Company: SENEA
Filing Date: 2025-06-12
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001437749-25-020197
Chunk: 67

Company: Seneca Foods Corp
Filing Date: 2025-06-12
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 67
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 of our vegetables are grown by farmers under contract with us. Consequently, we must pay the contract grower for the vegetables even if we cannot or do not harvest or package them. Most of our production occurs during the second quarter (July through September) of our fiscal year, which corresponds with the quarter that the growing season ends for most of the produce packaged by us.

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Table of Contents

A majority of our sales occur during the second and third quarters of each fiscal year due to seasonal consumption patterns for our products. Accordingly, inventory levels and accounts receivable levels are highest during the second and third quarters. Net sales generated during our second and third fiscal quarters have a significant impact on our results of operations. Because of these seasonal fluctuations, the results of any particular quarter, particularly in the first half of our fiscal year, will not necessarily be indicative of results for the full year or for future years.

We set our planting schedules without knowing the effect of the weather on the crops or on the entire industry’s production. Weather conditions during the course of each vegetable crop’s growing season will affect the volume and growing time of that crop. As most of our vegetables are produced in more than one part of the United States, this somewhat reduces the risk that our entire crop will be subject to disastrous weather. The upper Midwest is the primary growing region for the principal vegetables which we pack, namely peas, green beans and sweet corn, and it is also a substantial source of our competitors’ vegetable production. A sizeable portion of our vegetable production areas are serviced with irrigation systems to help minimize (i) wet conditions for planting and (ii) dry conditions during the growing season. Any adverse effects of weather-related reduced production may be partially mitigated by higher selling prices for the vegetables which are produced.

The commodity materials that we package or otherwise require are subject to price increases that could adversely affect our profitability. 

The materials that we use, such as raw fruit and vegetables, steel, ingredients, pouches and other packaging materials as well as the electricity, diesel fuel, and natural gas used in our business, are commodities that may experience price volatility caused by external factors, including but not limited to market fluctuations, availability, currency fluctuations and changes in governmental regulations and agricultural programs. General inventory positions of major commodities, such as field corn, soybeans and wheat, all commodities with which we must compete for acreage, can have dramatic effects on prices for those commodities, which can translate into similar swings in prices needed to be paid for our contracted commodities. These programs and