The Florida lettuce season is winding down as the industry transitions to sourcing lettuces from the West Coast. “My growers are reporting a drop in volume in production,” says Edmund Moy of Maximum Foods LLC in Miami, Fl., noting Florida lettuce generally includes mainly iceberg and some romaine hearts. “The season is winding down. It runs to the end of April and then we go back out west to California for supplies. But generally from January to April, we get nice Florida lettuce.”
Cold effects
While Florida has recently experienced some chillier temperatures, Moy notes the negative effects were few. “When the cold fronts came down, it affected the market for a few days to a week but once the fronts passed, they just needed a few days to get back up with supplies,” he says.
This is a different scene than how the cold weather on the West Coast is affecting things. “Out west there were challenges with weather in Arizona during the winter season slowing production and harvest,” sys Moy. “There were cold fronts coming down and that blistered the product. Florida is further south than Arizona and California so when we get a cold front, it’s the tail end of the cold. Out west they got freezes that actually damaged the crop.”
Price push upwards
All of this activity has made for some slightly higher pricing on Florida lettuce, though Moy says the rates have been generally negotiable. “But right now we can actually bring in California lettuce cheaper than we can land Florida lettuce in our own warehouse because the prices out west are so low—even with the high price of trucking,” says Moy. That pricing may change as the transition continues to source west coast lettuce.
For more information:
Edmund Moy
Maximum Foods LLC
Tel: +1 (786) 299-5868
moy@maximumfoods.com