Weather and Food Updates

The challenging weather situation outlined in our blog post California is Freezing (and so is the Broccoli) continues. Some valleys near Yuma had lows of -6 for several nights. The coastal region of Northern Mexico, down to the Gulf of California, were expected to have temperatures of 5, maybe as low as -2. All areas north of Los Mochis froze. This region is where field cucumbers, zucchinis, tomatoes, English cucumbers, eggplants, green beans, and more, are grown. Unfortunately, these plants do not recover from this kind of damage: once they freeze, they die. What has survived will grow more slowly.

The entire Salinas region of California was hit very hard, with sub-freezing temperatures and higher humidity resulting in frosts  damaging their lettuce, spinach, and broccoli.

Producers in all areas are saying that this freeze was not only as cold as the devastating freeze of February 2009, the timing was worse for the plants, and the cold lasted for several days. It is still too early to know the full extent of this tragic situation.

So far, here are some of the items that are already being impacted by this bizarre weather:

Celery will be smaller, as frozen outer leaves are being trimmed off prior to shipping the product from the farm.

Lettuce is probably most affected in the short term: Iceburg has been wiped out, romaine is being trimmed back and sold primarily as romaine hearts, and lots of salad mix greens and leafy lettuces have been destroyed, with supply down to only about 15% of normal for this time of year. The recovery could take any where from 2 to 6 weeks.

Broccoli has been delayed for up to 10 days, which make supplies tight and prices higher for several weeks.

Citrus growth is now being by impacted the cold weather. Sturdier fruit like Valencia oranges and grapefruit are not affected a lot yet, but small "easy-peelers" – mandarins, clementines, and tangerines – are experiencing damage.

Peas and beans may be a problem for weeks, or even months. Growers are reporting losing over 2 million pounds of sugar snap peas each.

Green onions have frozen tips and other damage, so there will probably be shortages and what is available will probably be smaller.

Some items may have a temporary glut as veggies picked early to save them from the cold fill the market: chard, bunch beets, cilantro, and romaine hearts are predicted to be readily available for a couple of weeks, and then may experience shortages once the early harvest has run out.

We will probably all find the next couple of weeks a bit challenging in terms of variety, but we will be working with our suppliers to get the best prices possible and keep our bins as abundant as we can.

This might be an excellent time to break out your favourite root vegetable recipes, though - please email us if you have a great one, as we'd love to share it on our blog and in our newsletter. To send us a recipe, or if you have any questions or concerns, please call Melissa or Esther at 604-708-2345 (or 250-704-0660 in Victoria) or email us at info@greenearthorganics.com.