Desert produce shipments are winding down headed towards an earlier-than-normal finish out of the Arizona’s Yuma district and California’s Imperial Valley.
Volume is already very light on broccoli and cauliflower from the desert regions. Meanwhile, those same items are getting an early start from the Salinas Valley.
Salinas vegetable shipments started with very light volume a week ago, and it will the week of March 16th before broccoli and cauliflower start hitting good volume.
Meanwhile, a similar situation exits with lettuce ranging from Iceberg to romaine and leaf lettuce, which are winding down in the desert areas….To bridge the gap between the desert areas and Salinas, there is about a three-week shipping season out of the San Joaquin Valley’s Huron disrict. However, there’s going to be a shipping gap as Huron lettuce shipments won’t get underway until the week of March 23rd.
Meanwhile, shipping gaps with head lettuce, romaine and leaf that were common during the desert winter shipping season are expected to remain in play through March and into April as Salinas starts shipping.
California/Arizona desert vegetables – grossing about $6500 to New York City.
Salinas/Santa Maria vegetable shipments – grossing about $4500 to Chicago.