Good quality, ample supply of winter vegetables 

There should be plenty of California winter vegetables available this season, with generally strong markets for grower-shippers and reasonable prices for retailers and consumers.

“For the most part, everything looks pretty good,” said Russ Widerburg, sales manager for Boskovich Farms Inc., Oxnard, Calif.

Boskovich Farms grows a number of items in Oxnard year-round, including green and red cabbage, bok choy, parsley, cilantro and spinach, Widerburg said.

The company also grows celery in Lompoc, Calif., from early November before transitioning to Yuma, Ariz., in the middle of the month.

Other items grown in Mexico and Oxnard at various times of the year include radishes, kale, beets, leeks and Brussels sprouts.

The firm grows green onions in Mexico year-round and romaine lettuce in Oxnard about 10 months of the year.
Demand is stronger for Boskovich Farms’ products during the winter than in spring and summer because the weather gets too cold to grow in most other parts of the U.S., he said.
Some items, like lettuce, romaine, cabbage and green onions, were in short supply leading up to November because of cool weather and growers cutting back on planting due to slow markets, Widerburg said. But that was starting to change.
“We’re seeing things spike up pretty good now,” he said in late October.

He expected prices to be fairly strong on those vegetables, at least going into the holidays.

Castroville, Calif.-based Ocean Mist Farms grows several items in Coachella, Calif., during the winter, and Joseph Angelo, director of sales, said growing conditions in that desert region have been favorable.

“We have not experienced the record heat that we had last year in September and October,” he said. “There have been some scattered monsoons but nothing significant in Coachella.”

Steady volume is expected from Ocean Mist Farms this winter, Angelo said, with a product line that includes celery, romaine, iceberg lettuce, broccoli, cilantro, artichokes and other items.

Salesman Ed Lopez of Coachella-based Peter Rabbit Farms described weather in the Coachella Valley this fall as “ideal.”
The company plans to kick off its iceberg, romaine, green leaf, red leaf, butter lettuce and spinach in mid-November, as usual, he said.

Weather was a bit on the cool side early in the fall, but temperatures have been rising, and the region did not experience heavy rainstorms like those that hit the northern part of the state in October.

Although volume is fairly consistent from November to early April, Lopez said, 

“We ramp it up a little bit for the Christmas, New Year’s pull.”
Volume should be similar to last year, though romaine might be down slightly this season, he said.

Lopez said that, because of heavy rainfall, the Santa Maria region is expected to finish iceberg lettuce about a week earlier than usual prior to Thanksgiving, which could put pressure on quality, price and availability.

“We’ll walk into a good market” because of early tight supplies, he said. But prices will adjust as volume picks up when shipments get underway out of the desert.

Coachella-based Prime Time International will be shipping eggplant, chili peppers, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, corn and beans by Nov. 8, said Jeff Taylor, managing partner.
The company will pull red, yellow and green bell peppers and mini sweet peppers out of Oxnard until December.

Prime Time will source bell peppers from Mexico during the winter, when they’re not shipping out of the Coachella Valley.
Sales are strong at this time of year for the company.
“We generally see a spike in business for Thanksgiving and then running up for the holiday pull,” Taylor said.

Quality is especially good.

“Everything this year has been very, very, very good quality,” he said. “One of the best I’ve seen.”

Although California is enduring another drought year, most growers say they should have enough water to make it through the season.

“A lot of the ranches have their own well water,” Widerburg said.

If necessary, they can turn to the municipal water system. But water levels in local lakes are dropping, he said.

“There are definitely drought concerns around here.”

Tight water supplies are a problem throughout the Southwest, Taylor said.

“It’s not an issue to get water at this point,” he said in late October, “but the future is a little clouded.”

“We need some serious snowfall” in the mountains, he said. “We’re worried big time about water.”