There is a good supply of sweet corn right now. "Florida is finished as well as the majority of the Georgia crop and there's a little bit in Virginia and the Carolinas," says Bill Nardelli Sr. of Nardelli Brothers. "So now most people are swinging up to New Jersey for sweet corn and they'll transition to that." There is also local corn in the Midwest and the Northeast.
New Jersey is seeing a strong sweet corn crop this season. While the growing conditions have been hot and dry, Nardelli Brothers' corn is grown in 100 percent irrigated fields, and, in turn, that's produced corn with good quality with good volume and yields. "If you had irrigated ground and you were able to continue to do that, it worked out. Anybody that was non-irrigated, their yields have been way off and they've suffered some losses on that corn as well as field corn."
Strong sweet corn demand
Meanwhile, demand for sweet corn has been strong. "There was an oversupply of corn towards the end of June. There was too much of it and the rainy weekends in the Northeast curtailed some movement. Now, for the most part, demand is exceeding supply for good quality corn," says Nardelli Sr.
What's also helping demand is the continued growth in demand for tray-pack corn–Nardelli Brothers does four ears in an overwrapped tray–which reflects consumers' increasing interest in grab-and-go produce.
All of this is leaving pricing in the mid-teens to $20 on sweet corn. "It'll stay that way until more local production comes on," says Nardelli Sr. "When they start production in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois, that'll take things off a bit and we won't be servicing quite as many areas. Though I think there'll still be good demand for good quality corn all summer long."
For more information:
Bill Nardelli Sr.
Nardelli Brothers
Tel.: +1 (856) 447-4000
https://nardellibrosinc.com/