Many eyes are on Florida's upcoming strawberry season post-Hurricane Milton.
"It's of great concern to us because we do use a fair amount of Florida berries. That's our main growing region because they're so close," says Blair Greenhill, VP of purchasing for Nickey Gregory Company based in Forest Park, Georgia. He says damage to the Florida planted crop is still being assessed and will continue to be for a few weeks. "After Milton, some growers still have no power. We're still waiting on good assessments of what damage we're really looking at down there. Some have more than others but I think we're looking at a bit of a delay on the season there," he says, noting typically, it begins its Florida season in November. "The hurricane had a great effect on that Dover-Plant City area and that is basically the Florida headquarters for strawberries. We just hope the growers haven't been hit too hard. There's been enough damage from Hurricane Helene to growers in the southeast, particularly south Georgia. "
Meanwhile, for now, good supplies of strawberries continue from California. "Salinas-Watsonville is still going right now but they're at the tail end of the season and probably only have a few weeks left and the quality might not be there," says Greenhill, adding that Santa Maria has good production at the moment and Oxnard is increasing its production.
Greenhill says there may be a delay to the start of the Florida strawberry season.
Mexican strawberry production
Mexico also has supply coming online, though it's on the early side of its season.
As for demand, while it's been weaker than normal lately, this week it has started to strengthen again and that's expected to continue.
How about pricing? "It's well below normal for this time of year. Typically as you're getting into the fall, strawberries become less available and more expensive–it's just the supply and demand of it. However with good supply and weaker demand, pricing is as reasonable as you'll probably ever see at this time of year," says Greenhill.
Strawberries will be one of the many topics Nickey Gregory Co. will be discussing at this week's Global Produce & Floral Show at its booth, BC635.
For more information:
Blair Greenhill
Nickey Gregory Company
Tel: +1 (404) 366-7410
https://nickeygregory.com/