Colorado Vegetable Shipments are Starting

Colorado Vegetable Shipments are Starting

Colorado is the fourth leading shipper of onions by volume in the USA, and loadings not only with onions, but other vegetables begin this month from the northeastern part of the state.]

In the San Luis Valley, which at an elevation of 7,600 feet, is the highest and largest commerical agricultural valley in the world, potatoes from the 2011-12 season should be finishing up soon, just in time from the new crop of russets to get  started.  Colorado ranks in the top 10 among potato shipping states.

The Rocky Ford area of Colorado has started shipping cantaloupe, but loading opportunities will be off a whopping 70 percent this season.  Much less acreage was planted following the disasterious 2011 season where a food borne illness – listeria – killed 32 people, plus sickened nearly 150 people in 28 states.  Only about 180,000 cartons of Colorado cantaloupes are forecast to be shipped, and distribution will not be nationwide this year, as in the past.

San Luis Valley potatoes – grossing about $1600 to Dallas.