The Eastern Shore, also referred to as Delmarva, encompasses several counties in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. It is separated from the mainland to the west by the Chesapeake Bay, and washed by the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on the east.
Eastern Shore produce shipments provides retailers and foodservice companies, particularly along the Eastern Seaboard, with a steady supply potatoes, vegetables and other fresh fruits and vegetables from spring to fall. This year, loadings started in early June and will continue through September.
At Dublin Farms of Horntown, VA, fresh potato shipments are just getting underway, with volume expected to be similar to the 2022 season.
Virginia potatoes provide a niche in filling the gap after Florida’s fresh crop potatoes are dug in the spring and before the more northern production areas start producing in late summer early fall. Dublin will be shipping fresh potatoes to customers stretching from Florida to Canada until late in the summer.
Cambridge Farms is headquarted in South Easton, MA, but has long partnered with potato growers from the Southeast to the Northeast, including along the Eastern Shore. Good volume is expected from North Carolina and Virginia.
Cambridge Farms started Virginia potato shipments in mid-June with, and reds, white and yellows.
Papen Farms in Dover, DE, produces sweet corn, green beans and cabbage. The company is expecting those three crops to produce on a fairly normal schedule this season, with loadings from early June through its fall crop of green beans. Sweet corn is the company’s top volume commodity and it is on schedule for its post-Fourth of July harvest, which will last about two months.