It has been a very challenging winter for most of the vine crops including squash and cucumber. "There's been cold weather and rainy overcast conditions in most of the southern regions including Florida and Mexico," says Bill Nardelli Sr. of Nardelli Brothers, adding that it's been a challenge from the holidays in December onward.
That said, with temperatures improving and weather that's more favorable for vine crops, this is anticipated to bring on better volume. "In the spring season, there are also more areas producing including southern and northern Florida and things will begin to start in Georgia," he says. After that, production will work its way through the Carolinas and then to New Jersey by the end of April to the first part of May.
Meanwhile demand for both commodities has been very good. "Anytime you get a reduction in a crop, demand always picks up because they can't find it in a lot of other areas so customers haven't been able to pull from different areas to to fulfill their needs," says Nardelli.
Consumers and their dollars
That tighter supply has made for stronger pricing on both squash and cucumber which can be a challenge given consumers are prioritizing their purchases. "Sometimes maybe they think they don't need a $3 cucumber. That price gets to a point where it will stop people from picking it up. They need the essentials and then they're looking for whatever else is reasonably priced," says Nardelli.
Also factoring into the stronger pricing are the significantly higher growing costs. "There are some new varieties of squash and cucumber that are at least producing well and we're getting good yields so that is one way to keep our costs down," Nardelli says.
Other factors impacting supply are also some growers discontinuing their growing operations or transitioning from crops that required more labor to field crops.
For more information:
Bill Nardelli Sr.
Nardelli Brothers
Tel.: +1 (856) 447-4000
https://nardellibrosinc.com/