According to a trend report from US Foods on June 24th, excessive heat and rains put an early end to Georgia’s pepper crops. North Carolina is in full production and South Carolina has approximately another three weeks left in production. “Supply is very good, although supplies of larger sizes, the jumbos and extra large peppers, have been tight,” said Daryl Johnston of Titan Farms. “It’s mainly because South Carolina endured about five days in the high 90s last week that stopped things growing a little bit.” Johnston stated that flavor and shape are good, though the heat has limited sizing.
“When you’re picking and you have high heat like that, instead of jumbos making up 40 percent of the picking, only 10 to 15 percent will be Jumbo.”
As the largest grower of bell peppers in South Carolina, Johnston says the farm is able to fill gaps in the market. “We fill that niche from when the fields and the marketplace is moving from Florida and Georgia into North Carolina and then New Jersey. That really helps the trade and the marketplace.”
The market for bell peppers is good; jumbo peppers are selling from $20.00 to $24.00 per case, which is very good when selling to markets with a lower dollar, such as Canada.
“We do a lot of business with our peppers and peaches up in Canada,” said Johnston. “We very much enjoy working with the Canadian retailers.”
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Daryl Johnston
Titan Farms