Demand seems to be shifting for Quebec lettuce varieties. "We grow leaf lettuce, iceberg, and romaine, which are sweeter lettuces than what's growing in California. While the amount grown this season dedicated to lettuce is the same, there is less demand for leaf lettuce and more demand for romaine hearts and iceberg," says Alex Zenebisis of Eagle Export, Inc./Alcaro Farms.
At the same time, demand continues to be strong for Canadian product, though the company distributes to the U.S. northeast, midwest and southeast along with domestic distribution in Quebec and Ontario. However there's only so much capacity that Canadian farmers have to meet that demand.
Later start to season
Meanwhile, the Quebec lettuce season is starting about two weeks later this year. "Two weeks ago, it was a bit cold but there was also a lot of wind. At that time, everything was growing under tarps to protect them from the cold and tarps were blowing away," says Zenebisis. Subsequently, a lot of the early lettuce was frozen or died so growers had to start over.
As for pricing, he hopes for it to be stronger this season. "The last two seasons were very bad because of the weather and we're hoping that this season, the weather holds up and things go back to normal, especially for lettuce production," Zenebisis says. "When we were exporting in the last two years, we had to compensate with other products because we couldn't rely on the lettuce."
Following this start, the season should go until October or first frost.
For more information:
Alex Zenebisis
Eagle Export, Inc./Alcaro Farms
Tel: +1 (450) 992-0521
[email protected]
www.eaglexport.ca