In a year where many commodity growers are reporting up or down yields or severe weather-affected crops, turnips out of Michigan are enjoying a steady-as-she-goes year.
“It’s a pretty typical season for us,” says Jordan Bremer of Victory Farm Sales LLC in Hudsonville, Mi. “The volume of our crop is similar to last year and the quality of turnips is good this year. We don’t have any issues with bugs or anything like that.”
Victory plants its crop in the early spring with its first harvest coming off in mid-June. “That continues until about mid-November,” Bremer says. “Once the ground freezes, we’re just unable to continue to harvest the turnips.”
Demand to pick up
While supply is steady, so is demand for now. “In the summer, we have low demand for turnips. But in the winter, especially before Thanksgiving, we have a spike in demand,” says Bremer. “We’re just getting into that increased demand as of about a week ago.”
Victory Farms sends the bulk of its turnips south to Florida but also east to New York. “Typically we stick to the Midwest and the Eastern seaboard. Florida. We don’t try to go too much out west. We also have some customers in Canada,” says Bremer.
Pricing to stay the same?
Pricing in turn is also proving to be average right now. “There seems to be a pretty good supply of turnips right now so I don’t think we’ll see a spike in prices. Typically the price stays pretty average for most of the year,” he says.
Generally, the only time Victory sees a lift in prices is in the spring. “A lot of growers tend to run out of product or need to start bringing it in out of California or Georgia,” says Bremer. “And then with the freight cost, the increased price reflects the cost of transportation.”
For more information:
Jordan Bremer
Victory Farms Sales, LLC.
Tel: +1 (616) 797-6690
[email protected]