Winter weather is on its way as indicated by this week's "bomb cyclone" in the United States' Northwest and Western Canadian regions as well as the risk of snow next week on the West Coast, central U.S. and the Northeast. What does this mean for produce ahead of one of the busiest holidays?
"I think most of the product needs are already in transit and what isn't, will be by this weekend," says Ken Gad of South Easton, MA-based Cambridge Farms, Inc. "There's enough already moving or in the hands of the retailers. Shortages, if any, will be filled with regional suppliers."
Consumers shopping early
As consumers see headlines of storms, that's likely to influence shopping habits ahead of Thanksgiving. "I anticipate that there's going to be extremely large pulls this weekend. If you're paying attention to the weatherman, you're going to get your holiday produce ahead of time," says Brett Baker of United Apple Sales based in Lyndonville, NY.
Photo: National Weather Service.
"Our experience has been that even when these weather events do come up, grower-shippers as well as customers prepare themselves a bit ahead of time. People aren't running out so much at the last minute. Most people don't want to drive in bad weather so they do the purchasing to get them in the house," says Bill Nardelli Sr. of Nardelli Brothers.
While Baker agrees that orders for Thanksgiving are largely placed already, the nature of retailing may affect backup supply. "In the current marketplace, we have so many retailers on their own private labels and it makes it much more difficult to have safety stock," he says. "Ten years ago when we had a lot of generic or more state-specific inventory, it was easier to have and offer emergency last-minute supply."
West Coast weather
On the West Coast, earlier this week in British Columbia, Canada, winds as part of a "bomb cyclone" left more than 270,000 customers without power. Stefan Misse of Discovery Organics in Vancouver notes that in rural regions where power outages take longer to repair, there's concern around refrigerated product if the power is out longer than a day. "If this happens, they would likely reorder in a much bigger volume to restock before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday which puts pressures on wholesalers' inventory," he says.
"The impact from this weather system won't have much effect here other than maybe pushing the Salinas area to finish a little sooner than expected if the system makes it down that far," says Russ Widerburg of Valley Produce, adding that the weather is affecting mostly Northern California and the Northwest.
For more information:
Ken Gad
Cambridge Farms Inc.
[email protected]
Brett Baker
United Apple Sales
https://unitedapplesales.com/
Bill Nardelli Sr.
Nardelli Brothers
https://nardellibrosinc.com/
Stefan Misse
Discovery Organics
www.discoveryorganics.ca
Russ Widerburg
Valley Produce
[email protected]