Good quality expected for Florida spring produce after slower start

Some Florida spring produce items are getting off to a slower start than usual, but grower-shippers expect volume to pick up quickly and say quality should be top notch.

Palmetto, Fla.-based West Coast Tomato LLC was still planting tomatoes in the Manatee County area in central Florida on Feb. 23, said Bob Spencer, president.

“It’s a little early, but it looks like we’ll have some pretty good yields and a decent crop,” he said.

Planting was already finished in the southwest Florida area.

The company reduced its plantings by about 5% compared to last year.

A hurricane last fall “really had an impact on our fields,” Spencer said. But now, growing conditions are good.

“Tomatoes thrive in this kind of weather — nights in the 60s, days in the 80s,” he said.

The company offers round and roma tomatoes.

Homestead, Fla.-based New Limeco will market Florida carambola — or star fruit — that will be available until May, said Eddie Caram, general manager.

The company also markets 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.

“Everything looks good,” Caram said.

Volume at the company should be similar to last year.

Pioneer Growers Co-op in Belle Glade, Fla., was gearing up for its spring corn deal, said Geoff Taft, sales manager.

Tray-pack corn is one of the company’s biggest items, he said. The company also offers cabbage, radishes, beans and leaf items.

South Bay, Fla.-based Branch: A Family of Farms will offer sweet corn and green beans this spring, said owner Brett Bergmann.

A January freeze affected the front end of the deal, so the crop started a bit late. Nonetheless, quality should be good and volume is expected to be similar to last year, Bergmann said.

The company will finish its Florida program in early May, then transition to Georgia.

A January freeze in Belle Glade affected some of the corn, he said. The company was harvesting corn in Homestead in February and planned to source from Belle Glade again after mid-March and should be back to normal spring volume by mid-April.

The corn program in Belle Glade should end by Memorial Day, except for some summer tray-pack business, he said.

The company will have cabbage until mid-April.

“We’re gearing up for the St. Patrick’s Day push,” Taft said in late February.

Radishes will continue 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.

Pioneer Growers should have good quality and normal spring volume on most of its items, Taft said.

Dundee Citrus Growers Association, Dundee, Fla., will offer valencia oranges through May, peaches from late March through early May and blueberries from mid-March through early May, said CEO Steven Callaham.

Weather was a challenge during the 2022-23 growing season, he said.

“We had two hurricanes in the fall and a freeze event around Christmas and another one in mid-January,” Callaham said.

“There is nothing you can do about Mother Nature, you just have to regroup and make the best of the situation,” he added.

Eating quality of the company’s red grapefruit has been “exceptional,” Callaham said.

“We are early into our valencia season now, but we feel good about what we are seeing,” he said.

Callaham was also optimistic about the quality of this year’s blueberries and peaches, which were still a few weeks away in late February.

The company’s volume should be down this season as a result of the hurricanes.

A question that remains for the industry is about market conditions, said Spencer of West Coast Tomato.

“It’s a very frustrating time,” he said. “Inflation has raised input costs dramatically.”

Produce is a supply-and-demand industry, so it’s difficult for shippers to raise their prices to match the increases, Spencer said.

“You really have to be very careful [with] what you’re spending and try to be as efficient as possible,” he said.

Other grower-shippers agreed.

“Inflation has impacted everything in the supply chain,” Callaham said.

“We are doing our best to keep pricing as reasonable as possible, but inflation ends up flowing through to the consumer,” he said.

At Doral, Fla.-based J&C Tropicals, Adrian Capote, vice president of sales, said inflation has affected the company as well.

“It has impacted us with increases in fuel, corrugated, logistics and labor costs,” he said.

But Spencer remained optimistic.

“We’ve all faced challenges in the past, and we’ve managed to work through them,” he said.