WEATHER

North Carolina Growers Embrace Resilience Amid Extreme Drought, Spring Heat

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:22:06 GMT

Farmers in North Carolina are facing an uphill battle this spring as a severe drought combined with unseasonable heat has stunted early-season specialty crops from brassicas to berries.

As of early May, North Carolina was experiencing severe agricultural distress, with approximately 67 counties under extreme drought conditions and record-breaking dryness impacting 96% of the Southeast.

“These conditions are becoming quite apparent on our farms, with retention ponds getting extremely low, cracks in the soil, difficulty preparing land for summer production and reduced yields on many spring crops,” says Taylor Holenbeck, grower services coordinator for the Durham, N.C.-based Happy Dirt, a farmer-owned distributor of organic produce, specializing in connecting Southeast regional farmers with retailers and food hubs.

Spring greens have been hit particularly hard, says Holenbeck.

“One farm is seeing half the average yield on their broccolini crop, while others are seeing extremely slow growth on kales, collards, cabbage and other brassicas,” he says.

In the eastern part of the state, drought conditions and unseasonably hot temperatures that repeatedly reached the 90s during April have increased pest pressures in the area.

“Without the rain to help wash pest eggs off the crops, this has led to large hatchings of diamondback moths, compromising many of the tender spring greens,” he says.

Holenbeck says a number of Happy Dirt farms are behind on their spring plantings, with some delayed by at least two weeks due to dry conditions.

And it’s not only what’s already in the ground that struggles in drought conditions, says Holenbeck, who notes that preparing new beds when soil is extremely dry is also a challenge.

“Some farms are having to overhead water their land just to be able to prep beds, which is not how you want to be using your precious water resources in a drought,” he says.

Severe drought conditions in parts of North Carolina, like here at Randy Massey’s M&M Plant Farms, have led to retention ponds getting extremely low, cracks in the soil, difficulty preparing land for summer production, and reduced yields on many spring crops, says Taylor Holenbeck, grower services coordinator for the Durham, N.C.-based Happy Dirt.

(Photo courtesy of Happy Dirt)

‘Fast and Furious’ Strawberries

Weather conditions have also impacted the state’s strawberry production.

“Our strawberry season has been stunted as well, although this is due to not only drought, but [rather] the large swings in temperature this spring, causing the plants to be more vegetative rather than producing a lot of fruit consistently,” says Holenbeck.

Austin Hirsch, a strawberry farmer in Catawba, N.C., told AgDay’s Haley Bickelhaupt that while ripening usually takes a few weeks, in this year’s drought, it’s been “fast and furious.”

“The biggest challenge is trying to keep up with harvest,” says Hirsch of Bumble Berry Farms. The first-generation farmer says a hard winter followed by a warm week in early April accelerated picking of the farm’s early-season variety, which began April 8.

“We went out there maybe five or six days later, and the whole field was red … I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Hirsch.

Bumble Berry Farms grows five varieties of strawberries, all of which have been impacted by drought, he says.

But one silver lining for Hirsch has been sweeter berries.

“The conditions raise the sugar levels,” he says.

Bumble Berry Farms estimates it strawberry crop yields were about 50% of normal this season and is now turning its attention to its blackberry crop.

But Happy Dirt’s Holenbeck remains optimistic that there’s still time for some North Carolina strawberries.

“We still have the month of May to have a great strawberry season,” he says. “And so far, the sweet corn and summer squash crops are doing OK but will need rain soon.”

Altar Cross Farms’ Morgan Sykes and father Roy Sykes survey their North Carolina blueberry crop.

(Photo courtesy of Happy Dirt)

Blueberries in the Balance

Altar Cross Farms, a family-run organic blueberry farm in Ivanhoe, N.C., which tends more than 100 acres of certified organic blueberries between its own 40 acres and a lease on an additional 65 acres, says it’s managing the unusually dry conditions through strategic irrigation and a watchful eye on the weather.

“This has been a particularly dry start to the season, which is a change from what we typically see this time of year,” says Morgan Sykes, sales and packing manager for Altar Cross Farms and daughter of the farm’s owners, Roy and Donna Sykes. “We have been having to use our irrigation a lot more this year starting with the spring freezes to now this extreme dry weather.

“We are very blessed to have the irrigation system that we do, but nothing is as good as the natural rain,” she adds.

On the family’s 40 acres, they conserve as much water as possible using a ditching system connected to catch basins at the end of each row to flow the water back into its pond.

“Even with that, our pond is about 4 feet lower than what it should be,” she says.

On the farm’s leased acres, the pond system requires they pump water from a well into the pond, which costs more because it has to be hooked up to a generator, she says.

But a dryer blueberry growing season does have some benefits, says Sykes.

“The quality of blueberries on a dryish year are a little better because you really don’t have to worry as much about soft fruit,” she says. “It will impact the size of the berry; they will maybe not be as big. That is where we will be utilizing our irrigation to try and plump them up.”

Overall, Sykes says things are shaping up to be a “really good year.”

“We packed the highest number of berries we ever had last year,” she says. “This year we are hoping to do even more, [as] we have a few more fields that are just coming into production now.”

Sykes says this time of year usually presents the opposite weather problem — too much precipitation. To address this, Altar Cross Farms has planted varieties that can tolerate more water and still remain firm.

“We have some O’Neals that are drought tolerant, but if they get a little rain, they are bad about splitting,” she says.

While the family had been planning to move away from the variety as a result, this year, it looks as though they’ll be able to pack more of them.

“All of our other berries we are just having to keep an eye on and irrigate them to help the berries grow and size up,” she says. “We are praying for rain. We just don’t want it all at one time.”

Rising Input Costs vs. Market Realities

In North Carolina, the dust is rising just as fast as the overhead. While drought conditions have forced farmers to rely heavily on irrigation, global conflicts have driven diesel prices up by nearly 50%, making the cost of watering particularly steep.

Holenbeck says while irrigation methods vary widely from farm to farm in North Carolina, those that use diesel “are definitely feeling the effects of high prices.”

Soaring prices, not only for farms to run their irrigation pumps but also to operate tractors and on shipping costs for fertilizers and packaging, are putting a squeeze on the season.

“Higher fuel costs impact everything, down to the cost of the petroleum-based plastic used for mulch and clamshells that we pack small fruit into,” he says. “Unfortunately, our farmers are beholden to market pricing, so we are looking at the high end of pricing on each crop but have to balance being too high, otherwise sales slow, and that’s worse for the farms.

“Just because there is a drought here, doesn’t mean that the market isn’t low in other regions, so it’s a tricky balance,” he continues.

Farming for North Carolina’s Future

In the face of these soaring operational costs and a volatile climate, North Carolina’s specialty crop growers are no longer just reacting to the weather — they’re striving to outsmart it. By shifting toward heat-tolerant varieties they aim to transform drought from a seasonal crisis into a catalyst for long-term agricultural innovation.

“[The development of drought-resistant varieties] should be top of mind for both farmers and consumers, and there are some great initiatives in our region working toward more drought-resistant crops,” says Holenbeck, who says he’s never had more farmers ask him if they could grow okra for Happy Dirt than this year.

“Okra is a great example of a drought-tolerant crop, but unfortunately the market demand doesn’t match its utility for the farmers — yet,” he says. “Happy Dirt sees it as part of our work to help educate customers on what crops thrive in our increasingly warm climate in the South and why it’s important for consumers to learn how to integrate those fruits and vegetables into their diets.”

Holenbeck says Happy Dirt is looking to seed breeders to help Southeastern growers with more heat-tolerant varieties of vegetables.

“From lettuce to tomatoes, there are more and more heat-tolerant varieties available, which is giving our farmers the ability to stretch seasons and grow more of what eaters want locally,” he says. “This year we are implementing broccoli trials on two of our farms to observe which varieties do best in our quickly warming springs, and so far, despite the drought, we have seen some great results and plan to scale broccoli production if the varieties continue to perform.”

Happy Dirt says it has also conducted some smaller trials with regionally adapted varieties of butternut squash from Common Wealth Seed Growers and okra from Utopian Seed Project. This year it is also trialing and saving seeds from a specific okra variety grown by the Freed Seed Federation.

“All this seed work is important for farmers to be able to adapt over time and focus on what grows well here,” says Holenbeck. “We also see increased customer demand for the organic small fruit category, many of which are grown perennially, such as Asian persimmons, blackberries, figs, muscadines and blueberries to name a few. Due to the perennial nature of these crops, they can provide more resiliency to extreme weather and are a category that we plan to grow more of with our farmers.”

And when it comes to preventive measures, Holenbeck says one of the best things farmers can do is keep their soil consistently covered with cash crops and cover crops to help retain moisture and reduce erosion when there’s heavy rain.

“This effort pays off slowly, but as we face more erratic weather patterns, these types of practices become increasingly important,” he says. “We can’t fight nature, but we can try to learn from it and mimic it.”

Red Alert: What’s Behind the Surge in Tomato Prices

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:21:58 GMT

A “perfect storm” of freezing Florida temperatures earlier this year, heavy rains and disease in Mexico, dark winter months for Canadian greenhouse growers, rising geopolitical tensions and more has sent tomato prices soaring, leaving grocers and suppliers struggling to fill the void.

Tomato prices were up 15.3% in March and are now up nearly 23% compared to the same time last year, according to Consumer Price Index data.

“It’s been a tough month for tomatoes with low supply,” says Dino DiLaudo, senior vice president of sales and marketing for greenhouse grower Topline Farms in Leamington, Ontario.

DiLaudo says disease in some Mexican tomato fields — coupled with reduced plantings sparked by the termination of the Tomato Suspension Agreement in July 2025 that put a 17% tariff on tomatoes imported from Mexico — has put the squeeze on supplies, as has the freeze in Florida.

Topline Farms’ Dino DiLaudo discussed the “perfect storm” that led to a surge in tomato prices at Viva Fresh 2026 in San Antonio.

(Photo by Jennifer Strailey)

The early 2026 Florida freeze severely impacted tomato production, with estimated losses reaching up to 80% of the crop in that state.

And the ongoing war with Iran has triggered a spike in global energy prices. Specifically, higher diesel costs are making the transportation of tomatoes more expensive, and these logistical costs are being passed down through the supply chain.

“It was a perfect storm,” says DiLaudo. “Shortage drives demand up. And when the whole market is short, it’s hard to fill contracts,” he says. “There’s a lot of demand for greenhouse-grown because of the price of field-grown.”

Paul Murracas, senior account manager with Leamington-based Pure Flavor, which is also feeling the pinch from tomato shortages, says a lack of light this winter has been another factor.

“There was no sun in Canada this winter,” says Murracas. “Even for greenhouses with lights, it’s an issue because you can’t run your lights all the time.”

Pure Flavor’s Paul Murracas and Alaina Wilkins discuss the challenges of greenhouse-grown tomatoes this winter at Viva Fresh 2026.

(Photo by Jennifer Strailey)

In Canada, where greenhouse growers export more than 85% of their produce to the U.S., the significant lack of light this winter has further constrained production levels. But Murracas says Pure Flavor is making every effort to weather the storm and not raise prices.

“We’re doing the best we can to supply our partners,” he says. “We don’t look at our business from a one-to-two-month perspective; we look at our long-term relationships with our customers.”

Retailers Focus on Supplier Partnerships

“Tomatoes have been a very interesting category to say the least,” says Justin Rowe, produce business category manager for Northeastern Shared Services, which operates banners including Tops Friendly Markets, Price Chopper and Market 32. “It seems like it has been a long string of issues, and we just can’t get ahead in the category.”

Rowe says while the termination of the Tomato Suspension Agreement was the start of the disruption, it was still navigable for grocery retailers like Northeastern Shared Services.

“Being that we are in the Northeast, we source a lot of our greenhouse product from Canada and our home state of New York,” he says. “We do source field-grown tomatoes out of Mexico during certain times of the year, but we did not see the need to raise retails in most instances.”

But an unusually cold winter in the Northeast, with a long string of days in single-digit temperatures, impacted greenhouse tomato growers in the region.

“With the rising costs of utilities, greenhouses couldn’t afford to keep the grow lights on, and production took a big hit,” says Rowe. “TOVs [tomatoes on the vine] and beefsteaks specifically bore the brunt of it. This caused us to back off promotions and prorate our stores to spread out what we were getting from our suppliers.”

Rowe says the grocer still managed to get through most of that time frame without raising tomato prices.

“The Florida freeze really turned things upside down,” he says. “While we have remained largely in stock on field-grown tomatoes, we did back off from most promotions due to lack of supply and rising costs.

“Certain varieties, like romas, have gotten so high [that] we did need to raise our retails due to costs,” he continues. “Most of the retails we raised were done more to slow down the category than compete with rising costs. We just don’t have the supply to be promotional.”

While romas, beefsteaks and tomatoes on the vine were impacted, snacking tomatoes are another story.

At Viva Fresh 2026 in San Antonio, Janine Meyer of NatureSweet said snacking tomatoes have been spared from the tomato squeeze.

(Photo by Jennifer Strailey)

Snacking tomatoes have been spared in the tomato shortage, says Janine Meyer, vice president of sales for grocery and club at San Antonio-based NatureSweet.

“We’re fine,” she says. “We’re vertically integrated, and most of our business is in snacking tomatoes. Vertical integration is key. It shields us from the noise.”

Amid the tightening tomato market, snacking tomatoes saved the day at Northeastern Shared Services’ stores.

“The one bright spot within the category has been greenhouse-grown snacking tomatoes,” says Rowe. “We have relied on them heavily to fill the promotional void caused by the disruption on most round tomatoes.

“This is the time when having partnerships is the most important,” he adds. “We understand that costs need to go up when supply takes this much of a hit. However, we still need tomatoes on our shelves. We work together with our partners to make sure we get our fair share of the supply and only pass on the rising costs to consumers if it’s absolutely necessary.”

Unprecedented Heat Pushes California Grape Harvest Toward a Record-Early Start

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:22:00 GMT

California’s table grape country is witnessing a historically early bloom that has the industry gearing up for harvest weeks ahead of schedule.

With temperatures consistently hovering 10 to 15 degrees above average, early spring has turned to summer, pushing the grape cycle 14 to 16 days ahead of its typical pace, Pete Hronis, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Hronis Inc., told The Packer.

One of California’s top table grape growers, Hronis Inc. farms about a dozen table grape varieties, including reds, greens, blacks and specialty varieties like candy grapes on more than 6,000 acres in Delano, Calif.

Hronis says this full assortment ensures its customers are supplied with grapes from the start of the season through the end of December.

“Normally we start harvest here around the first week of July, and now we’re on track to be probably either the week of the 15th of June or the week of the 22nd,” says Hronis. “Obviously that can change a little bit if it cools down. And if it cools down, it can push that back a little bit. But we’re so early that even if we get a little bit of cold weather, I don’t see it pushing back to our normal start time. It’s still going to be early.

“When the grapes are ready, they’re going to want to come,” he adds.

One of California’s top table grape growers, Hronis Inc. farms about a dozen table grape varieties, including reds, greens, blacks and specialty varieties like candy grapes on more than 6,000 acres in Delano, Calif.

(Photo courtesy of Hronis Inc.)

Hronis says the summerlike weather has created a phenomenon in which even some late-season varieties are outpacing the early ones.

Across the border, Mexico’s table grapes are also early.

“Mexico is just as early as we are,” he says. “The Mexico deal is going to start the first of May, instead of the middle of May or the 20th of May. So, it’s all just been moved forward.”

But Hronis says he doesn’t see an early and extended season for California and Mexico table grapes becoming the new norm.

“We’ve just had very abnormally high temperatures for California this year,” he says. “But this is really a good thing. We’ll just have that many more California grapes already harvested and through the system. So, we see it as a win for everybody.”

Ready to Promote a Moneymaker

With California table grapes coming several weeks early this year, retailers should prepare to clear shelf space and get ready to promote.

“Get ready to have some big displays,” says Hronis. “We’re going to move a lot of grapes.

“This is a good thing for retailers,” Hronis continues. “Retailers make more money on California grapes in the summer than any other item in their produce department. It’s not the most sold. The most sold are bananas, but the most money made is from grapes.”

Hronis expects the retail opportunity to promote and sell California grapes for 27 to 28 weeks, versus the usual 25 weeks, will translate to strong rings at the register.

“Having more sales days of California grapes on their shelf is a win for them, because they sell more California grapes than they do other grapes other times of the year,” he says.

The even better news for retailers and consumers alike, says Hronis, is that crop quality looks solid and the surety of supply is set.

“This is really shaping up to be a terrific season,” he says. “The size of the crop looks great with lots and lots of promotable grapes coming. So, I’m recommending to my customers, we could probably have a great Labor Day push and even a Veterans Day push.”

Your next read: California’s Cherry Season Shifts Into High Gear Weeks Ahead of Schedule

$3B in Losses Estimated in Florida Freeze

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:57:35 GMT

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ preliminary estimate of the state’s agricultural losses from the recent freezes includes more than $3.1 billion.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson says the estimates highlight the losses to diverse agricultural sectors, including vegetables and melons, citrus, sugarcane, fruits, horticulture and aquaculture. The figures will be updated as additional information becomes available.

The estimates draw on data from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Florida Census of Agriculture, USDA Market News, the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Preliminary Freeze Event Assessment, early survey and early communication between FDACS, industry leaders and individual producers who are currently engaged in large-scale recovery efforts.

Estimated losses include:

Tomatoes — $164,273,849
Strawberries — $306,965,897
Watermelons — $65,437,343
Sweet corn — $255,363,251
Bell peppers — $108,380,389
Potatoes — $79,065,000
Cabbage — $21,800,280
Squash — $24,522,275
Blueberries — $78,512,400
Citrus — $674,660,336

“Our preliminary estimate of over $3 billion in agricultural losses makes clear what we already knew: This was one of the most damaging freeze events for Florida agriculture in history,” Simpson says. “It is also clear that our state’s farmers, ranchers, and growers — who we rely on daily to feed and nourish our communities — need timely and substantial support.”

Simpson also commended the Trump administration for support during “times of crisis like this.”

“They know that a strong domestic food supply is critical to our nation’s security, and Florida’s farmers feed America, especially during the winter,” he says. “Working hand in hand with producer groups and our congressional delegation, we stand ready to accept and quickly administer federal block grant funding to support our impacted producers to recover, to replant, and to keep our nation fed.”

A copy of FDACS’ preliminary estimates can be found online .

Florida Growers Face a Lingering Impact After Heartbreaking 12-Hour Freeze

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 22:04:21 GMT

There’s no question that Florida’s specialty crops were impacted by a late January, early February freeze, but the severity of the damage depends both on the crop and the location.

Philip Harmon, professor of plant pathology and extension specialist with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, describes the damage he’s seen from the state’s blueberry growers as “devastating.”

“Growing fruits and vegetables in Florida is a challenging career to take,” he says.

But one thing Harmon knows about the state’s blueberry growers is that no matter the challenge, these growers will replant.

“The consistent human side of this is that these guys are resilient,” he says. “They’re super hardworking, and they are not the kind of people to give up.”

A Year of Income Lost in One Night

Harmon, located in Gainesville, Fla., says the damage varies across the state and by variety. He’s seen damage on young blueberry plantings and plantings 20 years or older, all hit by the storm.

While growers were as prepared as they could be for freeze damage, which is common during the blueberry season, this year brought a perfect storm of conditions that lead to the loss.

“It was extreme, and I’d like to believe that this is a one-off sort of thing that we might not see again so soon,” Harmon says. “Just because it was so weird in how it materialized and how it swung from record highs in mid-January to these record lows in the first week of February.”

He says that dramatic shift was the real kicker.

“This was a stack back against them with this storm of the generation,” he says. “It’s really something that we hadn’t seen and couldn’t really plan for, because it’s not something that was expected or that was within our lexicon of what was even possible prior to this.”

Harmon says it’s a tough loss for growers because even those who were ready and had contingency plans were still impacted.

“The real heartbreaker of this story is that, with the wind, with the perfect storm of conditions, not even our best and most prepared growers come out unscathed,” he says. “They have tremendous losses. And in fact, some of the best growers are seeing some of the most severe losses. So, this is an inequality of effort to outcome. … They’re devastated by this loss, because they literally put 364 days into this crop and lost it in 12 hours of cold temperatures and blowing wind; their entire year’s worth of income went up in smoke.”

Harmon says growers’ attention now turns to crop insurance, disaster relief and other federal programs that could help them rebuild.

“It’s an injustice, because the hard work here that these folks do day to day to make a crop for us, to produce food for us that didn’t pay out, and it wasn’t any fault of their own,” he says. “That’s the real kind of heartbreaker for me to see these guys very resilient — and they will come back — but discouraged by this event and uncertain about how they’re going to be able to navigate the potential resources available to them to try to keep their enterprises afloat, and try to make their farms whole again and be able to produce a crop next year.”

Growers have a good mix of varieties to balance out the ebbs and flows within production, but unfortunately, this storm was a great equalizer.

“Our growers do a better job than most of building that into the system and protection by hedging their bets, so to speak,” Harmon says. “This year, nobody won this game.”

Greening and Cold Converge to Put New Stress on Florida Citrus

“It’s kind of a mixed bag,” says Tripti Vashisth, an associate professor of horticultural sciences and a citrus Extension specialist with UF/IFAS, in assessing how the state’s citrus growers fared.

“It depends where you are in the state, and even within that location where you were, if your groves were more low-lying, the cold stayed there longer, and the temperature got really low,” she explains.

Some areas lost flower buds and leaves due to the cold and wind. While wind caused some fruit drop, Vashisth, located in Lake Alfred, Fla., says there likely will be fruit drop, too, in the coming weeks. Some fruit froze, which will affect quality.

Trees already stressed with citrus greening disease will likely have more stress.

“These trees were already struggling; they did not have a whole lot of leaves on them,” Vashisth says. “Canopies are often thin on these trees with not a whole lot of fruit. Now with freeze, we will be losing more leaves, so now the tree would have to spend more resources in making leaves.”

Because these canopies were thinner in trees with greening, there will be more damage.

“On the bigger trees. If they had a more fuller canopy, they would have more biomass to insulate from the freeze,” she says. “But now these are thinner canopies, so they are more exposed to the low temperatures too.”

That’s added to the stress these trees face fighting the citrus greening pathogen, which means it will take longer for damaged trees to recover, Vashisth says. The real challenge, she adds, is growers are not just farming this year’s crop but also helping the tree set buds for next year.

“Investing in tree health will go a longer way,” Vashisth says. “The dilemma that growers are in: They are paid for the fruit, not for the leaves, so it becomes very difficult to see the benefit in the short term, and they have to make these hard decisions based on economics. But as a researcher in horticulture, the recommendation would be, again, help the tree in recovering from these damages, and hopefully if you have a healthier tree, we can have better-quality fruit and more fruit in subsequent years.”

Mark Ritenour, professor of postharvest technology with UF/IFAS, says growers typically try to harvest citrus fruit before the end of December to avoid cold damage, but some still have fruit on trees going into January.

Ritenour, stationed in Fort Pierce, Fla., says he can’t remember the last time a storm hit the state as it did.

“This has been a unique one for us, though,” he says. “I can’t remember the time when it got this cold down here for this long, so it’s been quite a while since I’ve been here.”

He says he suspects there will be postharvest damage from this storm, however, it’s going to be a few weeks before the true extent is seen. Fruit that suffers freeze damage typically will have vesicles that have dried out and will be lighter.

Fruit damage from radiation freezes — cold-weather events that can happen in calm and clear weather — show up at the top of the fruit, but cold damage from windy weather shows up differently.

“It was more windy this time,” he says. “You’re going to get the freezing occurring mostly initially on the wind-exposed side of the fruit.”

Ritenour also notes that trees infected with citrus greening would have thinner canopies that could shield the fruit from damage. He adds that he’s heard fruit grown under citrus protection screens “look like they’re doing pretty good.”

To understand the full extent of freeze damage on fruit, growers often have to wait for the fruit to drop in the grove. However, thanks to modern technology, assessing freeze damage in the packinghouse has gotten much easier.

“We have optical and vision and weight-grading systems in the packinghouse, and we can separate it out that way,” Ritenour says. “We can use our vision and weight-grading systems now to determine density and remove fruit that way, but it has to dry out some before we can really tell.”

Damage from the recent storm is shown on mature fruit.

(Photo courtesy of Wael Elwakil)

Strawberries Enter a Wait-and-See Recovery

The state’s strawberry growers used overhead sprinkler irrigation to prevent the plants from suffering too much from a hard freeze, but they still suffered some damage, says Wael Elwakil, Extension agent in fruit and vegetable production with UF/IFAS in Hillsborough County.

“The damage to the immature fruit and flowers will continue to unfold until mid-February,” he says. “Generally, it takes approximately three weeks for a new flower to become ready to harvest fruit, depending on the weather and crop management.”

He says strawberry growers have reported between 20% to 60% losses during the week following the freeze.

“There were some extreme situations where reported losses reached up to 70% or more with certain varieties or freeze protection failures due to the storm,” he says.

Joe Klick, associate vice president of product management at Naturipe Farms, says a bright spot was for growers who used row covers.

“Some growers do have fruit under tunnels, and they believe a higher percentage of that crop was able to be protected and saved,” he says. “We are still working closely with our growers to fully assess the extent of the damage.”

Klick says for many growers, it’s a wait-and-see period to understand how each variety will come through the cold snap.

“Weather is always one of the biggest variables in farming, and as much as we would love to be able to control Mother Nature, we simply cannot,” he says.

Elwakil says growers must now focus on managing disease issues, along with the added moisture and wind damage, to help plants recover.

“Growers are resilient and trying to stay positive and powering through,” he says. “They look forward and quickly adapt to adjust to market needs and current production volumes.”

Nick Wishnatzki, public relations director for Wish Farms, says the storm caused some growers to discard damaged fruit, with most losing between 10% to 20% of blooms.

“Growers in the Plant City/Dover area experienced a more significant impact, largely due to strong winds that accompanied the freeze,” he says. “Farms farther south reported comparatively lighter damage.”

But production is already rebounding with warmer weather, Wishnatzki says.

“The bloom losses from the freeze mean that volumes in late February and early March may fall below levels typical of previous seasons,” he says. “Fortunately, the cold’s impact is limited to volume issues specifically; fruit quality and flavor remain exceptional, and we expect that to continue.”

And Elwakil says that oftentimes after storms like the one the state’s growers just experienced, the market is more challenging than the storm itself.

“Support Florida farmers by purchasing Florida produce,” he says.

Historic Cold Snap Deals Heavy Blow to Florida Blueberries

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 12:21:37 GMT

A freeze event in late January and early February has left a lasting impact on Florida’s blueberries, says Philip Harmon, professor of plant pathology and extension specialist with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, who offered the assessment during an industrywide update presented by the Florida Blueberry Growers Association.

Harmon says extreme cold and low wind chills killed floral buds, led to dropped fruit and caused plants and limbs to break under the weight of cold protection.

“That has not just cost us this year’s fruit, but also fruit in years to come; replanting is going to be necessary in those cases,” he says. “Even though we may still have some fruit on the bushes out there, it’s very likely that our assessments of loss are going to increase rather than decrease as time goes on.”

Record-Breaking Temperature Swing

Harmon says the generational storm was unlike the typical freeze events that Florida growers could face in a growing season. Temperatures fell below 30°F throughout the state from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, which was lower than some records dating back to 1909. Further complicating matters were the cold temperatures arriving right after record-high temperatures, he says, adding that the state experienced a nearly 50-degree temperature swing in 48 hours.

“Our plants were not hardened off,” he says. “They had broken buds, bloomed, set fruit in many cases … and those floral structures, once activated, once blooming and opening, become sensitive to these freeze conditions much more so than when they’re dormant.”

Harmon says wind chills also impacted plants. For example, the temperature might have been 19°F in Gainesville, Fla., but the wind chill was 6°F.

“We also had some of the coldest air since 2010,” he says. “And in fact, going back further than that, in addition to cold temperatures, wind chill factors were very low because of an extreme wind associated with this cold temperature, as well as a polar vortex, and it brought us winds in excess of 20 miles an hour during the period when we had temperatures in the teens and 20s.”

Limits of Freeze Protection

Low wind chills also made it very difficult for growers to use irrigation for freeze protection. Harmon says the cold conditions, coupled with the bitter wind chills, reduced the freeze protection’s effectiveness.

Early estimates indicate a 30% to 50% loss in north-central Florida, more than 80% loss in Central Florida and around a 40% to 50% loss in South Florida, he says.

Location and varieties are likely the cause for such extreme fluctuations in initial damage reports. While some blueberry plantings still might have been in the tight bud growth stage, other varieties might have progressed further to early and late pink bud. Blueberry plants that had progressed to late pink bud were the most heavily damaged by the cold snap and will abort.

“Some of our berries in Central and South Florida were very near harvest,” Harmon says. “These become quite sensitive to freeze damage.”

For those berries that do survive, the fruit is much more susceptible to disease, he says.

While cold protection may have been an option for some growers, in some parts of the state temperatures dipped below where cold protection is effective, Harmon says. Ice that forms on bushes keeps the temperature at 32°F, a temperature that blueberries can withstand, but the ice stops forming once temperatures dip below freezing.

“This year a lot of the growers did this exactly right,” he says. “They woke up the next morning with a lot of ice formed. However, not enough latent heat of fusion produced in those cases, in extreme cases, to save the crop.”

Risk of Pathogens

Along with the damage to plants from the cold temperatures, the ice buildup caused cane breakage.

Some plants broke at the bed level, and others suffered cracks and fractures in the structure of the plant. These cracks and fractures can open the blueberry plant to the colonization of stem blight disease, which enters through the wounds, goes to the crown and kills the plant.

“This is not the end of the story as far as the losses that we’re going to see,” Harmon says. “We’re going to see additional losses from stem blight over the next year or two years become even more severe moving forward.”

Harmon says growers need to be mindful of another pathogen, botrytis, as well as blossom blight, which he calls an immediate concern.

“If you haven’t already put out a fungicide for botrytis, consider making an additional fungicide in addition to the program that growers use to protect their crops, where our berries are still on the bush, where we still have some potential for production of a crop this year,” he says.

Anthracnose will be a postharvest concern, Harmon says, especially as growers make the first few passes in fields that have internally damaged fruit on the bushes. Damaged fruit will ripen earlier, and anthracnose can sporulate within a short period of time.

“Anthracnose is one that can cause disease on the canker and the stems, also on the berries … and on the leaves as well,” he says.

Resistance management is going to play a major factor with the applications growers make to control these pathogens, Harmon says. Botrytis and anthracnose have shown fungicide resistance, he says. “We can’t just use one silver bullet product.”

Harmon says the additional stress of winter injury to blueberry plantings allows for pathogens such as Colletotrichum ripe rot to become an even bigger problem for growers in the months ahead. Even with a good fungicide program, growers will need to consider additional sprays to keep ripe rot at bay, he adds.

Harmon says growers who are facing tough losses have a difficult choice of whether or not to make those preventative sprays.

“We’re going to have extremely high disease pressure this year,” he says. “A lot of growers are going through the process of deciding if and when to hedge their crops, their plants, where they’ve lost their crop.”

Washington Pear Growers Face Record Flooding and Unusual Pest Management

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 03:48:51 GMT

Last week, approximately 78,000 residents in the Skagit River floodplain in Washington state were ordered to evacuate as back-to-back atmospheric rivers saturated the region. The water surpassed historical marks, notes Robert Ezelle, director of the Washington Military Department’s Emergency Management Division.

“What we have seen in actuality is it came through right at about the record flood level,” he told AgDay. “That doesn’t mean to say that we’re out of the woods. We’re not, because as the waters come down here, they’re still going to be gaining strength. And as they hit the Burlington, Mt. Vernon area, we’re still expecting to see about 2 feet higher than record flood level. It’s going to be most likely worse than you experienced back in 2021.”

Last week’s storm impacted many parts of Chelan County, as well as other parts of the Pacific Northwest, where officials evacuated Washington State University’s Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center in Mount Vernon due to high water and flood warnings.

The impact stretched across the Cascades into the Cashmere Valley, where Randall Chipman, a certified crop adviser in Cashmere Valley between Wenatchee and Leavenworth, scouted area orchards to assess what he saw. In a video he posted on LinkedIn , a pear block in Cashmere that usually sits 10 feet or more above the waterline had trees pulled up with roots almost 5 feet in the air.

“The main concern now is, alright, where are we going to get our topsoil back?” he says in the video. “We have all of our roots exposed. It’s going to be more detrimental than maybe just having regular soggy feet. Now we have to wait for next year, but keep an eye on it.”

Chipman says a bright spot to the flooding is that it hit during dormancy, when trees have already shut down for the winter. Prolonged wetness isn’t necessarily as much of a concern as exposed roots. And, he says in the winter, most orchards are waterlogged with snow, so this is almost the same thing.

“Realistically, dormancy will help,” he says. “We’re not worried about waterlogging. If it was during this season and we had fruit on the trees, then you have no oxygen, and then that’s it’s an issue.”

Chipman says some pear growers in the area have experienced flooding, but nothing to the extent that happened last week.

“It’s going to be this annoying thing that we’ve never really thought we had to deal with,” he says.

Downed trees with exposed roots are a main concern for pear growers in the Cashmere Valley in Washington, says Randall Chipman, a certified crop adviser.

(Photo: Randall Chipman)

And he’s also optimistic that all this rainfall could help limit pear psylla pressure next growing season, though he says he needs to monitor pest pressure next year to see if his assumptions play out. Instead of psylla overwintering under the limbs of nearby pine trees, it could be those rains could have washed the psylla out of the trees, he says.

“We’re essentially doing an overhead wash right now, which is a pest management strategy for washing psylla out of a tree,” Chipman says.

He points out that growers in the Hood River of Oregon have much less pear psylla pressure, which could be due in part to the amount of rainfall the area gets compared with the Cashmere Valley.

“It’s not exactly on the packing side of things, but it would be interesting to find out,” he says. “It’s definitely an interesting horticultural phenomenon of sorts.”

Hurricane Helene's ag damage tallied by University of Florida researchers

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:02:59 GMT

Florida growers suffered a three-hurricane season in 2024, and growers and researchers are still tallying losses from Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton.

Most recently, the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Economic Impact Analysis Program released a preliminary grower survey that measured ag damage from late September’s Hurricane Helene in a range from $40 million on the low side to $162 million on the high side. Researchers will survey growers and ranchers later this year to finalize loss estimates.

Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 storm that came ashore near Perry, Fla., on Sept. 26, with 140 mph winds before making landfall.

After landfall, Helene continued moving north-northeast, impacting north-central Florida and the southwestern peninsula. It weakened to a Category 2 hurricane after crossing into Georgia, and then further downgraded as it moved through the Appalachian region, affecting parts of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, the report said.

A large swath of the Florida peninsula experienced tropical storm force winds, which extended across 55 additional counties, with accumulated rainfall exceeding 12 inches in some regions from Sept. 22 and Sept. 29.

Christa Court, director of the IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program, briefed members of the media on the report on Nov. 19.

“The highest losses were experienced in those field and row crops, animal and animal products and vegetables, melons and potatoes, because those are the crops that are in the area that was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Helene,” she said.

The potential range of expected losses for Florida vegetable, melon and potato producers was estimated at $10.4 million on the low side to as much as $38.2 million on the high side, the report said.

Estimated losses to citrus growers from Hurricane Helene ranged from zero on the low side to $4.3 million, the report said.

Estimated losses from Helene to Florida fruit and tree nut growers was forecast in a range from $3.2 million on the low side to $12.1 million on the high side.

The report said damage to field and row crops was estimated in a range from $12.8 million to $48.2 million, while greenhouse/nurseries suffered damages estimated from $2.2 million on the low side to $15 million on the high side.

Florida’s animal and animal products suffered damaged from $11.8 million on the low side to $44.4 million on the hight end, the report said.

Court said 6.1 million acres of ag land were affected by Hurricane Helene, with about 68% of that grazing land. About 18,000 acres experienced high-intensity weather conditions, while 334,000 acres experienced moderate-intensity weather conditions. Ninety-four percent of ag land affected by Hurricane Helene experienced low-intensity weather conditions.

Farm and ranch lands damaged by Hurricane Helene produce about $8.7 billion in ag products over an entire year, including lands that produce greenhouse nursery plants, vegetables, melons, potatoes, animals and row crops.

In creating estimates of damages, Court said researchers adjusted for crop growth stage and whether producers had damage from previous storms, notably Hurricane Debby which made landfall in Steinhatchee, Fla., on Aug. 5 near

“We did make adjustments for Hurricane Debby, to ensure we are not double counting any losses,” he said.

Court said a final estimate of Hurricane Helene’s damage will likely be issued in early 2025.

Meanwhile, Court said the University of Florida finalizing work on a preliminary damage assessment from surveys of growers related to damage from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall near Siesta Key, Fla., on Oct. 9, as a Category 3 storm.

“One additional complication with Hurricane Milton was the tornado outbreak that preceded that particular storm, and we wanted to make sure that we were capturing that as well, since that happened well outside of the areas that we’re experiencing the severe hurricane force winds,” Court said. “We’re almost ready to release that one, but the survey is still open.”

‘Excellent’ quality expected for asparagus crop

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:18:28 GMT

A new crop of asparagus is about to burst onto the produce scene, and whether it’s imported or domestic, grower-shippers say consumers are in for a treat.

“Quality looks excellent right now,” Cory Stahl, vice president of sales for Los Angeles-based Progressive Produce , said Jan. 24.

Progressive offers asparagus year-round, sourcing from Mexico, Peru and Washington, but in late January Stahl said he was excited about the new crop that is ramping up out of Caborca in Sonora, Mexico.

That program should peak from mid-February through mid-March, but it will continue through May.

Progressive has been making planting investments over the past three years and has had a significant increase in year-round acreage, Stahl said.

The company will have purple and white asparagus and organic asparagus for the next six months. There will be a small gap during the summer, and they will pick up in fall.

Progressive Produce also offers a full-line bagging program year-round.

In late February, the company plans to launch a rebranding program, changing the brand name of its asparagus from Americas Asparagus to Progressive Farms .

The change will “represent the investments we’ve made in our farming operation over last 10 years,” Stahl said.

“We feel like our messaging will really resonate with shoppers.”

Meanwhile, Five Crowns Marketing Inc. , Brawley, Calif., received its first arrivals out of Caborca Jan. 22, about a week later than usual, said Daren Van Dyke, director of marketing.

The late start was due to rainfall, which didn’t allow the ferns to dry down and go into dormancy, he said, which is a necessary step in the production process.

Conditions have since improved.

“The quality looks fantastic,” he said in late January. “We’re in ideal weather right now.”

Brix levels, which measure energy in the crowns, were a little better than last year, he said, which should mean better production.

“The quality started off very, very nice,” he said. “I think we’re going to have a good, promotable season.”

He expected ample volume and good quality for Easter, April 12.

Stockton, Calif.-based Greg Paul Produce Sales Inc. is one of the few California companies that still grows asparagus, said James Paul, director of sales and marketing.

“We’re very proud that we’re still going and providing that product for our local consumers,” he said. The company markets the Delta Queen brand.

“So far, it’s been a good winter,” he said in late January.

He expected good quality from the company’s California asparagus.

“We’ve got asparagus that is in its fourth and fifth years, which are really the stride years,” he said.

The company offers traditional 11-pound and 28-pound cartons as well as an old-time wooden crate.

“We have different customers throughout the U.S. that really pride themselves on offering their consumers a real high-quality product packaged in some of the old-fashioned packaging,” he said.

He expects to have California asparagus through most of May.

Paul also represents Crystal Valley Foods in Miami, which imports product from Mexico and Peru.

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Peruvian asparagus group elects co-chairmen
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Kern County crops in good shape, mostly on time

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 18:36:29 GMT

In spite of some recent heavy rainfall, grower-shippers in California’s Kern County said they were anticipating an on-time start for this year’s deal.

Rain forced a slight delay on the start of lettuce and cabbage, but harvest of those items began April 13, said Danny Andrews, owner of Bakersfield, Calif.-based Dan Andrews Farms LLC .

Andrews started the deal with iceberg lettuce, green and red cabbage. He will have carrots, which he will channel through Grimmway Farms’ network, in June, and melons in July.

April brought plenty of rain, Andrews said.

“Currently, we’ve had record April rainfall for Bakersfield,” he said the week of April 12.

“We set two records this week — we’ve had 3 inches in three days, which broke two all-time records.”

It was frustrating, he said.

“It’s great to get rain, but it’s delaying harvest and we may get tractors stuck in the field harvesting,” he said. “Who knows? The crop may not hold as long as it normally holds because of the late season.”

Andrews said the overabundant moisture may bring difficulties for melon planting.

“Melons, we’re worried seeds might not germinate properly and there may be lighter yields in a light harvest and we might have to replant for July harvest,” he said.

Related content: Dan Andrews Farms adds melon varieties

Edison, Calif.-based Johnston Farms was finishing up its citrus in mid-April and was turning its attention to potatoes, with a May 10 expected start, and peppers, June 1, said Dennis Johnston, owner.

“Weather has been warmer than normal, but the last two or three weeks have been rainy and cool and slowed the potatoes and peppers down a bit, so the potatoes will be about a week later,” he said.

In spite of overabundant recent rains, the potato crop looked “very good,” while the peppers were just in the flowering stage as of April 12, Johnston said.

“It’s supposed to dry out and get some warmth, so normally we do have a good crop,” he said. “I’d say three weeks we had rain starting and lots of rain — more than we’re used to.”

Rainy weather hadn’t affected the carrot crop at Arvin, Calif.-based Kern Ridge Growers LLC , salesman Doug Stewart said.

“We’re moving carrots and citrus; everything is going really good,” he said.

“The carrot crop looks good. We’re trying to keep up with the fields in production. Rain hasn’t affected anything. We’re digging down south.”

Edison-based Kirschenman Enterprises Inc. was harvesting potatoes in the Coachella Valley, said Wayde Kirschenman, owner and president.

“Crop quality seems to be very, very good,” he said. “The crop we’re digging in the Coachella area seems to be the best we’ve had in years.”

Kirschenman will begin harvesting white, red and yellow spuds in Bakersfield around May 1, he said.

Related content: Later start, good quality from Kern County crops

“Lot of rain the last few days, but it’s clearing out and supposed to be nice,” he said.

Kirschenman saw the rainfall as a benefit.

“It’s nice to get some of the good rains,” he said. “The rain didn’t do any damage; it was good to have.”

Kirschenman also has table grapes, which should start in Kern County at the end of June.

“A lot have been pushed out because (of) too much supply,” he said.

“There will be less grapes this year. It has nothing to do with COVID, but all to do with declining markets. There will be less production.”

Some grape varieties were pulled out in favor of new varieties, and that will lead to less volume, he said.

“Overall, 10% of production in the industry got pulled out from a year ago because of saturation of markets,” he said.

Bakersfield-based TD Produce Sales anticipates a good potato crop, beginning with whites April 27 and reds and yellows May 4, said Tom Drulias, owner.

“The crop is coming along fine,” he said. “We’ve had some cool weather here and a lot of rain over the last three days, and maybe that has slowed things up a little bit.”

Everything was “pretty much” on time, he said.

“Quality looks good with all the varieties at this time on the samples I’ve seen from the field,” he said.

Texas onion growers expect good season despite acreage decline

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 18:49:03 GMT

Favorable planting and growing conditions have onion growers and shippers in South Texas anticipating a timely start and smooth season in 2020.

However, acreage has been trending downward, they note.

Acreage is about 6,000, compared to a “traditional” 7,000, said Dante Galeazzi, manager of the South Texas Onion Committee .

“Although we are used to fluctuations in plantings, this represents a considerable deviation, likely in line with depressed pricing in markets over the last few years,” he said.

There also are other normal challenges for grower-shippers, including labor shortages, as well as pests and disease, Galeazzi said.

“A larger challenge, though, is urbanization,” he said.

“The dramatic population growth in Texas is increasing the value of land and while most farming is in remote regions, those operations located closer to metropolitan areas — such as Austin, San Antonio or the Rio Grande Valley — means farmers are having to weigh the trade-off between continuing agriculture or transitioning into real estate.”

For the growers who remain, this year’s crop looks promising, Galeazzi said.

“As of early February, the crop looks great,” he said.

“Growing conditions have been better than expected. The mild, borderline warmer-than-usual winter is even bringing on the onions early. We’re expecting to see a strong start with plenty of supplies by March.”

The season seemed likely to get underway by mid-March, growers said.

“As always, we’re hoping to see a good market this year through the entire spring, and with the weather pattern holding for South Texas, we should have good supplies for the entire season,” Galeazzi said.

“That means buyers can approach this year’s market with confidence for sourcing from this part of the world for the next four to five months.”

Some onions could start moving in early March, but the deal will churn in earnest by the middle of the month, said Don Ed Holmes, owner of The Onion House LLC in Weslaco, Texas.

“One of the prettier crops in the 43 years I’ve been doing this; we’ve had perfect conditions, very little rain, and temperatures have been very moderate,” he said.

Quality and sizing will be assets this year, he said.

Market conditions should be reasonable — and might go higher, Holmes said.

“Idaho-Oregon’s crop had some issues with freeze damage; I know they’re starting to show up with quite a few freeze-related issues now,” he said.

“At some point, they’ll probably pull the plug on it and, when that happens, you’ll see it start to jump.”

As of Feb. 14, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 50-pound sacks of storage yellow Spanish hybrid onions from Idaho and Oregon were $9-11 for supercolossal; $8-10, colossal; $7-8, jumbo; and $5-6, medium.

A year earlier, the same products were $8-8.50, supercolossal; $7.50-8, colossal; $7-7.50, jumbo; and $7-8, medium.

Glennville, Ga.-based Bland Farms LLC , which grows onions on about 300 acres in South Texas, anticipates a normal crop, said Delbert Bland, president.

“Everything is moving along,” he said Feb. 12.

“We’re fixing to start with Mexico next week; Texas is right behind that.”

Harvest in Texas will begin in mid- to late March, Bland said.

“We’ll bring them over as soon as they’re ready and keep them until Georgia starts in mid-April,” he said, referring to his Vidalia crop.

“We have only about a three-week window in Texas, but we run Perus up through the end of March.”

David DeBerry, president of McAllen, Texas-based Southwest Onion Growers LLC , estimated his crop was 14-20 days ahead of normal.

“Due to above average temperatures this winter, the spring crop is ahead of schedule,” he said.

“Size, health and distribution of colors all very much on the good to very good side.”

Related content:
Onion growers anticipate strong market for smaller crop
Texas 2018 onion prices rough
Organic onion deal small but steady

Carolina growers expecting a good deal this year

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 18:42:43 GMT

Spring typically brings a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables from the Carolinas, and this year is no exception, suppliers and marketers say.

Autryville, N.C.-based Jackson Farming Co. was harvesting strawberries in North Carolina, with “good quantities coming off,” said Matt Solana, vice president of operations/supply chain.

Jackson anticipated a start to its spring broccoli harvest around May 20, and fields were “looking good” for that to occur, Solana said.

The company also started to transplant seedless watermelons April 29, with a first harvest in North Carolina set for June 30, Solana said. He noted that honeydew transplanting began May 5-6, for a first harvest planned for July 7.

There have been few weather issues, he said.

“Most of them were on the front side prior to planting, and the strawberries went through a tough new year with weather and covers,” he said.

“(We’re) just working out of that and should start to get to the best of the berry season if the rain will spare us.”

Few hurricane woes

Marketers reported no carryover issues from last summer’s big hurricanes, Michael and Florence.

“We had a lot of (hurricane) damage as a state, but the peach industry fared much better than some other industries and crops,” said Kyle Tisdale, marketing specialist with the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

“The (peach) crop this year looks good. There will be good volume throughout the summer and we’re expecting a high-quality crop.”

Fairfax, S.C.-based Coosaw Farms (Coosaw Ag LLC) is optimistic about its blueberries, Asian vegetables and watermelon, said Bradley O’Neal, owner.

Seeded and seedless watermelon should be underway around June 1, O’Neal said.

“The melon crop is going to be a little bit ahead of schedule,” he said, crediting “It just looks like a good year fixing to shape up.”

Organic and conventional blueberry harvest started in mid-April, O’Neal said.

“That’s coming along real nicely,” he said. “Both look like a good, solid yield; the quality looks great. Everything seems to moving pretty good on those.”

Harvest on napa and Asian green cabbage began in late April, and the quality looks good, although the Asian green cabbage looks a little “rounder” on top than it should, O’Neal said.

“It tastes just as good round as flat but they like that head flat,” he said. “Evidently, some weather phenomenon during the season caused it to stay not flat on the top.”

Spuds looking good

North Carolina’s potato crop appeared to be “in excellent condition” for a mid- to late June start, said Tommy Fleetwood, a marketing specialist with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and advisor to the North Carolina Potato Association.

North Carolina produces round whites, reds, and yellows for the table market.

“The market season fills the niche window of market opportunity when storage states crops are winding down and going out of condition and before these late summer-fall areas begin harvest,” Fleetwood said.

North Carolina potatoes are shipped throughout the eastern U.S. and eastern Canadian markets, Fleetwood said.

Plenty of leafy greens and squash will be available from Pelion, S.C.-based WP Rawl, said Ashley Rawl, sales director.

“Right now, everything looks really good and seems to be on schedule,” he said.

“Praise the Lord, there’s nothing negative from the last hurricane season. We’ve finally made our way past that. It really took into March and April. We’re finally out of that.”

WP Rawl grows collards, kale, mustard greens, turnips, cilantro, beets, leeks and green onions. In late May, the company will start with zucchini and yellow squash, with sweet corn starting around June 10, Rawl said.

Markets appeared to be “steady” in early May, Rawl said.

“Now, I’d say they’re mostly steady compared to where we’d been the last six months,” he said.

“There was a lot of volatility with the hurricanes that came through the Southeast, but steady and stable right now, for the most part.”

Crops catching up

Good weather has helped crops doing some catching up, said Jon Shriver, vegetable sales manager with Raleigh, N.C.-based grower-shipper L&M Cos.

“Although the fairly wet weather experienced throughout the state in the early spring months pushed back planting dates for broccoli, potatoes, and onions, and is expected to bring somewhat smaller than usual cabbage yields, a recent spate of good weather has helped the crops to catch up,” Shriver said.

“L&M’s partner farms will be harvesting cabbage, broccoli, cucumbers, squash, bell peppers, potatoes, and onions throughout the spring and summer.”

“Solid” markets are expected for potatoes and onions during the summer, said Derek Ennis, L&M’s director of potatoes and onions.

“The demand for our North Carolina potato crop has been increasing each year, and we have solid local partners for our programs which helps ease some of the market volatility,” he said.

The Northwest is quickly finishing up their storage onion crop, Texas has a smaller crop than normal, and North Dakota has fewer potatoes in storage, Ennis said.

Ennis said L&M is already seeing good demand for its Florida potatoes and the colored potato crop is progressing nicely. Harvesting is expected in mid-June.

Shriver noted that the market for cabbage should be good and that broccoli markets, which are “typically very volatile from Georgia to Maine, are hard to predict, with a large factor dependent on whether temperatures remain below 85 degrees.”

As long as weather stays cool enough, the crops should be good quality, he said.

Cucumbers, squash, and bell pepper markets are dependent on Georgia and how quickly the northern regions begin production, Shriver said.

“Quality is coming along well, and the crops look good,” he said.

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Persistent rain slows Salinas vegetable deals

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 19:00:32 GMT

By Carol Lawrence

Frequent rainfall and above-normal amounts in California’s key Salinas growing area will likely lower production volumes of spring vegetables this season and delay supplies.

Jeff Hyosaka, sales manager for Salinas-based Pacific International Marketing, said while plantings have begun, January and February rains interrupted what is usually a consistent schedule of planting, so timing for vegetables on the front-end is unknown.

“Production yields coming out are more uncertain this year than last year. This won’t be a normal situation,” Hyosaka said.

“We’ve got more extremes than we’ve dealt with (in recent years).”

Several days of frost and the frequent rain in Arizona and Mexico desert regions where the company’s winter lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower have kept workers out of the fields until later in the morning and hurt planting and growth cycles, he said.

That will probably mean lower volumes than last year, depending on the upcoming weather, he said.

“Weather that went through in the desert hampered our ability to get full production from what’s in the ground,” he said.

“It probably won’t be a seamless transition.”

Winter rainfall in the Salinas area was about 130% above normal, said Art Barrientos, vice president of harvesting for Castroville-based Ocean Mist Farms. Some vegetable crops are maturing slowly, and growth has been uneven, Barrientos said, but the effect overall has been minimal.

“However, some plantings have been moved around, which could result in lighter than ideal volumes during late spring or early summer,” he said.

Broccoli and cauliflower harvest should begin in late March, and that’s pretty close to typical years, he added. Volumes should be “fairly close.”

“However, we are anticipating periods where volumes may be lighter due to rain periods not letting us plant in a timely manner,” he said.

Barrientos doesn’t expect any interruptions transitioning to Salinas from desert growing areas.

In February, the Salinas area received four to eight inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Rain fell almost steadily during January, and in early March.

The rain also kept growers from doing necessary cultural practices, such as applying fertilizer, said Martin Jefferson, Northern California production manager for Duda Farm Fresh Foods’ Salinas branch.

Growers will do multiple plantings in one week during the breaks rather than planting over several weeks, he said, and that could throw off supply schedules.

“The start of the Salinas season is likely to be delayed, and there’s going to be a lot of disruptions to volumes for a good portion of spring production” of major crops, Jefferson said.

Initial harvests will likely be delayed a week or so, he estimated, and volume disruptions will continue.

Salad Savoy Corp., Salinas, has experienced only two to three days of disruption with its direct seed crops, such as chard and Tuscan kale, said Seth Karm, Salad Savoy’s CEO.

But transplants from nurseries, including cauliflower, have been delayed by about two weeks, he said.

“That’s where we will expect interesting shifts,” Karm said, adding that overlap from vegetables in Yuma, Ariz., in April will probably prevent supply interruptions.

Sweet corn will pop up when the heat comes on

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:43:12 GMT

After a nice early growing season without major setbacks, Eastern U.S. sweet corn growers are optimistic about the coming crop as demand ticks up for the coming warm months and summer holidays.

Florida, the top sweet corn producer in early spring, shipped more volume as of March 9 than last year at the same time: 145.3 pounds, compared to 136 million pounds in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Nationwide, 259.8 million pounds of corn were shipped this season through March 9, which is 23.3 million fewer pounds at the same point last season, which was at 283.1 million.

“We checked our crop in Belle Glade, and it looks like a beautiful crop. We had great weather and expect it to continue. We had good volume, excellent supply,” said J.D. Poole, co-owner and vice president of Scotlynn Sweet Pac Growers , Belle Glade, Fla.

The company ships corn first out of Belle Glade, then Bainbridge, Ga., and finishes with Vittoria, Ontario.

“We’ve grown our acreage year over year — for years,” said Brian Biederman, another Scotlynn co-owner.

Belle Glade corn availability runs mid-March 18 to June 1.

“But volume changes could cause higher prices,” Poole said.

Scotlynn’s Georgia sweet corn will be harvested May 15 until July 15, and from Vittoria, availability runs from July 15 until Sept. 5.

Duda Farm Fresh Foods , Oviedo, Fla., expects similar volumes as in recent years from its winter and spring corn seasons in South Florida, and then its short Georgia season to follow, said Bert Barnes, Duda’s sweet corn commodity manager.

After Duda’s Florida winter corn harvest runs out by the end of March, the spring corn will be available the first week of April through end of May, finished by Georgia’s quick harvest from late May to early June.

“The warm weather, combined with several rain events as of late, has brought on harvest roughly five days early,” Barnes said. “There will be a small dip in volume first week of harvest (early April), due to the rain events during planting, but we should return to normal volumes after that week.”

Duda has had higher volumes to sell because of that early maturing corn, Barnes said. The quality is looking good for the coming spring: a larger barrel size, longer length and dark green husk compared to earlier crops.

Turek Farms , King Ferry, N.Y., teamed up with Florida and Georgia growers from SM Jones and Co. to provide corn to customers year-round. Sales are handled by Cayuga Produce.

As harvest takes off in Florida, a good portion gets planted in Georgia, and Turek is 1 1/2 months from planting in New York, where the corn availability runs from mid-July through early October, said Jason Turek, co-owner.

“Right now, it looks like a good crop for the Southeast, and we’re excited,” Turek said.

Marketing sweet corn

In March, retailers start putting out big bulk displays and end caps of sweet corn, which does a lot to pick up sales.

The packaging matters too. While loose corn does better in summer and over-wrapped trays in winter, the trend is heading toward packaged corn year-round.

Packaged produce in general has grown to 53% of sales, and millennials in particular prefer packaged rather than pick-your-own produce, according to the 2019 Power of Produce report from the Food Marketing Institute.

At Southeast Produce Council’s Southern Exposure March 9 in Orlando, Scotlynn Sweet Pac Growers debuted its redesigned overwrap packaging, which adds more color while still showing a lot of the corn itself. The corn is partially husked, and it qualifies a value-added product, Poole said.

“A lot of customers ask for the peeled-off window of husk showing the kernels but leaving the rest on for a bit of green color. The ends are clipped, so the husk easily comes off,” Scotlynn’s Poole said.

Duda Farm Fresh Foods completed a successful full year of offering its first 100% recyclable tray for sweet corn. The protective recyclable trays reduce shrink, protect the product through shipment and feature seasonal graphics, Barnes said.

However, marketers agree that weather affects consumer demand for sweet corn in a huge way.

“National weather patterns play a big role in product demand from the Northeast, Midwest and Canada,” Barnes said. “Once spring or warmer weather arrives, demand for sweet corn increases rapidly. Most people are ready to get out of the house and BBQ as the weather warms up — and sweet corn will be ready.”

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