The one- and two-pound bags of mini sweet peppers have become a main stream item at many supermarkets helping to grow the category and increase sales.

At least this is the view of Mike Aiton, marketing manager at Prime Time Sales Inc., which is located in Coachella, CA, and is one of the nation’s premier growers of sweet peppers.

He said sales of this relatively new item probably cannibalize traditional bell pepper sales for some consumers, but overall they represent a boost in sales for the pepper category, which has been on a growth curve for at least a decade.

“Buyers who use to take two to three pallets of the mini sweet peppers at a time are now taking 10-15 pallets and it’s a truckload item for many of the larger chains,” Aiton said.

“Pepper consumption is trending upward year after year and we look at the mini peppers as a great way to stimulate sales,” he added.

Speaking on April 18, Prime Time was sourcing those mini peppers, as well as red, yellow and orange bells from La Paz, Mexico, but the harvest was getting ready to shift to its home region in the Coachella Valley.

“By the time this article hits, we will be harvesting all of these spring vegetables in the desert,” he said.

Green bell peppers had already made the transition, as Aiton said perfect growing conditions for the past several months have resulted in about a week earlier start to the Coachella Valley vegetable deal. Besides peppers, Prime Time also grows and markets green beans, watermelons and sweet corn from the area during this time of the year. He said the early start could very well result in an early finish. “The next location (where we grow) could be early as well but people should be careful because by the end of June, supplies could be down (for the peppers).”

He said the same earlier-than-usual situation is true for watermelons and sweet corn and that could create a demand exceeds supply situation as soon as the Memorial Day weekend pull for those two crops. After Coachella, Prime Time moves its harvesting crews up to the San Joaquin Valley and then over to the Ventura County area as the summer moves to fall.

Ironically, Coachella Valley, which is a desert growing region, has no real water issues this year as its gets its pre-determined allocation from the Colorado River.

Other areas in California aren’t so lucky and Aiton said supplies of many items could be impacted this year.

“For this year, we don’t have any issues and we are going to be growing our normal production in all of our districts, but I have heard that some growers are cutting back because of lack of water. I do not have any first-hand knowledge of that but it is what everyone is talking about,” he said.

Going into the switch of production areas, Aiton said the pepper market has been quite good and he is expecting it to remain in a strong position for the foreseeable future.