CASTROVILLE, CA - As Ocean Mist® Farms’ Castroville, California, lettuce program winds down, the grower prepares to transition to Coachella, CA, for the winter months. With so many moving parts, particularly in the Iceberg and leafy lettuce categories, I got in touch with Rick Bravo, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, to get a read on the market.

“The current market on both Iceberg lettuce and Romaine has been very active the past few weeks, with FOB pricing nearly double what it was one year ago. We anticipate active markets through the balance of the Salinas season,” Rick told me.

According to the latest Neilsen data, while some categories are down YoY in terms of shopper purchase demands, Ocean Mist has seen a rise in Romaine Heart movement. Rick relayed that supplies are at budgeted volumes for this time of year.

“While we typically have availability for most of our leafy greens year-round, summertime and heading into fall is when we see all categories harvesting consistently to provide supply to our customers during these months,” Rick explained. “Both supply and quality are similar to last year. We continue to watch the Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus (INSV) and its impact on our yields as the Salinas season winds down.”

Rick noted that Ocean Mist has not had any significant weather challenges other than the lack of rainfall. That being said, the company will not be growing and harvesting Iceberg lettuce in Huron this fall and has replaced this growing region with Iceberg lettuce from Oxnard.

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Ocean Mist® Farms