US(AZ): Yuma radicchio harvests begin after month-long delay

After suffering through tight supply levels since mid-December, American radicchio farmers expect supplies to start picking up as delayed winter crops in Yuma, AZ, finally start their harvests.

“Yuma really caught everybody by surprise,” says Ed O’Malley, President of Royal Rose, the country’s largest radicchio supplier. “Supplies have been tight through December and January,” O’Malley says. “It has been tight for everybody.”

O’Malley explains that just as most growers were wrapping up their late fall pulls in the Salinas valley, unusually cold temperatures hit Yuma, causing crop growth to slow dramatically. “Cold has very significantly slowed the growth of product,” says O’Malley. 

According to O’Malley, Royal Rose typically starts its Yuma harvests in early to mid-December. “Normally we’re going to start around the 15th [of December], or maybe even the 10th.” This year, however, harvests were delayed by a full month due to the cold weather. “We started harvests on Monday,” O’Malley says, speaking with FreshPlaza on Thursday, January 14th.

That delay threw the radicchio market into turmoil. O’Malley estimates that prices spiked by 15% in December and that supplies dropped by 20% or more. “That means we’re scrambling,” he adds.

Some Salinas farms extended, SE Georgia also late 

O’Malley says that his company was lucky when the supply deficit hit – at least compared to other growers. Royal Rose’s farms were able to extend their season in Salinas by several weeks. “We bridged it, but it was tight,” O’Malley says. “We were very fortunate that we had ground still producing in Salinas.”

Royal Rose is also one of relatively few radicchio growers active on the east coast, besides imports. The company’s crop in southeast Georgia was also a couple of weeks late due to weather, but harvest began on January 4. Since then, yields have been solid for Royal Rose’s farms in that area. “Things are proceeding well there,” says O’Malley, though he adds that Yuma has a much bigger role in the winter market.

According to O’Malley, December’s weather impact is “still a huge issue” in Yuma. He notes, however, that conditions are starting to look up. “Yuma’s starting to improve a little bit,” he says. “But full production will not begin until mid-February.” In the meantime, strong supplies are available in Georgia, while Yuma crop remains available at higher FOBs. 

O’Malley says that once the Yuma crop normalizes, the market should begin to stabilize. “Once Yuma comes fully online, it should moderate a little bit.”

For more information:

Ed O’Malley

Tel: +1 (831) 758-1957+1 (831) 758-1957