In late July, Joe Bernardi, president of Bernardi & Associates, was doing what he does every day: finding tomatoes for his many customers around the country.

Bernardi is a true broker who works deals across the country to fill the different needs of his customer, be they processors, foodservice suppliers or wholesalers. His company is headquartered in Nogales, AZ, where he spends the majority of his time. But he also has field offices in other locations, including Tracy, CA, where the firm’s chief executive officer spends his summers closely monitoring the California mature green deal. Recently, he told The Produce News that this ability to source from all regions in North America is what sets him apart and allows him to service his customers with the best tomatoes on any given day. “Any individual shipper goes through their high and low points but we do such a wide range of business that we are a big part of the program for a number of different shippers” at the same time.

Patty and Chuck ThomasHe said the mature green market in late July was fairly decent at about $9 per carton. He expected the market to strengthen in mid-August as several regional deals across the country come to their demise.

He added that the local home-grown deals had some weather problems this year — especially across the northern half of the United States and into Canada — which most likely cut into their total volume.

The vine-ripe market was also good as the mature green market tends to prop it up a bit. In addition, Bernardi said the Mexican domestic market was also very strong, which meant siphoning some of the vine ripes from Baja California away from the U.S. market.

Bernardi expected the California mature green deal to be relatively strong throughout the summer and fall because there is less acreage this year, resulting in less volume. California also had drought conditions this year with water allocations being cut back. This no doubt will affect some fields though gauging its effect is virtually impossible. However, less water could affect sizing and thus reduce yields.