There are uncertain markets in Ontario carrots currently.
“In the last week to 10 days we’ve seen a lot of our local crop deteriorate from the large amount of rain that happened about two week ago—we saw 5.5-6 inches of rain,” says Quinton Woods of Gwillimdale Farms in Bradford, ON. “Certain growers are starting to lose a percentage of their crop. Overall it’s been a tough season so far.”
Woods says speculation is that there are between 200-400 acres of carrots in Ontario lost from weather problems. “Typically local crop should start harvesting about the first of August. But with the hot, dry weather, nothing really grew. It’s starting to grow now but anything that was pretty irrigated prior to that rain are starting to see some quality issues on the carrots,” says Woods.
John Hambly, President of Gwillimdale Farms.
Fall lags
With harvest being delayed by some 14 days, looking ahead to fall means the typical volumes of carrots that should hit the market earlier won’t be there.
At the same time, demand is steady and solid. “There’s good demand for local product at this time of year. It’s even more so now with COVID-19 and different trade policies going on around the world. People are really starting to look more than ever for that local label, so I think going into the fall demand will be strong,” says Woods.
Not surprisingly, pricing is higher than normal, particularly because of that strong demand. “People are still eating more at home so there’s more home-cooking than before COVID-19,” says Woods. “The restaurant demand is still substantially decreased and I think retail demand will continue to be strong into the winter season.”
Pricing up
Right now, says Woods, prices are higher than normal by approximately 30 percent.
Looking ahead, as local programs start up, Woods notes he doesn’t see the aggressive retail ads they’ve seen in previous years. “I don’t see how they can be achieved,” he adds.
He also notes that patience may be in order. “There’s so much uncertainty because people don’t know what’s going on with COVID-19,” he says. “We’ve incurred a substantial amount of increased costs. So people are in the wait and see mode because they need the yields to pay for these costs. I don’t think anyone’s rushing to market anytime soon.”
For more information:
Quinton Woods
Gwillimdale Farms
Tel: +1 (905) 775-2889
[email protected]
www.gwillimdalefarms.com
