SALINAS, CA - As a kid, broccoli was my least favorite vegetable and boy, was 5-year-old me wrong. Easily my favorite as a 26-year-old adult, the addition of broccoli to a plate elevates every meal—a fact of life I will stand by until death. In order to learn more about this cruciferous veggie and the state of its season, I spoke with Ippolito International’s Bill Vargas, Sales/Lettuce & Broccoli Commodity Manager.
“Light supplies make for a strong market, and the market is strong because of holiday pull,” Bill says. “Demand is high, especially in Yuma where most of the tonnage of product is from.”
This high demand is unsurprising to me, because who doesn’t feature broccoli as part of their holiday spread?
“Quality at this time is down right near perfect,” Bill tells me, stoking my desire to go out and purchase some of the stuff right now. Broccoli, Bill lays out for me, is currently being harvested in California in Salinas, Santa Maria, Imperial, and Coachella Valley; in Arizona in Yuma and Phoenix; and in Mexico.
“We may, however, see problems due to the cooler temperatures in Yuma and Salinas, which are slowing the growth on broccoli. If weather warms up in the near future there will be increased supplies and I would expect markets to ease up. It’s just hard to predict when that will happen,” he adds.
Encourage your consumers to stock up, retailers, because they’ll be sad to miss out on broccoli this holiday season. I know I would.
