A NEW YEAR BEGINS

2012 has begun, and in the blink of an eye, we’ll be talking about how fast the year went! Let’s all be sure to take each day one at a time, ENJOY life, and be THANKFUL for what we have all be been blessed with.
For the produce business in the desert growing regions, 2012 is starting out about the same as 2011 ended, with plenty of lettuce, broccoli, some leaf items. But, at the same time, we are still dealing with FREEZE EFFECTED product. Blister, peel, discoloration are ALL showing up, and shippers are quoting WITH those problems. Some shippers don’t want to hear about it upon arrival.
Long range weather in the desert growing areas show days getting into the high 70s and even a few low 80’s, and nights not quite as cold, although there is some freezing in some of the colder, more protected spots. NO rain in sight.
Trucks are starting to settle back in, after the past 2 weeks dealing with holiday issues, although rates this week are still firm, and higher than before the holidays. Next week things should start to settle back down.

LETTUCE–still PLENTY of lettuce, and prices are steady, albeit at the low end of the market. STILL dealing with freeze issues, discoloration, blister, and peel. Most shippers are doing a good job trimming off the problems, but, as mentioned, shippers are quoting WITH problems, and some don’t want to hear any complaints when it arrives.

BROCCOLI–good supplies of bunch and crowns and prices are competitive with Virginia and Georgia, even with the higher freight. Quality is nice, although purple cast is showing up everywhere, but is NOT a quality issue.

CAULIFLOWER–better supplies, and there is a BIG market range, with as much as a $4-5.00/box SPREAD in the market depending upon the label and area it picks up in. Don’t get overloaded with flower, as this market has a LOT of room to come down. Quality is wide spread, too, with the freeze causing discoloration on the head and jacket leaves.

LEAF ITEMS–epidermal peel is quite prevalent with ALL leaf, red, green, romaine, and boston, particularly romaine. Again, most are doing a good job trimming off effected product, but you need to let you customers know that there ARE problems, and to EXPECT problems. We can’t stress enough that some shippers are NOT standing behind their product with freeze issues.

CELERY–good supplies of all sizes, but there is a WIDE market spread, depending upon the shipper, with Dole and Duda commanding top dollar for their product. Most celery still coming out of Oxnard, with Yuma looking to get started the end of this month.

ASPARAGUS–desert still trying to get started, with only small numbers crossing the border. Most product still coming out of South America, and prices are VERY high for 11/1# cartons.

Ed Brem
ed@producewest.com