Cold weather during the last part of December has slowed the production of items like parsley and lettuce. Like many other vegetables currently being grown in California's desert regions, supplies are likely to be light for the coming weeks.“The leaf lettuces have been really affected by the cold,” said Mark McBride of Coastline Produce. “Probably the most affected are Romaine, red lettuce and butterleaf lettuce. Supplies are very tight for all of those.” The parsley market is also tight, with prices between $10.45 and $16.00 for a carton of bunched curly 60s. Prices are usually closer to the $10.00 range this time of year, but slower production has boosted them into the higher teens this month.
Similar items, like cilantro and other smaller commodities, have fared about the same. On January 16, prices for a carton of cilantro bunched 60s were between $20.45 and $21.65 out of the Imperial Valley and between $21.75 and $21.65 out of the Oxnard district.
“It's the same as with the bigger commodities,” said Jason Lathos, commodity manager for Church Brothers Produce. “We're ahead of schedule and now there are gaps in supplies. This is very similar to 2013, and it will be difficult to fill orders, industry-wide. We've had a trying last two weeks, and I anticipate the next 13 weeks to be a bumpy ride.”