Michael Shapiro, part of the sales team at Weis-Buy Farms Inc. in Fort Myers, FL, said it’s hard to talk about marketplace dynamics for fresh produce during the winter without talking about weather impacts.

“The misery index in the northeastern and midwestern United States came close to a record this year,” he told The Produce News.

Weis-Buy Farms is a grower, shipper and broker of all fruits and vegetables.

“We specialize in tomatoes of all kinds, peppers, cucumbers and squash,” he added. “If the produce is fresh, Weis-Buy can find it for our customers.”

Other items include more traditional fruits and vegetables such as eggplant, oranges, grapefruit, asparagus and watermelon.

“We also handle limes, mangos, papaya, avocado, pineapple, chili peppers, strawberries, blueberries, cabbage and more,” Shapiro continued. “We are shippers of Dominican Republic red, yellow and orange pepper and tomatoes.”

Commodities are moved from Pompano Beach, FL, for distribution throughout the United States.

“The weather in the northern United States this winter affected the produce business,” Shapiro said.

“There was more snow and significant snowstorms than during most years. It extended from the Pacific Northwest across the central and upper Midwest states all the way to New England,” he continued. “Traveling was hazardous for many weeks. This prevented many people from leaving their homes to visit restaurants and shop for fresh produce. They relied more on frozen items so they wouldn’t have to leave their homes during difficult and dangerous outdoor conditions. Schools were also closed for more days than normal.”

Shapiro said cold fronts moving through growing areas affected crops. “The December through March bad weather caused considerable harm to the pepper, cucumber and tomato crop in Florida and in Mexico,” Shapiro stated. “Rain and cold weather always adversely affects tender vegetables.”

Winter weather events have resulted in some produce shortages. “Now there are no Florida cucumbers,” Shapiro said to illustrate. “They are coming from Honduras. Tomato prices have remained fairly steady so far this winter. The early cold fronts caused a bloom drop that’s happening now with tomato plants and much lower yields.”

At the current time, Shapiro said Florida tomato supplies are low, and he anticipated price increases.

“Florida cucumbers will start harvesting in late March or early April along with the squashes, which should hit volume in late March and cause prices to drop,” he added.

The winter scenario means that Weis-Buy is taking advantage of business partnerships in Mexico and other offshore relationships to produce moving. “We are supplying our customers with a lot of Mexican tomatoes to meet their needs. Because Mexico has a land route into the U.S., we have been concentrating on import into McAllen, TX and Nogales, AZ,” he said.

Weis-Buy has a full-time employee based in McAllen who monitors product quality to ensure the best produce is shipped to customers.

Weis-Buy’s customer base is primarily located east of the Mississippi. “We have a very diverse group of customers. We deliver regularly to Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Birmingham, Kentucky, West Virginia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, South Carolina and Florida,” Shapiro noted. “When conditions are suitable, we even deliver to Los Angeles. That’s just the beginning.”

Weis-Buy is working to expand its manifest to include imports of items such as limes, pineapple, asparagus, colored pepper and tomatoes from countries such as Colombia and Peru.

“We have traveled there to meet one-on-one with growers and shippers,” he said. “It’s part of our effort to provide better quality and more competitive prices to our customers.”

Shapiro said the national focus on increasing fresh produce consumption is working. “The Produce Marketing Association, the White House and other high profile organizations have been encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables,” he commented. “Consumption has increased. The concern is that Americans, including children, are overweight. There are more reported cases of diabetes and other health issues. Diets have to be changed to eat fewer processed foods, less carbohydrates and sugars. A report just released shows that the effort is working. Now if we could only get Americans up to Canada’s goal of 10 fruits and vegetables a day, life would be more perfect.”