Bad winter weather out east forced restaurant goers to stay in rather than go out to eat. “The wintertime it has been a little slower due to the weather out east and the storms. You can tell when they’re having (bad weather) because people can’t get out to restaurants,” said Joyce Camany of The Salad Farm, which works predominantly in foodservice and operates with conventional and organic programs. Year round spinach supply is grown out of California and Arizona – Hopedale and Yuma.
Camany says supply is slowly progressing, barring some concerns. “We’ve had a lot of issues in the dessert over the wintertime as far as the rain and mildew issues because there’s a lot of humidity in the dessert,” she said. “With organic we have issues with trying to keep supply because of what we’re loosing due to mildew.” Conventional spinach is getting better with warmer weather.
Their organic program has been growing every year, which was introduced about five years ago. “We’re seeing growth but nothing like our conventional. Of course we are predominantly conventional and trying to move into more of the organic.”
Once crop concentrates around the Salinas Valley, Camany says they’ll wait and see with respect to the rain the area has had. “That’s a day-to-day, weekly thing. For right now as the dessert warms if the rain stays away it should get better. As spring comes people will go out and have more time to eat out.”
Last year they introduced three blends: Baby Kale, Trio and Hearty Gems. Camany says the Trio is the biggest mover. Challenge is always being innovative. “The challenges are to innovate and to get something new – a new blend of some sort, something that’s going to spark interest in the customer.”
For more information:
Joyce Camany
The Salad Farm
Ph: (831) 663-3311