Posts Tagged “Southeastern blueberry shipments”
From Florida to Georgia and the Carolinas growers and shippers of berries are optimistic for an excellent shipping season.
Naturipe Farms of Salinas, CA grows blueberries in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida and blackberries in Georgia and North Carolina.
The company has blueberries from February through June in Florida, April through July in Georgia and May through July in North Carolina. Naturipe also grows blackberries from May through July in Georgia and June through August in North Carolina.
Excellent quality is expected.
Gem-Pack Berries of Irvine, CA grows strawberries in the Plant City and Dover areas of Florida and in Fort Meade from mid-November to mid-April.
Despite a few weather issues, the company is seeing a very good crop.
Crystal Valley Foods of Miami sources blackberries and blueberries from Florida and Georgia from March through June. The company is just starting its Florida berry season and Georgia will start at the end of March or the beginning of April.
The company ships most of its berries to foodservice customers and some retail outlets.
Always Fresh Farms of Plant City, FL saw its strawberries peaking in February and had an early start on Florida blueberries a couple of weeks ago.
The company was seeing a nice crop set up in Georgia on blueberries and blackberries, but that was still a number of weeks away.
Naturipe Farms is kicking off the blueberry season from its Southeast growing region.
The company began shipping “blues” from Florida in mid-April and is transitioning to Georgia.
Following two years of unfavorable weather events like hurricanes and frost, Naturipe is reporting good volumes of high-quality blueberries for Florida and Georgia of conventional and organic fruit.
Naturipe has a year-round availability of its conventional and organic blueberries through its Globally Local program. The company is among the first to market with Florida blueberries, fulfilling East Coast needs and allowing for a smooth transition from Chile to Florida to Georgia.
Southeast berry grower-shippers are expecting good-quality blueberries and blackberries this spring with decent volume.
Florida Classic Growers, Dundee, FL., is primarily a citrus shipper but added blueberries and peaches to its product line about 10 years ago.
The company produces four kinds of blueberries in the Polk County region in the central part of the state. Some varieties kick off early, while others come on later in the season, providing the company with berries from mid-March until around early May. Volume similar to last year is expected.
Crystal Valley Foods of Miami anticipates a good crop of blueberries and blackberries this season. The operation sources its Southeast berries from Alabama and Georgia. Southeast blueberries will start shipping at the beginning of April, and blackberries will get underway in June.
Crystal Valley Foods expects to have increased volume on Southeast blueberries compared to last year, and blackberry volume should be similar to previous years.
Naturipe Farms of Salinas, CA reports the start of it blueberries and blackberries from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina will be a bit later this year due to weather factors. Volume is expected to be up from a year when there was significant damage in Georgia due to frost.
Following 2 years of weather-related disappointing seasons, Southeastern blueberry shipments should more normal this season.
In March 2018 frosts hit fruit that had an early set due to a warmer than usual winter.
J&B Blueberry Farms Inc. of Manor, GA., picked only 200,000 pounds last season, off, down from the usual 1.25 million pounds of fresh blueberries from 170 acres.
Barring a late frost, the company expects a more typical harvest beginning about April 15th, with peak shipment coming in May before the season winds down in late June or early July.
Last season was the second in a row for low volume for Swain Foods of Patterson, GA. Production fell to 150,000 pounds last year. The grower-shipper markets fruit from a total of about 250 acres which includes his own farm as well as other growers.
Swain Foods expects to ship over 1 million pounds of fruit this season, beginning around the end of April, with highbush peaking in the first two weeks of May and rabbiteye in mid-June. The season should wrap up by mid-July.
In 2018, Georgia shipped 50 million pounds; 30 million in 2017 and 67 million in 2016.
The volumes are much less compared to 2015’s 85 million pounds.
Alma (GA) Nursery & Berry Farms, shipped only 700,000 pounds of fresh berries and 1 million pounds for the frozen market last year.
This season, the company looks to move 2.5 million pounds of fresh highbush and rabbiteye berries and 600,000 pounds of frozen fruit from about 400 acres. Shipments should start about April 5th, with peak loading coming around May 12th and the first week in June, before completing the season in late June.
If the weather cooperates, Alma Nursey & Berry Farms expects Georgia as a whole to ship around 100 million pounds of berries this season.
Florida Blueberry Shipments
Naturipe Farms of Grand Junction, MI has operations in Florida and started harvest the first half of March and ich.-based Naturipe Farms expects to start limited harvesting around March 11, loadings are now at a peak.
Wish Farms Inc. of Plant City, FL expects to ship about 4 million pounds this year from the 600 acres working with about 19 contract growers.
Harvest started in mid-March with peak shipments occurring the first week to 10 days of April. Blueberries picked and shipped north of Gainesville, FL should continue until Memorial Day.
Crystal Valley Foods, Miami, FL. was importing Chilean blueberries which overlapped a little with its new season for Florida berries. The company will be shipping Florida fruit through May. The company will be handling Georgia blueberries from April through June or early July, and Alabama product from May through June.
Southeastern blueberry shipments are running about two weeks later than normal.
Due to unusually warm winter, produce truckers can expect a later start for Florida and Georgia blueberries and good volume for both states is expected two weeks later than usual. In late March, harvest was light in the southern part of Florida near Wauchula.
Some operations started harvesting light volume in mid-March, but packing in volume isn’t expected until April 15. The transition to Georgia is expected to start in mid-April. Something different in Florida is a slow season with drawn-out shipments vs. a seasonal production peak. Florida should ship blueberries through late May, instead of the more typical mid-May finish. As for Georgia, peak loadings should start about May 7, later than the state’s typical late April peak.
This year, Florida expects to ship around 18 million pounds, down from last season’s 25 million pounds. Florida blueberry shipments will be light through early April with larger, truck load volume planned for April 15-20, about two weeks later than normal.
Early season Georgia blueberry shipments will be lighter because of cold weather during February in the Homerville, Ga. area. Up to 25 percent of Georgia’s early crop could sustain losses and good volume shipments are not expected until May.
In Florida, decent volume shipments are not expected until April. Florida will have its heaviest shipments in late April and in mid- to late April, when both states will be shipping.
Florida berries, veggies and tomatoes – grossing about $1000 to Atlanta.