“It was simply too cold and wet in the spring to get plants in the ground on time in Michigan this year,” said Calvert Cullen, president of Cheriton, VA-based Northampton Growers Produce Sales Inc., in mid-June. “Everything is planted now, and we’re now getting some really good weather there. We expect things to pick up quickly and that we’ll have nice volumes and great quality in Michigan this year. We will start harvesting around July 4, which is about 10 days later than normal.”

He noted that producers along the entire East Coast, from Florida northward, were unable to get on a normal schedule this year and there was little chance for any region to get out of the gate early.

Like everyone up and down the East, Northampton Growers has been running late in all of its growing regions since the start in Florida. That trend has continued all the way into Michigan this year.

“We’ll start harvesting there around July 4, which is about 10 days later than normal,” said Cullen.

Northampton Growers produces a wide variety of field commodities such as cabbages, bell and specialty peppers, eggplant, summer and hard squashes, corn, cucumbers, onions and greens and more.

The company ships its fresh produce under the “Plantation” brand in Georgia and Virginia. In North Carolina, it uses the “Mattanuskeett” label — after its namesake lake — on product from the Fairfield, NC, area. The company ships its product throughout the eastern United States, the Midwest and into Canada.

Cullen is partners with Steve McCready, who is also the company’s comptroller. Founded in 1959, the company has evolved from a two-person operation to a staff of 30 full time in-house employees.

There is an upside to producers in every eastern region running northward to be late this season in that it means there should be a window for everyone without major gluts.

“This will keep demand and prices strong,” said Cullen. “But we’re also facing a really tough trucking challenge this year. With new regulations in effect there just aren’t enough trucks available. Now gas prices are once again climbing. We’re paying the highest prices for freight than we ever have in the past, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better.”

Northampton Growers will run its Michigan crops through mid-September, and then the company heads back south. It grows in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, following the seasons back and forth every year.

“We will be back in the Carolinas in mid-September, and following that program we’ll move on to Georgia and then again to Florida,” said Cullen. “But then that’s the time of year that we switch our concerns from running late due to cold and wet springs to the high risk of crop loss from tropical storms and hurricanes. They can really do a number on us during our fall growing season. There have been more than a few times over the few decades when storms have wiped out our crop.

“Despite the risks, when we are on schedule and have good supplies and great quality, we count our blessings,” he said.