California spinach looks good for supplies

With good weather on its side, supplies are healthy for spinach out of California. “Supplies are very very plentiful for spinach,” says Frank Ratto of Ratto Bros Inc. in Modesto, Ca. “I believe the Salinas Valley, Oxnard and Santa Maria as well have strong supplies of spinach.” In addition to spinach coming out of California, Ratto says that New Jersey and the Southeast region are also in production with the leafy green.

Early start
Production in California kicked off slightly earlier this year. “All the leafy green commodities across the board did start early because the weather was so spectacular. We got started in the middle of April and supplies have been strong since,” he says. He also adds that the early spring rains did have the potential to affect things but the effects look minimal. “It affected some commodities but mainly created some harvest difficulties and affected plantings,” he says. “Typically you’ll see a gap thereafter because people couldn’t get into the ground to plant but I don’t think that was much of an issue.”

With demand looking equally steady for spinach, that’s also keeping prices more even. “The markets haven’t surged to very high prices. I’ve seen the average cost around $12.50,” he says. That’s slightly lower than last year’s pricing at this time which was around $14-$15. “Last year everyone was affected by the rain so pricing was very very high in general on almost everything,” Ratto adds.

For more information:
Frank Ratto
Ratto Bros
Tel: +1 (209) 545-7575
fratto@RattoBros.com
www.rattobros.com