Season
No storage. Cut, cooled and gone, out of whichever valley is in season.
Commodity playbook
Who ships broccoli
| Shipper | Town | County |
|---|---|---|
| Taylor Farms | Salinas, CA | Monterey |
| Church Brothers Farms | Salinas, CA | Monterey |
| Tanimura and Antle | Salinas, CA | Monterey |
| D'Arrigo California | Salinas, CA | Monterey |
| JV Smith Companies | Yuma, AZ | Yuma |
| Amigo Farms | Yuma, AZ | Yuma |
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The same grower-shippers that run the lettuce deal. Broccoli rides the rotation with it.
Ask for the cooler or the traffic desk. Broccoli is a commodity item for these companies rather than a headline crop, which works in your favour: it moves constantly, it is less glamorous than salads, and the person tendering it is more interested in a truck that shows up than in a story.
Where it hauls
The same rotation that carries lettuce. The Salinas Valley from roughly April to November, running south through Gonzales, Soledad and King City, with Santa Maria and Oxnard covering the shoulders. Yuma County, Arizona from November to March. Broccoli travels with the leafy green deal because it is grown by the same companies, cooled in the same facilities and loaded on the same trucks. The coolers to know:
How to open
"Are you moving broccoli out of the desert yet, or still Salinas? I'd like to get set up ahead of the transition."
To the coolers, September into OctoberBroccoli is often the load nobody wants because it ices heavy and it is not the customer's priority. Say you will take it and you have found the opening most brokers walk past.
Qualifying questions
- Is it iced, and how much? Broccoli is often package-iced or liquid-iced, which adds real weight and drips. Ask how it is cooled and how much ice is on it, because it changes both your gross and what the trailer looks like on arrival.
- What is the setpoint? It runs just above freezing, around 32 to 34 degrees, and it is unforgiving. Broccoli yellows fast when it warms. Confirm the setpoint and that the unit runs continuous, not cycling.
- Crowns or bunched? Crowns pack denser and travel better; bunched product is bulkier and more fragile. The pack changes the count, the weight and the handling. Ask before you quote.
- Salinas or Yuma right now? It flips in November and again in April. The answer tells you whether you are quoting a coastal lane or a desert one, and it tells them you know the deal moves.
- What is the appointment at the receiver? Most of this goes to retail distribution centres on firm appointments. Get the window and what a miss costs, because on a product with days of shelf life a reschedule is a rejection.
When to call
September and October ahead of the desert season, and February and March ahead of the move back to Salinas. Those transitions are the two weeks a year when a shipper's regular carriers are all in the wrong state. Mid-season the freight is steady but the seats are taken.
Sources
- Salinas Valley production reporting: the valley grows almost half the nation's lettuce and about a third of its spinach, and makes about half its broccoli and cauliflower. montereycfb.com
- Arizona Leafy Greens: about 90% of US leafy vegetables grown from November to March come from the Yuma area, supported by 22 coolers and 10 salad plants. arizonaleafygreens.org
- The September to October and February to March call windows. Reasoned from the published season transition rather than a shipper's stated booking schedule.