CALIFORNIA – Cold weather at the beginning of the year, coupled with the recent above average temperatures, has impacted crops in both California and Arizona.

I spoke with Doug Classen, Sales Manager with The Nunes Company, the shipper of “Foxy” brand produce, about the effects that he is currently seeing and how the abnormal weather has impacted this year’s timetable.

“We are scheduled to start the last week of March in Huron for iceberg lettuce. Our crop appears to be tracking 7 to 10 days ahead of schedule due to the warmer than usual winter weather,” he said. “Most of our commodities may finish between 7 to 14 days ahead of schedule in Yuma.”

The company is currently harvesting a full line of conventional and organic western vegetables, which it is shipping from Yuma. It is also shipping celery from Oxnard, asparagus from Gonzales as well as broccoli and cauliflower from Salinas, which Doug says is about 2 weeks early.

Aside from the early transitions, the abnormal weather conditions have also had an impact on crop quality.

“For most of the season, temperatures have been near record high averages. We had some extreme cold weather at the end of December and beginning in January. We also experienced some significant desert rains, that combined with heat, caused mildew and disease in select fields,” he tells me.

The combination of these factors has challenged the available product and caused volatility in the market, which has been depressed for the past couple of weeks.

“With warm weather that has bunched up harvest volume, combined with the adverse weather in the East, demand has not kept up with supply. Being so far ahead of schedule on most crops, we see potential of some supply gaps in the coming weeks as we transition from Yuma back to the Central Coasts,” Doug said.

Those supply gaps could mean more market volatility until the transition is complete. Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest updates.

Foxy Produce