L&M looks for start of North Carolina vegetables

Supply of North Carolina onions, potatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables is increasing seasonally for Raleigh-based L&M Cos. Matt Tunnell, sales and operations manager, said L&M was starting its yellow onion supplies from North Carolina in mid-May. “It was a good spring; we didn’t get a ton of rain and it should be a good year for them,” he said.

North Carolina yellow onions also can be marketed as sweet onions, depending on retail preference, Tunnell said. The yellow onion deal will last from six to eight weeks, he said.

Meanwhile, North Carolina potatoes will begin about mid-June and run to the end of July or the first week of August.  Cabbage will begin from northwest North Carolina by late May or early June, he said. Sweet corn will start in July and continue through the fall. North Carolina produce finds strong local demand from retail and foodservice customers, he said. “We have got a good variety of foodservice and retail customers who want to promote local when they can,” he said. At the end of May, L&M will offer squash, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers and peppers out of the Clinton region in eastern North Carolina, Tunnell said.“

Eastern North Carolina starts up and (harvest) will head west and shift and by the time you get to July and August, you are getting some of those same commodities out of the mountains,” he said.  North Carolina tomatoes will start about July 4, with L&M expected to pull supply from both Faison and Hendersonville around that time. Volume of cantaloupe, honeydew melons and watermelons will begin as early as June if the weather heats up, but early July will see more widespread availability, he said.

Demand side

As the U.S. seeks to complete vaccination efforts, foodservice demand is beginning to pick up, Tunnell said. “The more people that can get vaccinated and feel more comfortable getting out there, it will get back to what was close to what we used to call normal,” he said. “We are looking for a good year.”