There looks to be more watermelon supply available this season. "Watermelons have been reasonably okay in the last few years to the point where some people may have put in a little extra acreage. Some new people are also doing it," says Dennis Peterson of Riverbend Fresh LLC.
Right now, there's an ample supply coming from multiple growing regions that are overlapping, including the Arizona desert growing region, the California desert, and Bakersfield. "We've also started here on the West side," he says, adding that states such as Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas are also shipping.
As for growing conditions for watermelons, generally, conditions have been mild. "It was kind of cold at the start, and then it's been generally milder than some of the spikes that we've seen in the past few years," says Peterson.
Pricing update
Meeting that supply of watermelon is good demand for the fruit. "All of this is just enough to hold the market at $20 to $40/bin on average this season compared to what I expected it to be for over the last couple of seasons," says Peterson. "Going forward, I think this season, everybody needs to be really efficient to get some of their money back on this. If anybody struggles or bumbles or there's an oversupply, some people could lose some money. We're not there yet."
Looking ahead, more of the country is expected to have local watermelon deals coming into July and August.
For more information:
Dennis Peterson
Riverbend Fresh LLC.
Tel: +1 (559) 846-3320
[email protected]
http://riverbendfresh.com