Today is the first day of Fall, and with it come hopes of better business than what is out there now! Overall vegetable business is slow, with just too much local product hitting the markets. Items such as lettuce, broccoli, celery, jacket cauliflower, and leaf items are not allowing much action coming from the West coast. But, hope springs eternal, and as Fall REALLY kicks in, with colder days and nights, the local deals and backyard gardens will start to dry up, and business should pick up. But, that may not be for another 2-3 weeks.
Long range weather in the California growing areas show continued mild days and cool nights in the Salinas area, while the fruit areas around Fresno show steady days in the high 90s and mild nights. No rain in either area, normal for this time of year. In fact, our rain season doesn’t really kick in until mid November.
Trucks are plentiful, and rates negotiable. Oil prices are climbing slightly, which is holding diesel prices firm.

LETTUCE–supplies not overly heavy in Salinas and Santa Maria areas, but demand is only fair, at BEST. Prices are down today, and we don’t see much action this week. This will allow some deals to be made, so be aware of that. Quality is holding, but there are some problems out there, so if you stay with the better labels and the shippers that are staying on top of their fields, arrival problems are very minimal.

BROCCOLI–with supplies continuing to come out of the East coast, demand for broccoli out West continues slow. Still, the markets for bunch and crowns is fairly strong, only because shippers don’t plant heavy this time of year, knowing what is available in the East. Basically, the shippers are creating decent demand by planting light.

CAULIFLOWER–supplies are down this week, and we see shippers starting to push their prices upward. Not big jumps, as of yet, because demand is only fair, what with local jacket flower still available in the East. Still, look for this market to slowly climb this week.

LEAF ITEMS–slow demand for red, green, boston, and romaine, and prices are “negotiable”.

CELERY–not much change. Basically, good supplies and reasonable prices on just about all sizes.  We don’t see much change in the celery market until Canada and Michigan finish up, which may not be for another month. Sleeve is +$1.50/box.

STRAWBERRIES–this continues to be a real “head scratcher”. While most shippers are looking for business, and trying to avoid sending their fruit to the East coast because of quality issues, Driscoll continues to pro rate their supplies 50-75%! Even so, Driscoll’s quality isn’t anything to write home about, but their NAME keeps folks coming back. We don’t expect quality to improve until we head south to Oxnard for the late Fall deal, so, until then, order just what you need and move QUICKLY.