An update in collaboration with Ali Blesse, Produce Manager and Marcie Wilde, General Manager
By now everyone is probably looking forward to cooler fall weather and the end to a very hot summer. We sure are! The extended warm weather has impacted our produce departments heavily this year. Extreme heat, followed by extreme rains in some areas has caused crops to decrease in production, or cause severe quality issues.
Currently, we are seeing an increase in prices, and a decrease in availability of some produce. Here are some highlights we can share with you from our distributors:
- Our California source for lettuces including Romaine, Iceberg and Greenleaf, have reported that supply is extremely limited with prices expecting to rise. This is due to erratic and extreme heat followed by extreme rains, which has led to a quality issue.
- The sustained heat wave into September severely stressed table grapes, which ended the season early.
- Hurricanes in Florida have caused problems for tomatoes, citrus and row crops, putting higher demand on other growing regions. This has caused a spike in prices due to that higher demand.
- Sustained heat in Baja California has also led to production issues. Intense heat caused tomato crops to drop their blooms early. Heat followed by rain and flooding left the field crops vulnerable, and we will see a shortage of supply going into fall from our Mexico based farms.
- Hurricanes in Central American damaged papaya and ginger crops, with the effects of this hurricane continuing to hit Southern Mexico. This could also affect banana and avocado supply.
We continue to work hard to bring you the produce you want and need for your families. We know that you trust our produce department for quality organic produce and we will remain as transparent as possible during this difficult time of extreme weather events.