Similar to many areas of the country cooler weather has slowed production of Florida spring vegetables, but growers and shippers remain optimistic it will be a good shipping season as we head toward April and peak loadings.
While spring produce items got off to a slower start than usual, grower/shippers see volume increasing rapidly, with excellent quickly.
West Coast Tomato LLC of Palmetto, FL has round and roma tomatoes in the Manatee County area of central Florida.
New Limeco of Homestead, FL is shipping Florida carambola — or star fruit — which will continue until May. The company also ships dragon fruit, passion fruit, Florida mangoes, Florida red guava and Thai guava for other growers and carries limes imported from Mexico, Colombia or Honduras year-round.
Pioneer Growers Co-op of Belle Glade, FL, has spring corn as well as cabbage, radishes, beans and leaf items.
Branch: A Family of Farms in South Bay, FL sweet corn and green beans this spring. The company was harvesting corn in Homestead in February and started sourcing from Belle Glade again after mid-March. It expects to be back to normal spring volume by mid-April. Corn shipments should continue until Memorial Day.
The company’s big push on cabbage was for St. Patrick’s Day, but supplies will continue until mid-April.
Radishes will last through spring, and the company should have green beans through early May along with leaf items like escarole, red and green leaf lettuce, romaine, cilantro and parsley.
Dundee Citrus Growers Association, Dundee, FL, is shipping valencia oranges through May, peaches from late March through early May and blueberries from mid-March through early May.