SPRING TRANSITION CONTINUES

It will be a bumpy road during the transition over the next month. We will see better quality and supply as growers move up north. Leaf lettuces are starting the transition as the desert warms up, resulting in quality issues and pest pressure.  Aphid pressure will improve on lettuce as the transition begins but the new growing region won’t entirely mitigate the problem. Calo butter lettuce is now coming out of Lamont with improved quality but limited availability due to the rains. Romaine hearts are moving into Yuma, Arizona and heads are sizing up smaller with less pest pressure. Organicgirl continues to transition, and we will see prorates on some salads including butter lettuce, protein greens and true hearts for the next few weeks.

We may see gaps on radicchio, lettuce, smaller sized celery and cauliflower. Bunched spinach is difficult to come by. Calo Spinach looks great, but unfortunately there was a lot of hail throughout the valley and product is limited. Prices will start to decline on Baby Bok Choy and Broccoli as the weather improves in the northern growing region. Lakeside’s transition back to Watsonville and Salinas on all crops was delayed due to the heavy storms. Celery is the last item to transition out of the desert and we can expect some scarcity in April and May. While Watsonville/Salinas is sputtering to come to life on greens, prices from all growing regions will be up until more production comes on. Chards are tight due to the heavy rains. More rain is expected this week. Stay tuned for updates.