Every year we read about the generosity of the produce industry, whether it is donating salad bars to schools, providing extras to the farm workers in the fields, or continuing to support efforts like Navidad en el Barrio. Even after the past two challenging years with COVID-19, and supply chain disruptions, giving is still taking place. According to Keith Curtis, founder and president of The Curtis Group, and featured in the digital issue of the Daily Press, “I believe that 2021 will be noteworthy. Not because donors have reached their max, but because we must and will continue to dig deep to support the critical work of our nonprofit partners.” Imagine, if you will, donations pouring into a warehouse in Bell, CA, where all of the product is palletized, organized and then distributed to over 27 different agencies, from San Diego to Riverside, to Pasadena and downtown LA. Almost all of the donors that gave to Navidad en el Barrio for the 2021 effort have donated before, but there were new companies that jumped in, as well. The challenge this year was that companies were feeling the stress of meeting retail orders before they could even consider donating to a non-profit. Fortunately, Navidad en el Barrio was the recipient of donations from Randall Farms (in cooperation with Tyson Foods), who gave frozen chicken to every family, Wada Farms along with the Allen Lund Company provided a full truckload of Idaho potatoes, Grimmway Farms provided carrots for every family, and Taylor Farms sent bagged lettuce. Also included in the grocery bags were apples from Sage Fruit and FirstFruits Farms, blueberry applesauce from Crunch Pak, avocados from Mission Foods, and a full truckload of Halos, oranges and lemons donated by Wonderful Citrus. For the second year tortillas were donated by the Santa Fe Tortilla Co.(this donation was transported from Little Rock, AK to Southern California). A new donor this year was PepsiCo – who kindly added snack items to many bags. And speaking of bags, our local Target, in La Canada Flintridge, donated 1,000 of their Target bags which were used at the Our Lady of Guadalupe distribution site. One of the largest donor’s year in and year out is Coca-Cola. This year there were three truckloads of product from both Northern and Southern California, including water, tea and juice. Other regulars with NEEB included Cacique Inc. and Cardenas Markets(both under the direction of Ana Cardenas, an angel to NEEB), who provided cheese, rice and chorizo. Finally, Northgate Market included tomato sauce, as they do, every year. I am proud that the Allen Lund Company has continued to support Navidad en el Barrio, along with many other well-deserving non-profits. For NEEB we coordinated the transportation to the warehouse, provided logistical support in the multi-pick loads from grower/shippers and had volunteer manpower throughout the day of distribution at the main warehouse. Additionally, there were ALC folks at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Catholic Charities/Downtown LA, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, distributing bags to families. Overall 12,500 families were recipients of two full bags of groceries. A mighty effort for a wonderful cause. We are already looking forward to 2022, and Navidad en el Barrio would like to increase the give to 15,000 families! So, while we wish there were not the need, this amazing group of donors continue to make sure more families can enjoy a happy Christmas. From the Allen Lund Company to all of you – Merry Christmas.
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Nora Trueblood began her career with ALC in 2002 as Director of Marketing & Communications. Prior to joining the company, Trueblood worked as the event manager with the Montrose Arts Council and Alpine Dance in Montrose, CO., had her own production and event planning company, and spent 7 years with Lorimar Television.
Following the historic February Freeze across Texas, the state’s grapefruit industry is feeling the destruction from the freezing weather.
Yahoo News reports the winter outbreak which hit the subtropical southeastern portion of the state on Valentine’s Day brought icy conditions and extreme cold temperatures damaging two different crops of grapefruit across the region.
This season’s crop of grapefruit, which had only been blooming at the time of the winter outbreak, is expected to provide less than a third of an average harvest.
Texas had been the number one provider of fresh grapefruit in the nation ahead of the outbreak, but the damage done to the groves has since dropped them down to third in the nation, Dale Murden, the president of Texas Citrus Mutual, a trade group that represents the interests of the state’s citrus growers, told AccuWeather’s National Reporter Bill Wadell.
Murden had also spoken with AccuWeather via email back during February. Also a grower, he had mentioned when temperatures dip below 28 degrees and stay below that mark for five hours or longer, the fruit on the branches begins to freeze on the inside, damaging the crop. “Most everyone” saw temperatures drop to at least 21 degrees, he had added.
Texas grapefruit trees encased in ice after a winter storm hammered the state with record cold.
The freeze had hit when the groves still had two crops on the trees — the fruit that was still being harvested and the following season’s crop that was beginning to flower. Murden estimated about 60% of the fruit had remained to be harvested at the time. However, winter’s scythe cut more significantly into the then-flowering groves’ crop that farmers are now waiting to harvest as fruit.
A lot of these groves were in full flower when that freeze hit,” Murden said. “So that legitimately hurt 100% of your next year’s crop — 70 to 80% on the average.”
Murden estimates they’ll have about 30% of a normal crop this harvest due to the freeze. The fruit that did survive was harvested closer to late November rather than when the season typically starts around mid-September into early October. The estimated total financial loss from the freeze hovers around $300 million.
The American Transportation Research Institute, the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization, released its 17th annual Top Industry Issues report, identifying a number of the industry’s key concerns including the driver shortage, driver retention, driver compensation, lawsuit abuse reform, truck parking and for the first time, the shortage of diesel technicians.
Nearly 25 percent of the survey respondents were professional truck drivers and among driver respondents, Driver Compensation and Truck Parking tied for the number one industry concern. Detention / Delay at Customer Facilities was ranked by drivers as their second most pressing concern.
“The ATRI list of top industry issues provides a critical snapshot of the challenges impacting our industry at any given moment,” said ATA Chair Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, president and CEO of Garner Trucking, “and this year is no exception as supply chain constraints dominate the nation’s headlines. ATRI’s annual analysis not only captures the industry’s sentiment on the criticality of each of these issues but also maps out a course for addressing each through the stakeholder-ranked strategies.”
For the fifth year in a row, the Driver Shortage topped the list of industry concerns, garnering more than four times as many first-place votes as the number two issue, Driver Retention. Further reflecting the industry’s workforce challenges, Driver Compensation was ranked third overall. Lawsuit Abuse Reform rose three spots this year to take the number four spot and the lack of available Truck Parking rounded out the top five industry concerns. The Diesel Technician Shortage made the top-10 list for the first time this year, as the 10th ranked most critical issue in the industry. More than 2,500 trucking industry stakeholders participated in this year’s survey, including motor carriers, drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, law enforcement, and others.
“This year’s large response shows just how serious our industry is about identifying the most critical concerns and more importantly, figuring out how we collectively deal with each issue,” said ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster.
“It really is no surprise that truck driver-related issues – notably the driver shortage and driver retention – ranked so high on the survey. Coming out of the pandemic, with the increased demand for goods and other pressures on the supply chain, getting and keeping drivers has been a real challenge industrywide,” Brewster said. “We also see the impacts of the current supply chain crunch in how highly issues like driver compensation, truck parking, infrastructure and driver detention ranked on the list.”
The complete results of the annual survey were released as part of 2021 American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition. The full report can be found at ATRI’s website.
Imports of agricultural products to the U.S. totaled $32.743 billion in the first half of 2021, registering an increase of 8 percent when compared to the same time period as the previous year.
Of this, $1.229 billion were imported from Peru, registering an increase of 3 percent when compared to 2020, as reported by Agraria. Peru remained the fourth largest food supplier in the U.S. market, only surpassed by Mexico (36 percent), Canada (11 percent), and Chile (5 percent).
The main Peruvian products imported by the U.S. in the semester were grapes (35 percent share), asparagus (9 percent share), mango (8 percent share) and blueberries (5 percent share).
In addition to these, it’s worth mentioning shipments of ginger (2 percent share) and onion (2 percent share), which have been very well received in the North American market.
U.S. grape imports totaled 584,056 tons with a value of $1.733 billion in the first half. When compared to 2020, the volume remained similar, and the value showed a growth of 6 percent.
Peru consolidated itself as the third largest supplier of grapes during this period with a 24 percent share, behind Chile with a 44 percent share and Mexico with 30 percent.
Asparagus imports into the U.S. reached 171,231 tons with a value of $397 million, 16 percent more in volume and 7 percent more in value when compared to 2020.
Peru shipped 35,593 tons with a value of $115 million, 19 percent more in volume and 1 percent more in value when compared to 2020. Peru remained the second largest supplier with a 21 percent share, behind Mexico with a 78 percent share.
Mango imports in the North American market reached 323,256 tons with a value of $420 million, 5 percent more in volume and 13 percent more in value when compared to 2020. Peru shipped 64,916 tons with a value of $93 million, 9 percent less in volume and 1 percent less in value compared to 2020.
Despite the result, the country consolidated itself as the second largest mango supplier, with a 20 percent share, after Mexico with a 66 percent share.
Blueberry imports totaled 112,746 tons with a value of $754 million. Compared to 2020, the volume had a growth of 25 percent, and the value showed an increase of 42 percent.
Peru shipped 10,421 tons with a value of $62 million, 6 percent more in volume and 13 percent more in value compared to the previous year. Peru positioned itself as the third largest supplier in the period, with a 9 percent share.
The first and second places in the top of suppliers were occupied by Mexico, with 44 percent share, and Chile, with a 27 percent share. Ginger imports in the U.S. reached 54,766 tons with a value of $91 million, 2 percent less in volume and 15 percent more in value compared to 2020. Peru supplied 9,178 tons with a value of $27 million, 27 percent more in volume and 42 percent more in value compared to the previous year.
Thanks to this result, the country was the second largest supplier of ginger, with a 17 percent share, after China, which ranked first with 63 percent share.
Onion imports reached 348,570 tons with a value of $258 million, 21 percent more in volume and 15 percent more in value compared to 2020. Peru supplied 40,787 tons with a value of $24 million, 47 percent more in volume and 76 percent more in value compared to the previous year.
Thanks to the good reception, the country began to position itself as the second largest supplier of the vegetable, with a 12 percent share, only behind Mexico, with an 81 percent share.
ISSAQUAH, WA – Vanguard International is optimism about its recently started Peru grape season.
By the end of November its red varieties commenced packing along with the remainder of the green varieties, including Sweet Globe. Then in mid-December the company began with black varieties.
The Peru crop will yield approximately 55% green grapes, 40% red grapes, and 5% black this season.
“Our Ivory variety is the first fruit off the line, and they feature great size, great color, and great taste,” shares Fanny Robles, Vanguard Manager – Peru Procurement and Sales “We’ve never seen Ivory grapes that look like this before,” Robles continues. “We are seeing this consistently for all our varieties and our packinghouse teams have a renewed excitement.”
It’s not just the fruit leading the high spirits of the Vanguard Global team as Robles notes. “Compared to last season, we are very prepared right now. The entire global team is more connected than ever from those in the fields, to the packing house, shipping lines, and customers.”
“Quality parameters have been further developed to meet packing needs for each different market.” Robles outlines. “Our more experienced team combined with our strong crop means we can be more competitive in the market this year.”
“Our cultural practices at the field level and significantly improved quality are two very positive developments leading to more volume than we forecasted,” shared Dirk Winkelmann, President of Vanguard Direct. “In particular with our green grapes, the average berry weight is a bit more than forecasted and that alone could push the crop up by 10%. Equally important our pack outs are quite a few points higher this season.”
The cautious optimism extends to the plans for transportation of our products.
Preseason strategic negotiations and alignment has Vanguard well prepared and positioned to transport the increased grape volumes. Currently there are no concerns around space availability and equipment in the Ica region.
“The expansion of our facilities, to include both container plugs and increased pre-cool and cold storage, will help to mitigate any logistical delays. We are well positioned as we head into our peak grape volumes,” says Winkelmann.
Founded in 1991, Vanguard International has been marketing and selling fresh fruits and vegetables in Asia and the Middle East for over 30 years, operating offices internationally in Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Spain, Taiwan, South Africa, and the United States.
As we enter a recovery period from the COVID-19 “recession” the transportation industry is showing signs of strength. The threat of the virus has been reduced across the country, but inflation has been caused by rising commodity prices and record-level government spending.
The re-opening of the economy has triggered a supply shortage in labor and productive commodities – microchips, lumber, aluminum, apples, lettuce. Due to labor shortages, the market has seen rapid increases in low-wage paying positions, further shrinking the number of drivers on the road.
Registered trucks drove 304.9 billion miles in 2019, carrying almost 12 billion tons of freight – making up 72.5% of the total tonnage shipped domestically. Why would you spend 10 days on the road driving from Washington to Pennsylvania and back, when you can find a paying job with benefits close to home?
This has had a domino effect on the supply chain industry, forcing shippers to seek expensive and/or creative solutions. When will the worst of inflation begin and when will we see the end of rising prices?
The average inflation rate of the United States over the last 10 years is 1.8% – in April 2021 the inflation rate rose above 5% and is currently 6.2%. Currently, the price of produce per pound is up 7.3% from early 2020, and the two-year outlook shows fresh produce transportation nearly doubling. There is a general consensus that we are nearing the peak of inflation rates, and this will continue through 2022.
With several trillions of dollars being added to circulation since April 2020 and no plans insight to stop, there are no guarantees of reduction from current inflation rates.
Carriers will see a direct increase in the price of equipment, tractor/trailer repairs, fuel, insurance, and meals. Shippers will see a direct increase in the cost of labor, transportation costs, and raw material costs.
We are in the position to see inflation happen from a birds-eye-view, giving us a special position to take. Allen Lund Company’s duty is to communicate this issue to our shippers and carriers to ensure they are properly prepared for the continued rise in prices.
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Collin Payneis a transportation broker in ALC Denver and has been with ALC over 2 ½ years. Collin graduated from Texas A&M University with a BS in University Studies of Global Arts, Planning, Design and Construction Concentration.
Significantly fewer California table grapes remain to be shipped from storage on the West Coast compared to this time last year, according to USDA report.
The Western Fruit Report – Grape Cold Storage Summary states there were over 2 million fewer cartons being held.
There were 7 million cartons in storage on November 30, compared to 9.2 million cartons on the same date in 2020.
The storage numbers on Nov. 30, 2019 were also higher than this year, but down from last year at 7.9 million cartons.
The most recent figure for this year is much lower than the 10.5 million cartons registered on November 15.
Compared to the same date in 2020, the biggest changes in terms of specific varietals are seen in:
Autumn Royal – 254,000 (down from 259,000 last year)
Autumn King – 2.5 million (down from 2.8 million)
Allison – 1.4 million (down from 2.3 million)
Scarlet Royal – 243,000 (down from 303,000)
Red Globe – 206,000 (up from 46,000)
Timco – 95,000 (down from 195,000)
Great Green – 2,000 (down from 50,000)
Other White category – 252,000 (up from 192,000)
Other Red category – 416,000 (down from 1.5 million)
Other Black category – 216,000 (down from 491,000)
Northwest onion shipments from storage will be occurring through mid- to late April as usual, but volume will be down because onions remaining to be shipped are down about 40% to 50% from normal, according to Owyhee Produce of Parma, ID.
During the growing season, the Treasure Valley growing region of Idaho and eastern Oregon exceeded 100 degrees for 20 days through mid-July, up from the historical annual average of six days reaching 100 degrees or more. This resulted in a yield reduction.
Top shipping areas for onions in late October were Columbia Basin, WA.; Idaho and Malheur County, OR.; Peru; Colorado; and Utah, according to the USDA.
Truck shipments of Idaho onions, at 394 truckloads the week of Oct. 24, were off 32% from the same week a year ago. Onion shipments from Oregon, at 127 truckloads for the week of Oct. 24, were 52% lower than the same week last year. Washington onion shipments were 646 truckloads the week of Oct. 24, down slightly from 659 truckloads moved the same week a year ago.
While shipments from the Northwest were well off last season’s pace, imports of onions were running well ahead of normal.
Peru’s onion shipments to the U.S. the week of Oct. 24 totaled 602 truckloads, up about three times the 203 truckloads imported the same week a year ago.
A mammoth 2.6 kilogram (5.7 pound) lemon the size of a forearm has been grown in a backyard in Western Australia.
Chef Melissa Palinkas excitedly shared an image of the monster citrus to her Instagram recently, snapping the ponderosa lemon next to a regular lemon.
Palinkas, who lives in Western Australia, told the Daily Mail Australia the unusual mega lemon was grown by a local East Fremantle couple in June.
It grows seasonally with a winter yield,’ she said.
Intrigued by its mammoth size Ms Palinkas, who prides herself on sustainable produce, said she used the lemon for a salad, after finding it unsuitable for juicing.
‘It is sweet, so I shaved it and made a ponderosa lemon salad with zucchini and green olives with a burnt lemon dressing,’ she said.
‘The middle part is much like Australia’s native finger lime, pearls that burst with juice inside which I sprinkled over the top.’
Palinkas described the pith, which is the flesh of the lemon, as sweet with ‘no bitterness at all’ and peeled a second ponderosa to brew some fresh limoncello – a popular Italian lemon liqueur.
The ponderosa is a hybrid between a citron and an ordinary lemon.
While not cultivated commercially it is grown by gardening enthusiasts for decorative purposes but can be used as a replacement for lemons in jams, pies and other recipes.
