Eight out of every 10 carrots are grown and shipped in the U.S. are from California’s Kern County.
The USDA reported California carrot shipments of 748.7 million pounds in 2020, up from 723.6 million pounds in 2019.
The Kern County carrot season will be increasing in volume in late May for Kern Ridge Growers LLC of Arvin, CA.
The company reports carrot shipments will shift to Kern County from the California desert region in May.
Kern Ridge Growers has been in the carrot business since the early 1970s and is a year-round shipper of California carrots. Its history starts when the company started packing cello carrots under the Kern Ridge label. Today, the company also ships ready-to-eat baby peeled carrots from its facility. Most of the company’s carrots are grown in the rich, sandy loam soil near the mountain range at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley.
Carrot shipments are expected to be similar to a year ago and remain through the year. The company also is shipping navel oranges through the end of May.
By early June, Kern Ridge Growers will start a six-week gap season for fresh peppers and then shift its focus to solely carrots after that.
An estimate by county officials at the University of California, Davis estimated the 2019 value of the fresh and processed carrot supply at $336.1 million. The 2017 Census of Agriculture put fresh carrot acreage in Kern County at 27,078 acres, compared with 3,250 acres for processed carrot acreage.
In 2020, the United Fresh Produce Association’s FreshFacts on Retail report said overall U.S. carrot were $1.41 billion, up 7.8% from 2019. Carrot volume sold at retail totaled 1.11 billion pounds, up 9.5% compared with 2019.
The average price per pound of carrots at retail was $1.27 per pound, down 1.6% compared with 2019. Carrots performed well in 2020, but slightly below the overall vegetable category, according to FreshFacts on Retail. FreshFacts on Retail said total retail vegetable dollar sales in 2020 topped a new high of $35.8 billion (attributable to the pandemic), up 14.4% compared with 2019.