Fairly normal starting date for Vineland Produce Auction
Fairly normal starting date for Vineland Produce Auction
VINELAND, NJ — The Vineland Produce Auction opened “a little later this year than last year because of the weather,” according to the auction’s Carol DeFoor. The long-running auction opened the 2013 season on April 26, about two weeks later than last year’s extremely early start but pretty much in line with historical norms, she noted.
“Volume is picking up. We started squash today,” she told The Produce News May 14. “We have the greens, asparagus, all the lettuces.” She was expecting “substantial” volume on many items by around June 3.
DeFoor, who joined the auction in April 2011, noted that 2011 was the best year in terms of sales for the Vineland Produce Auction, 2012 was comparable to some other years, and she was “hoping for a good year” in 2013, stating, “We try to be positive.”
A key aspect to the Vineland Produce Auction is a warehouse facility that it obtained about 10 years ago.
Located across the street from the auction, this warehouse stores many non-perishable items, such as plastic row covering, bags, baskets, wooden crates, rubber bands, twine and twist ties, which it buys in bulk, saving money for individual farmers who don’t have to purchase these items on their own.
The warehouse is around 30,000 square feet and has increased its inventory over the years, according to Robert Pustizzi, warehouse manager, who joined the auction in 2011. He cited greenhouse supplies and soil as two areas showing growth, “but everything is selling pretty well,” he said. “I think we’re more competitive [on pricing] than we were before.”
He added, “We will try to source anything [the farmers] look for. And we can customize cartons, crates, twist ties,” with a company’s name or logo.
It was a relatively quiet winter for the auction, with no new construction projects going on, concluded DeFoor. The auction utilized the winter months primarily for general maintenance to prepare for the new season. As she said simply, “We’re ready for another season.”
