US: As crop comes in, cauliflower price drops

Rain and unseasonable warmth may threaten some crops this year, but cauliflower hasn't been affected. As the hearty winter vegetable comes into season, producers are seeing a drop in price that likely signals a bountiful harvest.

The USDA is currently quoting prices around $6.00 to $7.00 FOB, a significant drop from prices just a few weeks ago, which were hovering around $40.00.

Although supply and demand dictates a reliable change in prices as the harvest comes in, Bay Area Produce’s Mike D’Antonio isn’t sure what to expect in weeks to come. 

“If I could tell you that, I would have hit the Powerball a couple weeks ago,” he says of possible fluctuations in price in coming weeks. 

With prices low, D’Antonio and Bay Area Produce aren’t seeing major changes in the market. “The usual players” make up the supply market and those receiving product. Oxnard, Santa Maria, and the Imperial Valley are supplying cauliflower, while demand is coming from a variety of food-centered industries.

“We don’t move a whole lot of cauliflower, but it’s a little bit of everybody,” D’Antonio says.

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Mike D’Antonio