Lighter yields, higher prices could mark start of desert deal

There might be a gap for some fall/winter items between the end of production in Salinas, Calif., and the transition to the desert growing areas, but grower-shippers say buyers likely will be pleased with the quality out of the desert.

Salinas-based Coastline Family Farms started its iceberg lettuce deal in Yuma the first week of November, but other commodities, including broccoli, cauliflower, mixed leaf, romaine, green leaf and red leaf will finish in Salinas between Nov. 21 and 25 and start in the Brawley area probably the week after Thanksgiving, said salesman Mark McBride.

Yields could be off a bit and markets could be high on some commodities in late November, he said.

“The tail end of the Salinas deal and the front end of the desert deal have some challenges because of the heat,” McBride said Oct. 27.

Markets could continue to be “somewhat elevated,” he said.

Oxnard, Calif.-based Boskovich Farms Inc. will ship lettuce out of Yuma, Ariz., as well as Oxnard this winter, but just about all of its other winter commodities will continue to be shipped exclusively from Oxnard, said Russ Widerburg, sales manager.

The company will grow green onions, radishes, leeks, beets, kales and Brussels sprouts in Mexico starting in November but will ship them from Oxnard.

Organic greens such as chards, kale and celery are grown in San Luis, Mexico, just south of Yuma.

The company’s Yuma iceberg lettuce program will kick off the week of Nov. 16 and continue until the end of March.

Boskovich Farms will grow and ship celery, cabbages, romaine lettuce, napa, bok choy, parsleys, cilantro and spinach in Oxnard.

Widerburg said this year’s Salinas celery and lettuce season could be ending a little sooner than usual, while the Yuma deal won’t start until its usual time.

“You could see a little bit of a gap in November when Salinas is ending and before the desert gets fully geared up,” he said.

Winter plantings at Ocean Mist Farms Inc., Castroville, Calif., were made during the pandemic “not knowing the future,” said Diana McClean, senior director of marketing.

She said she was not sure whether the pandemic will impact harvest or sales.

“We do know that we can adjust and be flexible in our entire operation, as we have been since early March,” she said.

Peter Rabbit Farms, Coachella, Calif., will have bell peppers and leaf lettuce this winter, said John Burton, general manager, sales and cooler.

“We’re in really good shape right now as far as how this winter’s crops are looking,” he said in late October.

“There were virtually no weather issues,” he said, other than some high temperatures during the summer.

The company started its bell pepper harvest the week of Oct. 18, which will run through Christmas or the first of the year.

Peter Rabbit Farms planted slightly more green and red bell peppers this season, he said.

This will be the first year for its lettuce crop, so supplies will be tight, Burton added.

“We are coming into our busiest time of year — Thanksgiving,” said Brittney Bubb, creative director for North Shore Greenhouses Inc., Thermal, Calif.

“Our facility is really hustling and bustling getting ready to be operating at 110%,” she said.

The company’s Roasting Mix is its top-selling item during the fall, she said.

“We offer it in a one-count and a two-count value pack clamshell, as well as a potted version,” she said.

The product is a perfect blend of rosemary, sage and thyme, Bubb said.

Coachella-based Prime Time International was harvesting green bell peppers, eggplant and chili peppers in the desert in October, said Jeff Taylor, managing partner.

Beans were set to start the first week of November, followed by red bell peppers a couple of weeks later.

The company also started its hothouse production of red, yellow and orange bell peppers in Jalisco, Mexico, and began harvesting elongated red, yellow and orange bell peppers in Vizcaino in Baja California.

Weather in the Coachella Valley was extremely warm this summer and winds the last week of October were “brutal,” Taylor said.

Pepper plants “got wacked pretty good,” he said, as did other commodities, such as beans and eggplant.

No official damage reports had come in as of late October.