During the past week, a large portion of the eastern United States experienced hot conditions, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees in many areas. Many areas in the more northerly regions have just commenced their eggplant season and the hot temperatures have resulted in very good growing conditions for the most part, with only rain causing a few headaches.
"Our growers' season just started a week ago," said Brian Knott of Grow Farms in Kentucky. "Quality is looking excellent and predictions are for an average volume crop this season. There has been a lot of heat and rain, which means the growers need to apply additional fungicides. Also the heat can stress the plants if it is excessive, however this has not been experienced so far. We are experiencing good demand from our regular customers to start the season and we hope it will continue through to when we finish in September."
New Jersey also having hot start
Over in New Jersey, eggplant growers there are also just getting started. The heat here has been welcomed as there hasn't been the rain to accompany it as in Kentucky. Growers note that the hot weather is set to stick around for the foreseeable future, with quality and volume expected to remain at good levels.
"The New Jersey season is starting this week and will continue through October," said John Molinelli. "The hot weather has been perfect for the eggplants and it looks to remain good for the next couple of weeks. Expectations are for volume to be close to the long term average. The majority of growers in New Jersey grow the Santana variety although a few growers still have the older Harris variety."
Market begins high as southern areas finish
With the transition between the southern eggplant growing regions to the northern, a slight gap in supply has appeared. This has resulted in a higher market right now. Growers note that this is normal for this period and expect prices to steadily decrease as more areas in the north come online.
"Towards the end of the Georgia season ten days ago, the markets were down to $9.00," Molinelli said. "This week, they have risen to between $15.00 and $17.00. It usually starts off high because there is a gap when the southern areas finish and before all the northern regions are ready to begin."
"Demand is excellent and there is very good movement right now," he continued. "Quality is also good and that should remain so for the next six weeks, at which point our second crop starts from the beginning of September."
