Salinas has it all

Now that celery has moved from Oxnard to Salinas area, ALL of the major (and most of the minor!) vegetable items are now in the Salinas area. Along with celery, this includes head lettuce, leaf items, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries, and green onions. Many other items such as bok choy, napa, spinach, cilantro, chard, beets, cabbage, and various squashes are also readily available. The availability of all of these items makes loading trucks much easier and less costly, due to the fact that the trucks don’t have to cover as much ground.
Long range weather forecasts in the Salinas area shows a minor heat spell today and tomorrow, then cooling more to normal. The San Joaquin Valley, where the tree fruit, grapes, and melons pick up, show temperatures in the 100’s, which is typical for this time of year.
Trucks are available, and rates, while peaking last week, are holding their own.

LETTUCE–lighter supplies for this time of year are “planned” due to local backyard gardens coming on around the country. This is the shippers way of keeping the lettuce market firm, as it  currently is. That’s okay with us, because when there is a “glut” of supplies hitting the terminal markets, the market stays depressed and NO ONE is happy, except for the terminal guys who sell lettuce for nothing, and return even LESS than nothing to the growers.

BROCCOLI–no change here. Plenty of bunch 14s, 18s, and crowns, and the market is flat.

CAULIFLOWER–with Canada kicking in and supplying the East coast, there isn’t much action out West, and the market for 9s, 12s, and 16s is flat. We don’t see much change in the cauliflower market for a while.

LEAF ITEMS–plenty of red leaf, green leaf, and boston, and those markets are mostly flat. Romaine, which had been high and tight for the past few weeks due to quality issues, is now starting to pick up in volume, although we are seeing a VERY wide range in price out there. As much as a $5-7.00/box range! With that, we don’t suggest you load up too heavily, and wait for that market to settle down.

CELERY–as mentioned above, we are loading all celery in the Salinas area(along with Santa Maria), which helps with the loading of trucks. We don’t have the consolidation and transfer charges from Oxnard to deal with anymore. We will have supplies in Salinas from now until December. The market is picking up in Salinas where it left off in Oxnard–down. Good deals on all sizes. Celery heart 12s and 18s are also available.

STRAWBERRIES–this “mini” heat spell we are having in Salinas/Watsonville may hurt short term supplies, which isn’t all that bad. There have been a LOT of berries out there the past few weeks, so cutting supplies isn’t the worst thing that could happen. Overall, though, strawberry movement has been very good this year. In fact, it has been just about the top gross item at the retail level for most chains in the country. Raspberries and blackberries are also available, although those markets are pretty active.

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