Organic celery supply is transitioning right now between the desert-growing region and California. "The crop on the coast in California is a little bit delayed so the transition is on time but the production coming out of California is still light," says Tom Deardorff II of Deardorff Family Farms, adding that production from Oxnard though is stronger right now than other regions in the state.
In California, growing conditions have been quite good for organic celery. While the slight delay was caused by wet conditions back in March, since then conditions have improved considerably, and the crop is expected to progress with increasing production through June.
Concerns over winter season
This all follows a disruptive winter organic celery growing season. "Some supply coming out of Mexico flooded the market and that changed the equilibrium a little bit. The winter was problematic from a marketing standpoint so we're hopeful that the market moderates itself going forward to get back to normal rather than swinging way up and way down."
So where is all of this leaving demand for domestic organic celery? "It's holding up even with higher pricing," says Deardorff. "It's definitely a demand exceeds supply market because the supply isn't quite keeping up."
It's expected to stay this way for the next two to three weeks at least until supply picks up. "As supply starts to increase, the markets will come down a bit. However, I don't see it adjusting too significantly because demand is holding strong. We'll just get back to normal. I don't think we'll get into a supply exceeding demand situation."
For more information:
Tom Deardorff
Deardorff Family Farms
Tel: +1(805) 487-7801
https://www.deardorfffamilyfarms.com/