Although winter isn’t until another 2 weeks, it has come to the desert growing regions of Coachella Valley, Imperial Valley, and Yuma. Low temperatures over the weekend and this morning posted below freezing. Forecasts call for much of the same lows for the next 2 weeks, highs in the mid 60s to low 70s. No rain. The key is HOW LONG temperatures will stay below freezing. If it is 1-3 hours, damage will be minimal. When it get 5-7 hours at night and into the morning, THAT is when problems occur. Blister, epidermal peeling, and discoloration start showing up. Effects from those freezes can extend for months. With these colder temperatures, we expect to see just about ALL markets go up.

LETTUCE–even with lettuce ice this morning, there is plenty of lettuce at reasonable prices early this week. However, we see the market going up $2-3.00/box by the end of this week. You might consider buying more heavily early week. Quality holding up, as the freezing hasn’t had a chance to make an impact yet. Good color, size, and weights for now, but could be a different story by this time next week.

BROCCOLI–product spread ALL OVER California, from Salinas to Yuma. The “northern” districts are quoting less because of the lack of items to pick up. Even with lighter supplies, we aren’t sure how high this market will go. Supplies coming out of Virginia and the Carolinas will cover much of the east coast demand and keep shippers out west from going to crazy.

CAULIFLOWER–more than any major vegetable item, cold weather (or warm) effects cauliflower. When low temperatures hit, growth completely stops, and that is what we are seeing now. Prices are higher today than they were last week, and we could see shippers spike their prices another $4-6.00 by the end of this week.

LEAF ITEMS–good supplies of romaine, red, and green leaf, but with cold temperatures hitting, we could see prices double by this time next week. Romaine shows effects from freezing more than most leaf items, with blister, epidermal peel, and discoloring on the outside of the leaf. We should see the harvest workers trim off most of the effected heads for now, but if the temperatures get too cold, there could be real trouble.

CELERY–this weekend starts the first push for Christmas celery business. We don’t see the spike in price like we do during Thanksgiving, although we do see prices going up a little bit. Celery isn’t much of an item anymore for Christmas.

Ed Brem

ed@producewest.com