Randy's Weather Report- California downpours and the echo effect of the Mexican Freeze

California refuses to warm up, and some desert growers (Heger etc.) will be winding down over the next few weeks with central and coastal California not ready.  This will put huge pressure on some shippers – prices will climb even further and supply will be limited.  With Santa Maria and Watsonville nearly ready to harvest strawberries, they are now cold and wet, and Oxnard (Pureveg / Natural Choice / Something Good) had a 7 inch downpour on Monday, with continuing rain all week, making harvest of most crops difficult, and slowing strawberry harvest to a crawl.  We have good supply, having loaded literally hours before the deluge started.

For now, green veg selection is tight and spendy, with increases on many items rising 15-20% for next week.  Roots are in good supply, especially potatoes, where we expect solid volumes on PEI russets well into the spring. The very last of our BC potatoes are on the list, and that’s it! The U.S. market is expecting up to a 6 week gap on organic potatoes.  Onions are also going to be a challenge, with so many spring-planted earlier sweets killed off when they were just babies in the Imperial Valley and supply is tightening quickly in Washington.

Supply on Mexican cherry tomatoes, slicer tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant is low and prices are high. The second planting that should be in full production now suffered a lot of damage. We are starting to receive much nicer Los Tamarindos cherry’s, with supply expected to increase substantially on herbs, eggplant etc in a week.