As each of us gets caught up in the holiday rat race of running around for last minute gifts and needs this time of year, we need to step back and think of the REASON for the season. The birth of Jesus. The BEST time of the year! We at Produce West hope you ALL have a merry Christmas and a wonderful, SAFE new year!

A BIG story out west in California, is the weather. Mother Nature attacked with a VENGEANCE this weekend. 5-10 inches of rain fell in many areas of California over the weekend, while there are reports of 6-10 FEET of snow in the Sierras. Good for the snow pack, but there is flooding and mud slides reported throughout the state. And MORE to come, as we are forecasted for rain ALL week. The GOOD news is that there is very little rain in the desert growing regions of Imperial Valley, Coachella Valley, California, and Yuma, Arizona.

Trucks are abundant and rates flexible. With Christmas and New Year’s falling on the weekend this year, we shouldn’t have too much of the problems with trucks as when Christmas and New Years falls in the middle of the week. Drivers will want to get home, to be sure, but we may avoid the shortages that come during this time of year.

Long range weather in the desert growing regions show rain showers for tomorrow and Wednesday, then clear after that. No freeze.

LETTUCE–there is just TOO much lettuce out there. The market has basically hit rock bottom, and some shippers are sending to terminal markets, if they can’t sell it fob. There are quite a few ads being set up for the next 2 weeks, with hopes of increasing the movement. We don’t see the market going up this week, at least.

BROCCOLI–after the shippers ran this market upwards of $30 FOB the past 2 weeks, ads are over, and the market is coming back to reality. Still, prices are high, but down considerably from that $30 tag. We should see this market continue to drift down, bottoming out by this weekend, then a chance of it going back up next week.

CAULIFLOWER –like broccoli, prices were pushed to high, now the shippers have to drop their prices fast. When you get prices up to those levels, and it starts coming down, it isn’t like it drops a dollar at a time. It’s more like $5-10.00 at a crack. Again, we we see this market bottoming out by this weekend, then likely firming back up next week.

LEAF ITEMS–romaine is coming down, while red and green leaf are steady. We don’t see these markets changing too much this week, and even into next.

CELERY–wet fields in Oxnard (5-6 inches over the weekend) have really slowed down growth and harvesting. Fortunately, the Christmas business is done, and there is little demand. Unfortunately, we had expected the celery market to drop after the Christmas push, but now prices are staying firm, with the lack of supplies.

STRAWBERRIES–with all of the rain we got in the berry country over the weekend (Oxnard, too), and more to come ALL week, the only place you can get western berries is out of Yuma, and those are Mexican berries. Fortunately, Florida is getting back to normal, after the cold weather they got, so that should take pressure off demand for western fruit.

Ed Brem

ed@producewest.com