Ippolito International's Bob Polovneff Details Transition to Yuma, Arizona, During 2025 Winter Season

SALINAS, CA - Having completed the majority of its transition to Yuma, Arizona, Ippolito International offered AndNowUKnow insights into current crop quality, weather challenges, and more.

“Through the month of December, we’ll be challenged with poor quality and limited supplies for some items. This is likely to be seen industry-wide across many grower-shippers of wet vegetables. Crops such as broccoli and cauliflower may be less affected, as they are more resilient in colder, wetter conditions,” Bob Polovneff, Director of Sales and Commodity Management, explained to me.

Brussels sprouts are currently still being grown and harvested in Salinas, California, and are expected to transition to Yuma in the latter half of January.

“It was very warm in the early part of November,” Bob noted, recalling the bout of 70+ degree days in California. “Currently, we are challenged with heavy rains, which can make access to fields difficult, resulting in field harvest delays and setbacks for the crews.”

Yuma, too, is experiencing ample rain, an unusual occurrence for the Southwest desert at this time of year.

“We’re seeing high-priced markets due to the quality and supply issues related to weather,” Bob added. “The weather has unfortunately been tough on quality, which means that our crews are unable to harvest everything in the field. When that happens, we can’t easily predict how many cases of product we will be able to salvage from the field. This has been happening across the board in the Salinas and Yuma growing regions, with Salinas being affected more than Yuma.”

We’ll reconvene with growers in the latter half of December to see how crops are faring. In the meantime, keep reading ANUK for more updates across the industry!