start off the week.

Hot Peppers – Two EEs Jalapenos picking up today! If you’re looking to candy hot peppers check out our hot pepper mix from Lina’s Garden.

Potatoes – Fraserland finishing up harvests this weekend, great year for yields on spuds. Storages are overflowing! We have you covered on all your potato needs going into Thanksgiving.

Hard Shell Squash – lots of tasty squash in house for all your roasting and soup needs! We have Black Futsu from Close to Home, a nutty flavoured flesh with edible skin! One of my favourites for roasting.

Grape Tomatoes – new arrival of Master’s Touch inbound Sunday and Wednesday next week.

Roma Tomatoes – San Marzano’s are back! Limited supply in the house. Sweet, pulpy, and low acidity, just perfect!

Heirloom Tomatoes – Hope Farm 15# pack out just arrived! Ripeness levels are perfect for the shelves.

Zucchini – winding down to our last few arrivals on local zucchini... Limited amount arriving Sunday from Forstbauer Farms. Get them while there HOT! We have all your import needs as well

From Brody:

Artichokes – limited supply coming in from one of our favourite co-op growers, Coke Farm.

Bok Choy Baby – now is the time to indulge in some beautiful locally grown baby bok choy from Blue House. This fall weather is absolutely perfect growing conditions for them!

Broccolini – very ideal growing conditions are providing some excellent quality product from Blue House at the moment. Which is perfect since the availability from our California growing partners is very limited.

Broccoli – this market has really really tightened up! As expected given the weather patterns of coastal California this past month. So expect pricing to be much higher than it has been for the past 10 months, and we are hunting around for the best quality bunches and crowns from Washington to California. We’ll also have some BC grown broccoli as well that is just stellar.

Brussels Sprouts – as we approach Thanksgiving the demand for Brussels goes through the roof! Fortunately, we’ll have you covered with some fantastic sprouts from Laughing Crow Organics in Pemberton, as well as Californian and Mexican grown Brussels from our partner growers down South. Fingers crossed we’ll even see some of the legendary purple sprouts from Green Earth.

Carrots Bunched – lots of sweet and tasty bunched carrots available right now from our local farmers. Get them before the frost does.

Cauliflower – while our local grower is struggling to recover from the rains last weekend… we are gapping on local supplies. However, we have some very promotable numbers coming in from Foxy to start off this week.

Celery – we are booming in local celery right now. The 18CT from Two EEs may seem intimidating but the quality and freshness of these big bunches cannot be matched. Put these on display and watch customers’ jaws drop!

Corn – another Thanksgiving stalwart that is ready to roll right now from Crisp Organics. The local corn season this year has been nothing but spectacular with super sweet cobs coming off the. We’re lucky ducks here in BC!

Leeks – one of our favourite members of the onion family, the humble leek is firing on all cylinders right now.

Lettuce – another causality of the hot and weird summer we’ve had… the local lettuce supplies are finally starting to rebound but just in dribs and drabs. We’ll have import options available to cover any gaps and quality all-around has been top-notch. We should even see some red romaine coming in from Cal-O next Wednesday. Green Onions – we’re going all in on Oregon grown green onions from Siri and Sons, one of our longest and closest grower partners. Look for these to arrive on Saturday with steady supplies all week.

Parsnips – ‘tis the season for this delicious earthy root crop and the harvests from Ralph’s Greenhouse and Crisp Organics are both coming in pristine white.

Spinach – the cooler fall weather means that it is time for locally grown spinach again! A crop that does not like the summer heat at all loves the cooler temps of April and September so expect to see this available for a few more weeks from our local growers.

From Jon:

Pomegranates - 90# crate bins arrive next week. These are very cool wooden bins that really display well!

Kiwis - 20x1# bagged Argentinian kiwis arriving on Monday.

Kiwi Berries - landed today! Yahoo!  Kiwi berries are one of 50 varieties of Kiwi’s – of which the fuzzy Hayward is the most known.  Kiwi berries are grown at Burnt Ridge nursery in Chehalis, Washington – similar in size to a grape or gooseberry, and tastes just like, you guessed it, a kiwi.