Fresh red, white and gold potato supply from California is winding down. "These are some of the last potatoes available on fresh supply from California and we'll probably be finished by the middle of next week," says James Paul of Greg Paul Produce Sales Inc.
© Greg Paul Produce
Typically the fresh potato season starts in southern California and then moves into regions such as Bakersfield and Edison, and then, into Stockton-Delta. "We started this year around July 3. That was a little bit later than we'd like to be but it was not too bad," says Paul, adding that the season is finishing up as per usual, around the middle of September.
This all follows really good growing conditions this summer in California, which in turn led to some increased yields. Good seed and good field rotations also helped the crop.
Washington season ahead
After California, the production of fresh potatoes moves into western Washington.
© Greg Paul Produce
As for fresh potato demand, it was fair. "It's not like the old days of produce where you have various retailers and relationships that react to the supply available to them. It's all more just programmed and so it doesn't correlate anymore with what the crop availability is," says Paul, noting that on the farming side of the equation, there continues to be a big difference between what the actual cost of food is and what people are paying for it. "Before COVID we were accustomed to companies such as retailers being happy with 40-50 percent profit margins. Since then, we now see 400-500 percent being the profit margin at the retail store, and there's no end in sight. Meanwhile there's continued rising costs for food. However the increases are not making it back to the producer."
This has all left pricing softer on red potatoes this season while white and gold pricing was steady and consistent. 'Reds unfortunately just continue to drop in popularity for one reason or another, across the country. They continue to be displaced by the gold potato as far as what's popular with consumers, and found in most online recipes these days," says Paul.
For more information:
James Paul
Greg Paul Produce Sales, Inc.
Tel: +1 (209) 952-0580
[email protected]
www.gregpaulproduce.com