Excessive rainfall hurt some of the fall corn, squash and cucumber crops in Connecticut but doesn’t seem to have had much of an impact on apples. Meanwhile, imported bananas continue to be a good seller in the produce department.
Precipitation has been a thorn in the side of JP Jarjura & Sons Co., a Waterbury, Conn.-based produce wholesaler.
“During July, August and September, there was too much rainfall this year,” said owner William Jarjura. “It hurt some of the crops, there’s no question about it.”
The Connecticut River overflowed its banks, he said. “The guys near the river got flooded out. That’s caused a little shortage.”
Jarjura said he normally would pay $13 for five dozen ears of corn. This year, the price is $18 to $20.
“The corn market was a little high, but the quality was still OK for whoever had it on higher ground,” he said.
Quality of the pumpkin, butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash crops was marginal, he said, and volume was fair. The tomato crop rotted from the ground up.
“All the leaves fell off the plant,” he said. “It wasn’t a good vegetable year.”
The situation was a little different for the apple crop.
“We have a nice crop out there, and we kept up on our fungicide program, so we should be OK,” said Eric Henry, president of Blue Hills Orchard Inc., Wallingford, Conn.
Blue Hills Orchard grows several apple varieties, including empire, fuji, Pink Lady and EverCrisp. Harvesting for most of the apples should be finished by the end of October, Henry said. Shipments will continue out of storage until spring.
“We’ve had a ridiculous amount of rain,” Henry said, adding that includes more than 1 foot of precipitation from mid-September until mid-October — highly unusual for that time of year.
“The rain sized the fruit up nicely, but it messed up our picking schedule,” he said.
Larger fruit means greater volume.
“If you put an extra quarter inch per piece of fruit, that adds bushels,” Henry said.
JP Jarjura & Sons also distributes apples.
“The apple crop seemed to be OK for some reason,” Jarjura said. “There seems to be a decent amount of apples this year.”
The company ships a number of soft-skin apples, like mcintosh, cortland and macoun, he said.
Blue Hills Orchard has added a picking platform to make the apple harvest easier, Henry said.
The new equipment is working well on the company’s high-density trellis system, he said. It’s easier to reach trees without using ladders or picking buckets, which saves labor and increases efficiency.
“That’s the name of the game,” Henry said.
Bananas are top of mind at New Haven, Conn.-based Cedro Banana Distributors, where sales have been steady all year long, since they’re one of the cheapest items in the produce department, said Billy Mascari, vice president.
Bananas have been averaging about 69 cents a pound. During these inflationary times, some consumers are cutting back on more expensive items and buying an extra hand of bananas, Mascari said.
“Our ripening rooms are always at full capacity,” he said.
Besides its wholesale and ripening operations, Cedro has a trucking division, Mascari Bros. Inc., which recently added three new trucks, bringing the total to 10, he said.
