Coast-to-coast there have been weather and natural disasters which have greatly reduced shipments of collard greens in the holiday season.
There have been hurricanes in the southeast and wildfires and Santa winds in California, as well as rain in Texas.
WP Rawl of Pelion, S.C., is a grower, processor and shipper of leafy greens and notes hurricanes Florence and Michael had the indirect effect of heavy rains and winds during a three-week period in the east and southeast. This resulted in trying growing season and stunted crops, including collard greens.
Growers in different regions of the country harvested fields earlier than usual because of the weather and high demand for Thanksgiving, leading to a lack of shipments for the holiday season.
“After the Thanksgiving holiday and unseasonable weather, our crops did not recover to the level we had in years prior,” Ashley Rawl, vice president of sales, marketing and product development, said in a press release. “Our team made a collective decision to delay harvesting for a few weeks to allow our crops the opportunity to grow.”
San Miguel Produce of Oxnard, CA., reported this is only the second time in two decades that the greens industry has seen such a national shortage.
“Most times shortages are regional and there are options to work with colleagues around the country to help fill gaps,” Jan Berk, owner and chief operations officer of San Miguel Produce, said in a news release. “Unfortunately, we have called other growers the past few weeks hoping someone might have extra or recovered sooner than expected … only to hear they are short too and looking to source collards.”
Growers have been pushing crops with additional fertilizer to spur growth for Christmas demand, according to San Miguel Produce, but there is still concern about availability to meet demand. It is peak season for the dark leafy greens category, according to the release, and many growers have invested in crops for many months to prepare for the season’s harvest.
Collards are sometimes associated with comfort and prosperity, according to the release, making them high in demand around the holidays. As a result some growers and shippers are promoting other greens in the place of collards.
“We consider this a great opportunity to encourage consumers to try other types of leafy greens,” Rawl said in the release. “With similar nutritional profiles, kale, mustard greens, and turnip greens are just as good for you and have similar tastes.”