Here’s shipping updates for California relating to Coachella Valley grapes, Imperial Valley onions and prunes from the San Joaquin Valley.
Grape Shipments
In the desert of the Coachella Valley, table grape shipments are a big deal for about six weeks every year. The late timing of Memorial Day (May 30) will mean added loading opportunities for produce haulers due to demand leading up to this holiday. Though Coachella grapes are a bit earlier this year, it still will be around May 10th before good volume occurs. That means the weeks of May 16th and 23rd there will be heavy shipments.
For the Coachella Valley, the months of July, August and September, daytime temperatures can easily top 110 degrees and approach 120, making this region inhospitable to field-grown crops. But other times of the year grapes, watermelon, sweet corn, Bell peppers and grapefruit are just a few of the crops that are shipped, especially in the spring and fall. The Coachella Valley is located about 130 miles southeast of Los Angeles and only a few miles from Palm Springs.
Changing weather patterns for the last few years have meant an April start for grapes, which some are calling the effects of global warming and others are saying is merely a few-year anomaly from normal patterns. For whatever reasons, this year saw grapes being harvested in April once again, as they were in 2014 and 2015.
Imperial Valley Onion Shipments
Onion shipments are now in full swing in the Imperial Valley of southern California. These shipments from the desert occur during April and May, after which the season is continued in Fresno from June until September.