From Labor Day weekend onwards for five days, the state experienced plus 100-degree temperatures. The following weeks also saw high overnight temperatures. “And all of those above normal temperatures has affected the tail end of the Salinas deal for lettuce. It’s been a real challenge,” says Mark McBride of Salinas, Ca.-based Coastline Family Farms. “It’s led to a lot of poor yields. In some cases some fields were damaged and in other cases, they came through in pretty good shape. But the bottom line is it has reduced yields.”
Entire state under heat
It was not only the spiking temperatures that affected the growing region but also the widespread nature of the weather change. “The entire state was well above normal for an extended period of days,” says McBride. “We might get 100 degree day in late August or early September but to have them back to back to back like that, I still can’t believe it happened.”
While many commodities are affected including cauliflower and broccoli, iceberg and romaine lettuce are two of the hardest hit.
“They’re both very expensive right now,” says McBride. “There are quotes for Iceberg range from the low to the high 40s and Romaine is trading generally around $22. Normally around this time it’d be substantially less than that.”
Demand picking up
At the same time, demand for leaf lettuce is steady if not climbing. “Over the last couple of weeks, the home-grown areas are starting to decline and we’re noticing some more demand coming back from the Midwest, the Canadian provinces and the Northeast,” says McBride. “It’s getting colder, it’s getting rainier up there and their home-grown deals are on their last legs.”
As Salinas wraps up likely the end of next week, the growing moves to new regions. “We’re going to get going in the Central Valley in the Huron district next week,” says McBride. “They’ve also had some heat-related issues that are going to reduce yields there and the early start of the Yuma district has had some issues again related to heat and or rain down there.”
For further information:
Mark McBride
Coastline Family Farms
Tel: +1 831-755-1430
mark@coastlinefamilyfarms.com
coastlinefamilyfarms.com