Corona, CA-based Veg-Fresh Farms has been growing and packing conventional and organic Brussels sprouts since 2016 in both the Veg Fresh and Good Life Organic labels. It is currently harvesting conventional Brussels out of Santa Maria, Lompoc and Santa Rosa, CA.
Norwin Wong (above) says quality issues on Brussels sprouts will improve in a few weeks when Veg-Fresh transitions to fields in Mexico.
“There are limited supplies and quality issues on conventional Brussels. The summer crops, which harvest into November, had quality issues from heat and the winter crop has shown some quality issues from rain – there were oxidation concerns upon harvesting,” says Norwin Wong, grower relations for Veg-Fresh. “We will see these quality issues improve in a couple of weeks when we transition to fields in Mexico.” Veg-Fresh will grow in Mexico for two to three months before coming back to California.
Improving organic quality
On organic Brussels coming out of Mexico, it is seeing limited supplies with quality issues due to rain. “These issues will likely only last about one more week and should improve when we start in new fields in Mexico,” says Wong.
That said, more limited supplies are meeting slower demand right now. “Brussels are most popular during the Fall/holiday season, so right now demand is down. We expect to see a surge again around March when Easter is close, and then drop again during the summer,” says Wong. He noted that Veg-Fresh moves more of its packaged organic Brussels sprouts rather than bulk and conventional Brussels.
Veg-Fresh moves more of its packaged organic Brussels sprouts rather than bulk and conventional Brussels.
As for pricing, with lower supplies than last year at this time, pricing is up. “These significant changes are mainly due to inflation. The cost of everything has gone up and we are relying on fewer growers to fill supply,” says Wong.
For more information:
Carrie Robertson
Veg-Fresh Farms
Tel: +1 (714) 446-8800 x265
carrie@vegfresh.com
www.vegfresh.com