December 2018 Produce Parable
By Adam Calder, Produce Department Manager
December 11, 2019

The past couple of weeks have been trying ones for fans of romaine lettuce. Due to a multi-state outbreak of e-coli the Center for Disease Control (CDC) advised all consumers to stop eating field-grown romaine and advised all stores and restaurants to stop serving romaine until the source of the outbreak could be identified.

The CDC is still trying to pinpoint the source of the outbreak, but has issued a voluntary labeling recommendation for all growers and shippers of romaine products so romaine can begin to flow through the system again. The labeling program asks that all romaine products be labeled with the harvest region and date. Larger growers, such as Taylor Farms and California Organic, have already begun using these labels. Smaller growers may not have the resources to quickly attain and affix region labels to their products immediately, but the distribution warehouses that Wheatsfield does business with will only carry products with the region label. Lettuce growers who grow their lettuce in greenhouses or hydroponic facilities will not have to adhere to the labeling recommendations.

This romaine e-coli situation highlights the incredible complexity of food systems. When the romaine was pulled from shelves all across the country, consumers then turned to baby spinach and other salad greens. The increased demand wiped these products off the shelf, so consumers then turned to head and leaf lettuces. These too were quickly gone and then consumers began buying dark leafy greens such as kale, collards and even cabbage. Subsequently, we have had a hard time getting reliable supplies of those products the first couple of weeks in December.

On top of this romaine debacle there were heavy rains in the Yuma the second weekend of December. Desert soil does not drain well, so when heavy rains fall it causes chaos in fields. Deep, muddy furrows prevent farm equipment from driving into the fields and also prevent farmhands from harvesting crops. These rains may cause shortages in the supplies of broccoli, cabbage, bock choy, kale and romaine.

These hiccups in the supply chain highlight the need for local farmers and the need to support local farmers by buying their produce whenever you can. The more local sources we have for food, the better our options will be when the kinks in these huge industrial systems are exposed through the constant and growing demands on them. We do our best at Wheatsfield to offer local produce every month of the year, and as such we are doing our part to hedge our food systems and offer our customers a consistent supply of fresh, healthy organic food regardless of what may be happening in California, Arizona or Mexico.

By Adam Calder, Produce Manager

We are excited to offer you some new items in the produce department salad case! Superior Fresh is a Wisconsin company that specializes in salad greens, herbs and Atlantic salmon. We have a selection of Superior Fresh spring mix, arugula, baby spinach, baby romaine mix, power greens mix (spinach, mustard, arugula, kale, oak leaf lettuce) and live butterhead lettuce.

The Superior Fresh aquaponics system is a closed ecosystem involving nitriyfying bacteria, fish and plants. The beginning of this system is the fish which are fed a diet void of any hormones or antibiotics. As the fish digest their food and as a result ammonia and solid waste begin to accumulate in the water the fish live in.

These fish wastes are then fed upon by bacteria that break down the waste into nitrates and other nutrients. This water, now full of nutrition in a readily available form for plants to absorb, is pumped into a hydroponic growing system where the roots of the salad greens can absorb the nutrition in the water. The plants grow and thrive in the six acre glass greenhouse that houses the hydroponic setup.

This water, now clean and free of all metabolic waste, is pumped back into the fish tanks to begin the cycle anew. The results are healthy fish, verdant plants, delicious food and clean water. The salads are washed and ready to eat, certified organic and are picked and packed the day they are shipped. They are incredibly fresh and have a great shelf life in your home refrigerator, although these greens are so tasty you likely won’t give them the chance to sit around and expire.

The distribution warehouse that supplies these salads to Wheatsfield has not yet been able to work out the logistics to carry the Superior Fresh Atlantic salmon, but they are working out the details so hopefully in the near future the Wheatsfield Meat Department will be able to offer it for sale.

In the meantime, come check out these new greens in the produce department and take some home for dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow. It may be autumn, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy delicious, fresh and nutritious salad greens.

September Produce Parable
By Adam Calder, Produce Manager

The first nip of autumn air was late coming this year, with temperatures into the eighties well into the end of the month. As such, it might seem like all of the great Iowa produce you’ve come to expect in the Wheatsfield Cooperative Produce Department will be around forever. Alas, it cannot be so, and as the seasons turn then so to must the local produce items we stock.

Gone until next year are the flower bouquets bursting with their bright crayon-hued zinnias and beaming golden sunflowers. So too are the slicing tomatoes, and with them they’ve taken all their plump, crimson grandeur. Bid farewell to those delicious assorted gems also known as heirloom tomatoes, which in a good year already have a shorter season of availability but this year were even less available due to poor tomato growing weather.

Not gone, but nearly so, are the aronia berries and red cabbage. We have received our last deliveries of both of these items for the season so what we have in stock is all we have and once they are gone, they are gone until next year.

We still have local organic cucumbers eggplant, cilantro and zucchini. We should have those items in stock through the end of October. We also have plenty of local organic kale and assorted colors of bell peppers which we should be able to carry consistently though the end of November.

The local organic green cabbage should be available through March of 2019, and the local organic red beets will likely be in stock until June of 2019!

The summer produce may be winding down, by the autumnal produce is revving up! We currently have local organic: acorn squash, butternut squash, delicata squash, spaghetti squash, yellow onions and red onions. Our local honeynut squash is as cute as it is delicious.

We’ve also got local decorative gourds and jack-o-lantern pumpkins available a little earlier this year than in prior years. The wet summer produce a crop of some particularly large pumpkins, so this year you can really carve up a masterpiece.

The local apples have begun to appear, with bushels of honeycrisp arriving by the week. We’ve even been able to get our hands on some local Bartlett pears here and there, so stop in often over the next month to check and see if we’ve gotten some more. You don’t want to miss out on an Iowa grown Bartlett pear, as the chance comes but once or twice a year and the taste of these sweet drops of autumn sun is a true experience in simple pleasure.

As the seasons ebb and flow, so to do the varieties of produce we carry at Wheatsfield. Stop by often and ask a produce employee what we have new in local produce, and also please feel free to ask what might be nearing the end of the season. We are a friendly, knowledgeable lot in the produce department and are delighted to share our local produce knowledge with you!