Normal Thanksgiving produce shipments are occurring for such favorites as sweet potatoes and cranberries, but green bean volume will be light.
North Carolina sweet potatoes shipments for the new crop got underway in mid August this year, a couple of week earlier than usual. Fortunately, there was great weather for about six weeks that allowed harvesting to go pretty much uninterrupted.
It could have been a real disaster for North Carolina sweet potato shippers if Hurricane Joaquin hadn’t taken a right turn into the Atlantic. Otherwise North Carolina may have been pounded with rains and flooding like South Carolina.
Eastern North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing $3000 to Boston and Chicago.
Cranberry Shipments
Wisconsin continues to the be leading state for fresh cranberry shipments, with Tomah, Wis.-based Habelman Bros. Co., of Tomah, WI being the largest grower/shipper. The Wisconsin cranberry harvest has been in full swing as it gears up for Thanksgiving shipments.
Green Bean Shipments
Green bean shipments for Thanksgiving out of the Southeast are expected to be very light due to heavy September rains. Some bean shippers will be down as much as 60 percent compared to last year. Excessive rains washed a lot of plantings out. Green bean shipments are not expected to rebound until after Thanksgiving.