MARKET REPORT - JULY 22ND, 2016

Our California shopping list gets shorter every day!Just a fast update on a few things:That huge heat wave has hit most of the continent and is affecting some items. Apples.  Lots of BC apples in several varieties coming off with Sunrise in house, Gravenstein and others – we are literally just a couple of weeks from Galas to kick off harvests of mid-season fruit.  Galas are available with a small pricey California crop filling the window. Those growers hit it perfectly this year and will make very good dineros for their crop.Blueberries.  Well this is going to be a crap-shoot for the balance of the season.  Too many hot/cold/wet/dry cycles have hurt production with a substantial % going right to the freezer and created an up-tick in populations of damaging Drosophila flies in some fields.  We’re working with 5 different growers so hopefully we can keep some sort of flow going where there are some harvest windows, but if you were planning any sort of promotion I suggest you do it on frozen and not on fresh.Grapes.  As I’ve mentioned before, grapes are an awkward market this year with varieties ripening helter-skelter.  There is currently a glut so you will see sharply lower pricing this week on reds.Lemons.  Ouch – when we thought prices couldn’t get higher, they have snuck again with continuing short supply.  We will see some relief in late August when other areas start to harvest.  And expect some gapping over the next 10 days.  Product we have on order and listed may not arrive – some growers are saying it’s too hot to harvest.  Period.Limes.  Prices continue to drop with an abundant Mexican harvest in all regions and should stay that way until a hurricane hits any of three regions, which can and does happen in the summer.Mangos.  Continuing good arrivals on Sinaloa fruit.  Markets are still depressed with bargains much later in the year than normal.  Expect prices to edge up when the last of late varieties are finished in all central and southern regions.Melons.  Strong production across the Central Valley, with the current heat-wave ripening off cantaloupe and honeydew before they reach full size.  Expect a sloppy market for the next two weeks – which is perfect timing for strong promotions considering most of us are finally going to have dry, hot weather through the end of the month – IF you believe weather forecasts.Raspberries.  Our little BC deal is winding down because of weather.  California is struggling with high heat – we’ve temporarily moved to coastal Baja for the next week.Strawberries.  The giant flush that affected markets is over and pricing is back to where we were a few weeks ago.  We are seeing fabulous quality, with temperatures stable and not expected to reach the record highs being felt across most of the US and central/eastern Canada.Veg – first of the year BC carrots due in any day and listed from Similkameen.  Beans and peas from several BC growers.  Our California shopping list gets shorter every day!    Too many people growing zucchini again this year.  Note to future farmers – plant 1 plant for your family and friends and use the field space for something profitable!