There's a positive outlook for the upcoming fig crops in California, the first of which is the Breba crop. "It's coming up in a couple of weeks and it's looking nice," says Marc Marchini of J. Marchini Farms. "The weather is still really mild." He adds that when the harvest starts in June, the weather will largely dictate the length of the Breba crop–cooler temperatures could stretch the season to four weeks while hotter temperatures might cap it at two weeks.
© J. Marchini Farms
The grower-shipper's Breba crop is Black Mission figs and the volume at this point looks similar to last year. "It is looking a little later than last year though last year was earlier so it's likely more normal timing-wise this season," says Marchini.
In an industry that has few seasonal crops anymore, figs from California might be one of the last ones. "So we expect demand to be pretty good. It's a limited crop that we only ship domestically with a bit into Canada. That means prices are always pretty good," says Marchini, adding that pricing will likely be similar to last year on the first crop.
Second crop outlook
The second crop of figs will start harvest right on time in late July. "That crop looks to be really great–every field that I check looks really nice," says Marchini, adding that this is still an early look at the crop though. "That second crop will have promotable volumes on Black Missions and Brown Turkeys will also have a good supply. The green varieties–Kadotas and Sierras---also look good."
© J. Marchini Farms
This follows a challenging 2024 season for figs which saw extremely high temperatures last July. "That really hurt the fig trees," says Marchini, noting July is when the August fruit is growing. "So we were down 20-30 percent last year than normal because of that consistently long heat. Figs can handle one or two days of heat but the consistent long-term heat meant they didn't produce that well." In turn, that left pricing stronger last year given there wasn't an oversupply of product.
That said, this year with a promising first and particularly second crop this season, it's expected that strong local demand particularly awaits. "I do think customers look forward to a seasonal promotion on figs. When we have a nice flush, it works in the whole program's favor and last year not having that flush, I think people are waiting for it. I also think with the tariffs on import products, there is a push to purchase locally as well, especially on a special item like the fig," says Marchini.
For more information:
Marc Marchini
J. Marchini Farms
Tel: +1 (559) 665-2944
[email protected]
https://jmarchinifarms.com/
