February 12, 2010

Mushrooms

Market Snapshot*

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was not reporting shipping point prices for mushrooms. Following are selected terminal market prices:

Atlanta: 10-pound cartons, large, white, California-grown, $17; small, $16.50-17.50; jumbo, Pennsylvania-grown, $18.50; large, $15-16; portabella, large, $15; medium, $11.50-12.50.

Los Angeles: 10-pound cartons, medium and small white, Pennsylvania-grown, $14-15; medium and small from California, $14-15; portabellas, 5-pound cartons, large and small, $3 per pound.

* Prices from the USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Market News, Feb.10.

The Shipping Scene

Heavy snow in Pennsylvania has made delivering mushrooms a challenge, but grower-shippers were working to meet their commitments, and they say the cold weather should not affect the quality of the product.

The period between Christmas and Easter typically is a slow time, with the exception of an uptick in Valentine's Day business, said Paul Frederic, senior vice president of sales and marketing for To-Jo Mushrooms in Avondale, Pa.

Frederic was in South Carolina this week meeting with a foodservice distributor who was busy planning promotions and targeting accounts. Frederic said the time is right for retail mushroom promotions, as well.

He also said it's not too early to start thinking about ordering mushrooms for Easter, April 4.

"That is a strong pull period for us," Frederic said.

To-Jo Mushrooms grows white and brown mushrooms, including portabellas, and also offers yellow and gray oyster varieties and shitakes and maitakes. The company sources other varieties, including wild mushrooms, from outside suppliers.

With well over 2 feet of snow on the ground, getting trucks out on time and making delivers can be difficult, but so far, To-Jo Mushrooms has performed very well, Frederic said early this week.

"We pride ourselves on the service side," he said.

Mushrooms are grown indoors, and this time of year actually is a good production period, he said. But cold, wet weather and snow can affect the condition of the compost, which is critical for producing good-quality mushrooms.

"It makes it tougher to get the degree of consistency that you're looking for," Frederic said.

To-Jo recently acquired a small, local farm that will add 11 new growing rooms and several rooms for specialty mushrooms.

Supplies at some companies around the U.S. are tight, said Fred Recchiuti, general manager at Basciani Mushroom Farms in Avondale. But there are plenty of mushrooms available from Basciani's.

"We've been very fortunate that our yields haven't dropped," Recchiuti said. "We have the supply, and we're not shorting any customers."

Demand has been strong.

"We're selling out every day," Recchiuti said. In fact, he said the company has been filling in shorts for companies that can't meet demand.

The company is installing Produce Pro software, which will help Basciani meet Produce Traceability Initiative milestones, he added.

"We are Looking at PTI as an opportunity to get leaner, meaner and more efficient as an organization," he said.

Business also is booming at the Arroyo Grande, Calif., organic facility of Watsonville, Calif.-based Monterey Mushrooms, said Art Lopez, operations manager.

The facility produces white and brown mushrooms, portabellas and baby bellas - or criminis -and quality has been good, Lopez said.

Monterey Mushrooms also is producing good-quality conventional mushrooms at several locations throughout the U.S., he said.

While the East has had its snow, the West has had its share of rain over the past several weeks, but since mushrooms are grown indoors in a controlled environment, quality remains constant, Lopez said.

And demand for organic mushrooms has been strong, he said.

"If we could grow more, we could sell more," he said. "We can only grow so many pounds."

The only down side Lopez cited is pricing, which he described as "not as good as we'd like."

Meanwhile, the San Jose, Calif.-based Mushroom Council reported some positive statistics from FreshLook Marketing. Mushroom sales were up 6% during 2009, while overall produce sales were flat. Mushroom volume was up 7.7% compared to 6.1% for total produce.

The Mushroom Council also announced that it is launching a social media campaign this week that will include an online photo contest. Consumers will have the opportunity to submit photos to MushroomInfo.com of their local retailer's mushroom display from Feb. 11- 17.

(By Tom Burfield, Western correspondent for The Packer. The Packer and Red Book Credit Services are part of food360º, a division of Vance Publishing Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill.)

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