California/Baja tomato crop gets more normal start than in 2006
California/Baja tomato crop gets more normal start than in 2006
The 2006 fresh-market tomato planting, growing and harvesting season in California and much of Baja California, Mexico, was marked by extremes of weather, ranging from an unseasonably cool and wet spring and early summer to an excessively hot late summer. Those vagaries affected the timing of the crop, the production curve and the quality, all factors that in turn triggered dramatic swings in market prices.
By contrast, the 2007 season so far has been characterized by what some in the industry describe as ideal planting and growing weather, leading to a more normal start date and prospects of a more even flow of good-quality product throughout the season.
Growers and marketers are quick to caution that Mother Nature can always spring surprises. There is no certainty, for example, that this summer won't bring another extreme heat wave that could shorten the late-season crop. But so far, as of early June, the season was shaping up very nicely.
According to Joe Bernardi of Bernardi & Associates Inc., who brokers the summer deal from the company's Turlock, CA, office, the weather so far has been "absolutely perfect."
In the mature green tomato deal from California's Central Valley, a couple of shippers in the Huron area had already started to harvest as of the week of June 4, and most of the others "will jump in the week of the 11th," Mr. Bernardi said. "Once they get going, we shouldn't see much of any interruption or hiccups through the deal" which he expects will go "until at least the middle of October."
The start of the 2007 mature green harvest came much earlier than in 2006, when cold, wet weather held back the early plantings by several weeks. When the weather finally warmed up about mid-summer, it did so with a vengeance, bringing on a heavy crop and causing fields that had been planted for harvest over several weeks to mature simultaneously. Markets were unprepared for the surge, and prices plummeted.
But the low prices were only temporary. The heat intensified and persisted, causing extensive bloom drop and bringing a premature end to the harvest in some fields. The resulting shortened supply led to strong pricing, so that some growers actually realized better overall returns on the lighter volumes than they had with larger volumes earlier in the season.
Dean Janssen, general manager of Ace Tomato Co. Inc., in Manteca, CA, which does not have acreage in the earliest districts and so started harvesting only about a week later than normal last year, said that the company started off its season in July with depressed markets. But 15 consecutive days with temperatures above 100 degrees "burned up enough tomatoes and reduced volume" to the point that prices rose to profitable levels "even though we had less yield."
This year, Mr. Janssen expected a fairly normal start date of around the end of June for the company's earliest fields in the Le Grand area.
Vine-ripes out of central Baja had been going for several weeks and the harvest in northern Baja was underway when The Produce News talked to Mark Munger of Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce in San Diego May 31. Prospects for the summer looked "very solid," Mr. Munger said. "We are virtually 100 percent shadehouse with very uniform quality and uniform production, so we are looking for consistent markets as we head into the summer months.
"Last year, we had that heat wave that caused bloom drop and really put us in a tough spot last August," he said. Such "unforeseen" weather events are always possible. But "right now ... the crop is healthy and in good condition," so prospects appeared promising for June and July.
In Oceanside, CA, Bill Wilbur of Oceanside Produce Inc. expected fairly normal timing for the company's vine-ripe rounds and Romas, based on planting dates. Expecting a wet winter, which did not materialize, Oceanside had "pushed everything as much as 30 days later on purpose "We are still a few weeks away from harvest," he said June 1. He expected some light volume about mid-July with peak season in later September and October.
Except for the winter being disappointingly dry (the complete opposite of what had been forecast), the weather has been good, and "everything is coming on very, very nicely," he said. "Everything is extremely healthy and we are looking forward to a very ... nice crop."
Deardorff Family Farms in Oxnard, CA, expected to begin harvesting a few tomatoes about mid- to late June with no significant volume until early to mid-July which, according to Deardorff's David Cook, is "about normal."
Last year, "the market was very good most of the time, once we got through July anyway," Mr. Cook said. This year, "We are looking forward to another good season, the market willing."
(For more on the Baja tomato deal, see the June 18 issue of The Produce News.)
By contrast, the 2007 season so far has been characterized by what some in the industry describe as ideal planting and growing weather, leading to a more normal start date and prospects of a more even flow of good-quality product throughout the season.
Growers and marketers are quick to caution that Mother Nature can always spring surprises. There is no certainty, for example, that this summer won't bring another extreme heat wave that could shorten the late-season crop. But so far, as of early June, the season was shaping up very nicely.
According to Joe Bernardi of Bernardi & Associates Inc., who brokers the summer deal from the company's Turlock, CA, office, the weather so far has been "absolutely perfect."
In the mature green tomato deal from California's Central Valley, a couple of shippers in the Huron area had already started to harvest as of the week of June 4, and most of the others "will jump in the week of the 11th," Mr. Bernardi said. "Once they get going, we shouldn't see much of any interruption or hiccups through the deal" which he expects will go "until at least the middle of October."
The start of the 2007 mature green harvest came much earlier than in 2006, when cold, wet weather held back the early plantings by several weeks. When the weather finally warmed up about mid-summer, it did so with a vengeance, bringing on a heavy crop and causing fields that had been planted for harvest over several weeks to mature simultaneously. Markets were unprepared for the surge, and prices plummeted.
But the low prices were only temporary. The heat intensified and persisted, causing extensive bloom drop and bringing a premature end to the harvest in some fields. The resulting shortened supply led to strong pricing, so that some growers actually realized better overall returns on the lighter volumes than they had with larger volumes earlier in the season.
Dean Janssen, general manager of Ace Tomato Co. Inc., in Manteca, CA, which does not have acreage in the earliest districts and so started harvesting only about a week later than normal last year, said that the company started off its season in July with depressed markets. But 15 consecutive days with temperatures above 100 degrees "burned up enough tomatoes and reduced volume" to the point that prices rose to profitable levels "even though we had less yield."
This year, Mr. Janssen expected a fairly normal start date of around the end of June for the company's earliest fields in the Le Grand area.
Vine-ripes out of central Baja had been going for several weeks and the harvest in northern Baja was underway when The Produce News talked to Mark Munger of Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce in San Diego May 31. Prospects for the summer looked "very solid," Mr. Munger said. "We are virtually 100 percent shadehouse with very uniform quality and uniform production, so we are looking for consistent markets as we head into the summer months.
"Last year, we had that heat wave that caused bloom drop and really put us in a tough spot last August," he said. Such "unforeseen" weather events are always possible. But "right now ... the crop is healthy and in good condition," so prospects appeared promising for June and July.
In Oceanside, CA, Bill Wilbur of Oceanside Produce Inc. expected fairly normal timing for the company's vine-ripe rounds and Romas, based on planting dates. Expecting a wet winter, which did not materialize, Oceanside had "pushed everything as much as 30 days later on purpose "We are still a few weeks away from harvest," he said June 1. He expected some light volume about mid-July with peak season in later September and October.
Except for the winter being disappointingly dry (the complete opposite of what had been forecast), the weather has been good, and "everything is coming on very, very nicely," he said. "Everything is extremely healthy and we are looking forward to a very ... nice crop."
Deardorff Family Farms in Oxnard, CA, expected to begin harvesting a few tomatoes about mid- to late June with no significant volume until early to mid-July which, according to Deardorff's David Cook, is "about normal."
Last year, "the market was very good most of the time, once we got through July anyway," Mr. Cook said. This year, "We are looking forward to another good season, the market willing."
(For more on the Baja tomato deal, see the June 18 issue of The Produce News.)
