California’s freeze will cost you at the grocery store

EVERETT – Lee Reynolds knows produce.

He can tell you which kind of orange grows in a region, how each fruit responds to cold and which lettuce fields are being harvested.

As director of produce for Haggen Food and Pharmacy stores, Reynolds also can predict how the local fruits and vegetables market will respond to last month’s freeze in California. Reynolds’ answer, however, doesn’t play out as neatly as patchwork fields of green. The price, availability and quality of each California crop will vary in the coming months.

The cold spell that seized California harmed nearly every major winter crop – oranges, avocados, artichokes – and caused an estimated $1 billion in losses.

“Everybody is scratching their heads wondering what’s going to happen,” he said.

Local buyers such as Reynolds immediately felt California’s cold when placing orders for citrus.

“Citrus essentially doubled overnight,” Reynolds said.

California grows roughly 24 percent of the country’s orange crop, but it produces 80 percent of the fresh oranges found in stores, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This week, California’s growers will pick the oranges that were on the trees when the freeze hit, Reynolds said. They’ll let the fruit sit about a week before slicing into it to determine whether it’s good. Extreme cold causes the water inside an orange to freeze, creating dead pockets and rendering the fruit spoiled.

On Thursday, fellow produce aficionado Mike Locking with Shawn’s Quality Produce in Everett saw naval orange prices suddenly drop. Part of that price reduction is because California growers only shipped a limited amount of pre-freeze product and drove up prices in order to curb demand.

“It’s been tough getting product,” Locking said.

Should the original loss estimate play out, grocery stores and distributors could look to Florida to supply some fresh oranges, but they expect prices to remain high.

California produces the majority – 87 percent – of the nation’s lemon crop. Nearly all of the fresh lemons available at grocery stores come from California. Only 1 percent of fresh lemons comes from somewhere outside California, according to the USDA.

Lemons, which have a lower sugar content, tend to freeze more readily than oranges, Reynolds said.

“Lemons are going to be a huge issue coming into Lent and Easter,” he said.

By summertime, Arizona’s lemon crop will mature, which should provide some relief.

It’s not just citrus that suffered in California’s freeze. Lettuce could be one of the tougher fruits or vegetables to come by in future months.

The lettuce market has stumbled from several problems – the freeze damaged a good deal of the crops while prolonged cold weather made it difficult to harvest the lettuce that survived, Locking said.

As a result, salad lovers should prepare themselves to pay nearly twice the price, get only about half as many decent leaves, and see fewer crisp, tasty greens.

“It’s edible,” Locking said. “It just doesn’t look very good.

“There are going to be quality issues for weeks and weeks.”

The lettuce supply for the Northwest comes from a number of fields in California and Arizona with the lettuce crop in each region maturing at a slightly different time.

The problem? The next several fields in the lettuce line suffered significant damage from the freeze. For most, the growing season is too short to replant, creating a long supply gap. It could be mid-April to May before the lettuce market rebounds.

Deals on avocados this week – with large avocados as low as five for $5 – might provide shoppers with a false sense of security. But buyers beware: Higher prices are on the way.

Avocados in the store come from Mexico or Chile – countries with different growing cycles than the United States, Reynolds said. California avocados typically show up in local markets later in February and provide the bulk of product through August.

Not all the news out of California is bad.

Expect juicier, plumper “stone” fruit – peaches, nectarines, cherries and plums. These need cold for their inner fruit to set, Reynolds said.

Those in the produce market get used to taking the good with the bad.

“You ain’t going to change Mother Nature,” Reynolds said. “All we can do is hope for the best.”