Excess of product continues to flood the desert growing areas, keeping many of the markets on the floor. Shippers can be their own worst enemy. They just keep planting and harvesting more and more product, then can’t understand why they can’t make any money.

Long range weather in the desert growing regions show highs in the mid-70s to high 80s, and lows only in the high 40s to low 50s. These are ideal temperatures to bring on even MORE product. No rain in sight.

Trucks are no problem, and rates are at season lows for most areas of the country.

LETTUCE–not much you can say here. Just TOO much lettuce out there and the markets are on the floor. Quality is also no problem. Most shippers staying on top of their fields, and are packing green, fresh, product. We would, however, like to see better size and weights, but many of the varieties out there are showing ribby lettuce, lighter weights, with poor to fair head formation.

BROCCOLI–with product coming out of areas from Santa Maria, California to Virginia, its no wonder this market continues to drag on the ground. You can only push to advertise broccoli so many times, then you get tired of it. We don’t see much change in the broccoli market for several more weeks.

CAULIFLOWER–quite a spread in the market here, with as much as a $5.00/box difference on 12s, depending upon the shipper and area you pick up in. With this kind of spread, it’s worth s shopping around. There is product coming out of Santa Maria to Phoenix, and most shippers are doing a good job of packing their product. What we ARE seeing is fewer 9s out there, indicating the shippers are finally catching up on their fields. We could see an overall stronger market by the end of this week.

LEAF ITEMS–not much change. Red, green, and romaine are all now priced fairly close, not like the past few weeks where green was nearly double in price over red. Most shippers looking for business, and are flexing on their board prices. Quality mostly good coming out of the desert, as we are FINALLY getting past the freeze effected issues from December.

CELERY–not much business here, and markets have been drifting downward for the past 2 weeks. Even Dole is looking for business on various sizes, although they are still $2-3.00/box higher than the general market. The desert continues to pick up more volume, and that is why the market is trending downward. Still, Oxnard continues to be the main area for celery.

ASPARAGUS–good numbers coming out of the desert and the market has bottomed out.  There are quite a few ads lined up in the coming weeks, and that will probably help to firm the market. Right now, however, is a good time to buy grass, as the quality is top notch, and priced right.

STRAWBERRIES–with Valentine’s Day business, there isn’t enough fruit to go around in California, even with Florida going strong. Most of the product coming on in Oxnard and the LA/San Diego areas are committed for Valentine’s Day, and ANY fruit available that doesn’t have a price on it is $2-3.00 higher than the ad lids. Chance of rain today may hurt the quality in southern California, but overall the fruit is very solid.

Ed Brem

ed@producewest.com