New York vegetable shipments were hindered by too much rain a year ago, but in 2018 farmers were wishing they had more rainfall. Still, crops seem to be in pretty good shape and normal shipments are taking place.
For example William Farms LLC of Marion, NY is reporting loadings occurring on a normal schedule thus far this season. In similar fashion, Turek Farms of King Ferry is reporting vegetables maturing on time, but could use some moisture.
Onion shipments for Raymond Myruski LLC of Goshen, NY should get underway the first half of August.
A look at USDA shipment figures for New York fruit and vegetable shipments showed mixed trends.
- Apple shipments, the top volume commodity in New York, were down 11 percent from 2016.
- Onions, the second-ranked fresh commodity by volume, saw shipments increase 18 percent in 2017 compared with the previous season.
- Sweet corn, ranked third in volume during 2017, recorded fresh shipments in 2017 that were up 30 percent from 2016.
- Cucumber shipments in 2017 were up 5 percent from the previous year, and fresh bean shipments were up 1 percent, according to the USDA.
- Cabbage shipments were off 3 pecent, and potato shipments were nearly unchanged from a year ago.
Green bean loadings started in early July for Torrey Farms Inc. of Elba, N.Y., while cabbage and squash have just started. Supply should be steady, and quality looks good.
At Eden Valley Growers of Eden, NY vegetable crops are coming on at about the same time as in 2017. The company started shipping lettuces, broccoli and cucumbers abut a month ago, which were followed by bell peppers and hot specialty pepper. Sweet corn loadings got underway the third week of July.
The company also ships squash and cucumbers. Eden Valley plans to ship through October, with hard squashes and pumpkins coming on in the fall. A majority of the New York vegetable shipments to markets in the Northeast which has 50 million consumers, but some product is destined to markets up and down the East Coast.