NEWS FROM THE FARM

The row crop transition—when growers move crops from Salinas Valley, CA, to Yuma, AZ—is less than a month away. Initial reports are promising, with most items seeing no gaps. The exception is lettuce: There could be a four-day gap on romaine, red leaf, and green leaf.

The first-of-the-season Morro Bay Avocados are arriving, grown by Shanley Farms in San Luis Obispo County—the northernmost avocado growing region in CA. These avocados are supremely rich and creamy, with exceptionally high oil content. The superior eating experience is due to the cooler production climate, which slows the tree’s metabolism and, in turn, the fruit’s maturing process.

Domestic butter prices have been down since early September, and the expectation is that costs will continue to stay low through the end of the year. European butter, on the other hand, is trading nearly a dollar over current US prices, largely due to falling milk production and cream shortages.

Hurricane Helene has taken a significant toll on growers across the Southeast, flooding fields and damaging crops. B+W hasn’t been able to harvest any of their red cress and, as a result, is currently out of stock. They are also running low on watercress bunches—they’re relying on what’s available in their coolers now, but could end up short on bunches if they can’t harvest in the coming days.

California fig season is wrapping up sooner than expected due to heat waves over the summer that pushed the trees and fruit ahead of schedule. It was a larger crop overall but a shorter crop duration this year. We’re also seeing some underripe fruit in the remaining crop.    

Just in time for our menu planning, we’ve put together a Specialty Produce Planning Guide! Based on arrival dates from previous years and ETA’s from our farm partners, these are our best predictions for our arrivals.