Brussels sprouts supply is on the thin side. “There are a few growers in California who are not growing sprouts anymore and that has reduced supply,” says Tony Wisdom Founder and CEO of Skagit Valley Farm and Valley Pride Sales, noting California is a year-round supplier of sprouts, though supply often shrinks after the holidays given that’s when demand softens. “It’s a really long season crop. Plant to harvest is seven to eight months oftentimes so that’s not going to change anytime soon on the supply side.”
In addition to California, Brussels sprouts are also coming out of Ontario which also looks to be having a shorter supply this season. Washington is the other region that supplies the vegetable and it will finish mid to late January. “The Washington quality is really really good. Other quality I’ve seen, it’s been a bit warmer than normal in other regions so they’ve had some quality issues,” says Wisdom.
Demand picking up
As for demand, it’s good and is gaining strength given this is the time of year leading into the holidays and that’s when sprouts consumption starts increasing. “We just had Canadian Thanksgiving and people are now starting to think of fall foods. U.S. Thanksgiving is around the corner so we’re seeing an increase in demand. It always takes a huge jump at the end of October until around Christmas,” Wisdom says.
Not surprisingly, shorter supply and stronger demand mean pricing is really strong. “I don’t think that’s going to change much over the winter because of the supply issue though as a farmer, the prices are up but so are all of our other expenses. There isn’t any cost that we have that has gone down,” he says. “I think we’re entering a phase in North America where our food will cost more overall moving forward. It just has to.”
For more information:
Tony Wisdom
Skagit Valley Farms and Valley Pride Sales
Tel: +1 (360) 428 2717
[email protected]
