Due to weather issues, quality of cucumbers from certain growing areas has suffered. But as recent weather has held steady, quality has improved.
"We had a fairly decent crop this year," said Tom Barbaree, a Florida cucumber grower. "We've had a warm March and a mild April, and that has resulted in decent yields." He anticipates his haul this year to be about 15 percent higher than last year's, though he does admit the weather has affected quality on some cucumbers.
"We had high winds for about five days straight this season, so quality has been up and down," he said. As a result of the weather, some produce suffered wind damage.
Rick Stauffer, of Seminole Produce Distributing, says most of the quality issues associated with the weather have been centered around the Immokalee area.
"There was too much heat and wind around the Immokalee area, so the quality there suffered," he said. But he noted that as production has shifted to eastern and central areas, quality has improved.
"Volume might be light as production transitions to different growing areas, but quality out of new areas should be good," he said. "With all of the weather-related issues," he added, "its been an unusual year."