California strawberry shipments are on track to break another record this season….New Mexico onion shipments are going strong….There’s a lot more potatoes remaining in U.S. storages for shipping compared to last year.
While it may be too early to tell whether California will have its third record year of strawberry shipments, if volume shipped mostly by truck in early June is any indication, it could be another one for the books.
There were plenty of supplies for shipments leading up to the Fourth of July. Loadings for Labor Day and beyond are looking to be just as good as shipments are way ahead of a year ago.
As of the week ending June 2, the state’s growers had harvested 82.3 million trays of strawberries.
A year ago, that figure was about 79 million trays, and two years ago the number also was in that range. Naturipe Farms LLC of Salinas, CA is experiencing record volume and record production.
Salinas Valley strawberries and vegetables – grossing about $8900 to New York City.
New Mexico Onion Shipments
While the New Mexico onion volume estimate will not come out until August, strong volume is expected again this year. Shipments have been occurring since May and are now averaging about 875 truck loads per week. Loadings will continue through August and this time of the year has typically provided the most onion shipments in the U.S. Carzalia Valley Produce Inc. of Columbus, N.M. and Billy the Kid Produce LLC of Deming, N.M are both experiencing a normal shipping season.
New Mexico onions – grossing about $4000 to Chicago.
U.S. Potato Shipments
There are 9 percent more potatoes remaining to be shipped in U.S. storages than at this same time a year ago.
The top producing potato states had 59 million cwt. of potatoes in storage June 1.
The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reports 15 percent of the fall 2017 crop was still in storage at the beginning of the month, which is 2 percentage points more than last season.
The top three potato shipping states, and the percent of their 2017 fall crop production left in storage, are:
- Idaho — 23 million cwt. (18 percent)
- Washington — 13 million cwt. (13 percent)
- Wisconsin — 5.3 million cwt. (18 percent)