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An Indian Varietal Grown In Mexico Thanks to Jorge Crespo and his passion for all things new, including the new growing challenges, as well as his desire to expand the family’s expertise always being forward thinking (Jorge is much like his father Roberto Crespo Fitch), we have several new varietals that are being introduced n the next several seasons Jorge’s mission aligns with the original mission laid down by his father Roberto, which is not only to simply increase production and consumption of organic Mexican mangoes, but to do so in a manner that creates long term viable, profitable and sustainable agricultural models for the growing communities in Mexico. Roberto, like his children, understood that means advancing, in systems as well as offerings. No one knows just how much things change more than farmers. And the family is always thinking of how to improve and grow as consumers needs and the market and world changes. For El Grupo Crespo, the mango experts, there is no choice but to always be evolving and growing. New varietals are a part of that evolvement. Our organic Mallika mangoes is one of the most exciting mangoes to be introduced on the market and its now back for the month of July!
Mature southern fruit + late Nayarit entrance = complex changeover By definition the word foreground insinuates a seemingly larger position of prominence. I choose to use that word here as it’s important that we all understand the complexities that are looming in the mango world, as Mexico prepares to transition from the southern producing regions to the northern ones. By no means it is a dire situation facing us, at least not for us, but it is one that will require us to work together in cooperation in order to keep things smooth for increasing sales and consumer satisfaction; consumers, who this time of year begin to consume more and more mangoes, as we need them to. The northern regions of Nayarit and southern Sinaloa start back-to-back. They are rather large and long producing regions with extraordinary outputs in quantity. That wall of mangoes that ensues when these regions begin general production lasts around 3-4 months (and often longer) and coincides with peak consumer consumption or what we know as SUMMERTIME. They key to moving through the upcoming transitional complexities and lack with enough finesse so that we can keep consumers happy, register pricing moving downward and mangoes flowing in and out quickly; so that we are ready for the even bigger displays, and even lower prices that move them rapidly into the hands and mouths of mango eaters, is as usual the sharing of real and accurate information from the ground in Mexico.
As we near our Mexican season, what’s happening south matters I don’t think there could be a more unusual offshore mango season than the one that is currently happening. Perhaps it’s not unusual in the grand {supply chain} scheme of things considering ports and vessel issues are one of the main problems. Currently Ecuadorian fruit, which has been riddled with quality problems still lingers. Assumptions are it will be finished in the next week. Peru which began early, is now assumed to be in peak mode. But you wouldn’t really see that in terms of our marketplace. There is indeed significant volume out of Peruvian mango orchards this year, but there is a serious shortage of vessel space in particular to the USA, which means there is very little fruit in comparison to years past.
2022 Mexican mango crop forecast seems to looking sweet (Click here to read my offshore crop update) Predictions for the new year rain down hard during this time of year. Experts and non-experts alike – not to mention annoying influencers – are all giving us their hot takes on the year ahead. Like clockwork, each year at this time, food, weather, clothes, politics, marketing trends, astrological prophesies and more are prognosticated upon. In our particular industry, we are often bombarded with articles and trend predictions that ruminate on the next big it fruit or vegetable. Countless marketing newsletters flood our inboxes with opinions on whether the plant-based EVERYTHING fad is here to stay, on whether potato milk be the new oat milk, and on what item will replace mushrooms as the hippest health trend in produce?
Ataulfo orchards bloom and we untwist season start intel This week I have been fielding a lot of questions about when the Mexican mangoes will start up again. It’s common for me to get these emails and calls this time of year. People get confused and excited. I think as it gets colder everywhere we all want the Mexican mango season to happen sooner, after all it signals warmer weather here. The bad news is we are still a few months away so wait we must. The good news is the weather thus far has been great, lots of water filling the orchards and water tables. It’s way too early for us to release much of any serious information, or actual crop reports. Year after year, after year the weather in January dictates everything for the start. Climate change in particular makes gauging start times tough, especially the beginning of a season/region.
Empaque Don Jorge expands the season with late varietal trials There are always “good” and “bad” parts to any growing season. If you ask most growers (including the Crespo’s) “was this a good season or a bad one?”, most will say that it was not a great one. The entire season was ripe with problems, mostly the kind that cost more money and bring in less. Mango farmers had to work twice as hard for a lot less money this season overall. The drought caused significant problems on the growing side and customers, especially wholesalers and distributors struggled with labor and logistics issues, making the distribution process often hellish and any normal quality defect, even slight cosmetic ones, impossible to maneuver through.