Produce Report
Monday, February 20 - Sunday, February 26
Weekly Specials
Strawberry Fun Facts:
Over 80% of the strawberries produced in the United Sates are grown in California. They produce over 1 billion pounds of strawberries a year!- Strawberries grown best when the days are warm and sunny and the nights are cool. That’s why the California coast is perfect!
- Strawberries are picked by hand because they are very fragile and bruise easily. Once they are picked, strawberries are cooled and loaded onto refrigerated trucks for delivery to supermarkets within 24 hours.
- Strawberries are a great source of Vitamin C, folic acid and fiber. Just 8 strawberries provide 160% of the vitamin C you need for a whole day!
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Citrus
Lemons: Desert crop is about done; their season is projected to end mid February. Central Valley crop is harvesting and the Ventura crop harvest is slow as growers are letting fruit gain size.
Oranges: The Navels are in full production and supplies are good. Quality looks very nice and fruit is now full natural color. Pack outs are running heavy to fancy grades.
Limes: Supplies are lighter and somewhat tight due to rains in the growing areas. Market has made a jump upward.
Tomatoes
Western: Definitely more business is coming out to Mexico with Eastern tomato supplies in a volume skip of sorts, especially on the smaller sizes. But reports have most of what is crossing at Nogales, AZ and McAllen TX to be x-large to jumbo size, with the large and medium size rounds becoming somewhat scarce, and higher prices on those sizes being the result.
Eastern: Markets have firmed up considerably, with large and medium size rounds being higher-priced than the x-large size. Look for this situation to continue for at least a week or two as the foodservice business is driving the take on the smaller sizes. And time will tell whether the x-large price rises to meet the others or the large and medium eventually fall to a one-size-fits-all price.
Onions
The market for red and yellow storage onions is still flat and cheap. Idaho has good supplies of both colors in storage. The storage season will last at least into April. Yellow quality has been excellent in the northwest.
Potatoes
The Idaho carton market is also flat on all sizes. Most sizes of cartons are available and there is flex on some counts. Norkotahs remain more limited than Burbanks. The norkotah size range is still 70’s through 100’s while Burbanks are still peaking on 80’s and then 70’s. Quality has been fair to excellent Idaho.
Lettuce
The lettuce market continues on a steady course. Supplies are good with most suppliers. Lettuce carton weights are averaging 44-48#s, with some suppliers hitting 50#s.
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Things You Should Know!
Fruit
Cantaloupe and Honeydew continue to be extremely limited. Rain is in the forecast for the Florida strawberry growing areas this weekend.
Weather
Weather is seasonal in most growing areas with temperatures normal, some rain expected in growing areas Wednesday/ Thursday of this week.
Lettuce
Epidermal peel and blister continues to be seen upon arrivals, but the frequency is less.