There's an optimistic outlook on this year's California fig crop. "We're having wonderful weather in California and we've had another really good year of rain and snowpack so it's shaping up to be a good year," says Erik Herman of The Specialty Crop Co.
To start, the season looks to be back to a more historic start on timing. That's different from last year which saw a 10-day to two-week delay to the beginning of harvest. Herman says this year, the first BREBA crop on Black Mission figs should start in early June and go throughout the month while the second and main crop of Brown Turkey figs will begin in the middle of July and harvest should go into November. "We've made it through frost season so I think we'll have normal to good numbers of figs available," he says.
More acreage added
The Specialty Crop Co itself, which also grows Brown Turkey, Sierra, and Tiger figs, has also planted quite a few more fig acres, and some of those trees are coming online this year for fresh figs and processing figs as well.
As for demand, while each variety has its consumers who prefer it, generally, fresh fig demand–even through the peak COVID years–continues to grow. "They used to be more of a niche item but now more people know about them and look for them and we have a lot of new inquiries about them so I think the demand is there," says Herman.
Meanwhile, pricing should be similar to slightly more this year on figs. "It may be a little more because we had another wage increase in California and other inputs are also increasing," says Herman.
For more information:
Erik Herman
The Specialty Crop Co.
Tel: +1 (559) 661-8253
[email protected]
https://www.speccrop.com