Season
No storage, no slack. The origin swaps coasts twice a year like the rest of the leafy deal.
Commodity playbook
Who ships spinach
| Shipper | Town | County |
|---|---|---|
| Taylor Farms | Salinas, CA | Monterey |
| Church Brothers Farms | Salinas, CA | Monterey |
| Tanimura and Antle | 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. Spinach mostly moves through their wash-and-pack plants rather than straight from the cooler.
Ask for the processing plant's traffic desk, not just the cooler. Bagged salad and baby leaf run out of dedicated wash-and-pack facilities on tight production schedules, and those plants ship to distribution centres on firm appointments. Raw field spinach for foodservice is a separate, simpler flow.
Where it hauls
The leafy green rotation, same as lettuce. The Salinas Valley from about April to November, with Santa Maria and Oxnard on the shoulders. Yuma County, Arizona and the Imperial Valley from November to March. Spinach differs from head lettuce in one important way: most of it goes through a processing plant to be washed and bagged rather than shipping as raw field product, which adds a step and a schedule. The growers and processors to know:
How to open
"Are you setting up for the desert transition? I run tight-temperature reefer and I understand what the clock looks like on baby leaf."
To the coolers and plants, September into OctoberBringing up traceability shows you know this commodity's history. Spinach carries the produce industry's most serious food safety memory, and shippers expect a carrier to take lot integrity seriously.
Qualifying questions
- What is the setpoint, and how tight? Baby leaf runs just above freezing, around 33 to 34 degrees, with almost no tolerance. It wilts and yellows visibly within a day of warming. Confirm the setpoint and that the unit runs continuous.
- How many days of shelf life is on it? Bagged spinach has one of the shortest shelf lives in the aisle. Ask how many days the pack carries and match it to the transit. A load that is legally on time can arrive commercially worthless.
- Bagged and washed, or raw field product? Processed baby leaf comes out of a plant on a production schedule with firm appointments. Raw bunched spinach for foodservice is simpler and less time-critical. Ask which.
- What are the traceability requirements? This commodity carries the industry's strictest lot tracking for good historical reason. Expect requirements on seals, documentation and trailer condition, and take them seriously.
- Salinas or Yuma right now? It flips in November and again in April. Asking this way tells them you know the whole leafy deal moves, not just that you want a load.
When to call
September and October ahead of the desert season, and February and March ahead of the return to Salinas. Those two transitions are when the carrier base is in the wrong state and the shipper is genuinely looking. Mid-season the plants are running to schedule and there is no room to try anyone new.
Sources
- Salinas Valley and Arizona leafy green production reporting: the Salinas Valley growing almost half the nation's lettuce and about a third of its spinach, and about 90% of US leafy vegetables grown from November to March coming 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.