Mission Produce of Oxnard, CA is diversifying where it sources avocados to ensure more consistent avocado supplies, spurred in big part by a Mexican labor strike earlier this year.
While the company wants to have a year-round supply, but also is taking steps to have multiple sources for avocados to ensure more consistent of supply.
This was a big issue in the avocado category for imported product by the U.S. coming from Mexico. Labor strikes last season caused significant disruptions. To help avoid such issues in the future, Mission has been increasing its plantings in other countries.
The company has planted 1,500 hectares (about 3,700 acres) in Colombia and has also increased its acreage in Peru from 2,600 hectares to more than 3,000 hectares (about 7,400 acres).
Mexico easily remains the dominant avocado supplier for the U.S., having exported nearly 2 billion pounds of the fruit to the U.S. in 2018, according to the USDA. Peru, the most significant source of avocados aside from Mexico, exported roughly 180 million pounds of fruit to the U.S. last year.
California table grape shipments for the remainder of the season will definitely be lighter and some observers are expressing concerns about late season quality. The California season in winding down, while South America is ramping up.
The California Table Grape Commission claims there should be
good volume through early January.
While fewer grapes remain in storage compared to a year ago,
plenty of fruit remains to be shipped. Typically around 46 percent of
California grapes are shipped after October 1st.
The USDA reports through early November truck shipments of
central California grapes totaled 55.2 million 19-pound cartons, up slightly
from 54.6 million cartons the same time a year ago.
The government report indicates 13.2 million cartons of
grapes remained in cold storage through October, down 28 percent from 18.1
million cartons in storage at the same time a year ago, but similar to 13.56
million two years ago.
While some later varieties of grapes were still being picked,
the harvest is expected to be over in early December.
At 115.6 million 19-pound cartons, the 2018 California grape
crop was the second largest on record. The 2019 grape crop, estimated at 109
million cartons, is in line with the four years before the 2018 crop.
The commission says about 2 million cartons of California
grapes are expected to be shipped in January.
Very light volumes of imported Peruvian grapes were reported
in the U.S. in early November and those arrivals will increase toward the
year’s end.
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Capespan North America of Gloucester N.J. reports U.S. imports of South American grapes is on an earlier track this season due to a small crop in California. The company already is receiving Peruvian grapes at American ports.
Peruvian white seedless grapes are particularly in big demand
because of concerns over California white seedless quality. Peruvian red
seedless grapes will be arriving within days, as Capesapan feels California red
will be finished by mid-December.
Pandol Bros. of Delano, CA has finished its California grape harvest and recalls last season when a lot of fruit was picked. However, much of it then was either not sold in the normal time and beyond or was outright dumped.
While Pando is predicting a 15 percent increase in total
Peruvian grape exports this season, the company is less certain about Chilean
grape volume. Some forecasts are above last season’s 83 million cartons, while
others are below it.
Chile is also focusing increasingly on the mid- to
late-section of the import season, with Peru focusing the earlier stages.
Vanguard Direct of Bakersfield, CA also was expecting an earlier than normal end to the California season.
Vanguard Direct will begin its Peruvian import season with
arrivals the last week of December or early January.
Peace River Citrus Products and Scott Family Cos. and its partners plan to invest more than $25 million in planting a quarter million grapefruit trees in Florida, where citrus greening disease has caused production to plummet in recent years.
The trees will be planted on 1,500 acres in St. Lucie and River Counties, according to a news release.
This will be the first major planting of grapefruit since citrus greening, also known as huanglongbing (HLB), has decreased acreage in Florida, according to the release.
The two companies are looking to raise the Florida grapefruit crop by 15% once the groves mature, Andy Taylor, senior vice president and CFO of Peace River Citrus Products, said in the release.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joined representatives of Peace River and Scott Family Cos. and it partners in celebrating the return of grapefruit groves.
“Since January, we’ve been dedicating resources and improving policies to make sure Florida’s citrus industry gets back on its feet, and today, we’ve surpassed the 50% milestone for this important funding,” DeSantis said in the release.
Through a partnership with Peace River, The Coca-Cola Co. is participating in the effort with an agreement to purchase processed grapefruit juice from fruit in the orchard, according to the release.
Japan-based Takasago International Corp. is also investing $1.5 million toward new tree plantings to ensure a sustainable grapefruit industry in Florida, according to the release.
New York and Pennsylvania are among the top 5 apple shipping states in the country. New York ranks second and Pennsylvania is number 4. However, Washington state easily leads the nation with nearly 65 percent of the country’s apple shipments. Michigan is the number 3 apple shipping in the U.S.
New York Apple Sales Inc. of Glenmont distributes apples from each of the state’s major growing regions and points out what a good shipping season lies ahead. The firm points out apple volume will be up from western New York, and down some in the Eastern part of the state.
Rice Fruit Co. of Gardners, PA. is one of the largest fruit shippers on the East Coast. The company notes a year ago weather was disastrous for the crop, but this year is experiencing a complete turn around.
The most popular varieties are Gala, Honeycrisp, SweeTango, Snapdragon, Fuji and newcomer Koru, which is a Fuji-Braeburn cross from New Zealand.
The Rice family grows 900 acres of apples, plus the firm packs apples for 35 other growers.
Lake Ontario Fruit Inc., a packing house in Albion, N.Y., expresses optimism for this season describing it as one of the cleanest, high quality crops in a long time.
Peruvian avocado exports to the U.S. have completed another year with impressive gains in volume to the U.S.
Avocados from Peru, a promotion group, reports 183 million pounds of Peruvian avocados arrived in the U.S. from June to September, second in import volume to Mexico.
The USDA reports weekly shipments through October 19th reveal season-to-date imports of Peruvian avocados totaled 157 million pounds, up 12 percent from 140.2 million pounds a year go.
USDA monthly trade statistics show even bigger gains. The agency reports the U.S. imported more than 83,000 metric tons from Peru from January through August, 24 percent above last year’s level. By value, the U.S. imported about $221 million worth of Peruvian avocados in the first eight months of 2019, up 53 percent from 2018.
Peru accounted for 11.4 percent of U.S. avocado import volume and 11.3 percent of U.S. import value for the January through August, up from 5.3 percent of volume and 5 percent of value for the same period in 2015. Avocados from Peru said that from June to September, the country is the largest exporter to Europe and the second largest supplier of imported avocados to the U.S.
Gerawan Farming Inc. of Sanger, CA and Wawona Packing Co. LLC of Cutler, CA have completed a merger. Paine Schwartz, an existing investor in Wawona and a global leader in sustainable food chain investing, is partnering with both companies to facilitate the transaction. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Both Gerawan and Wawona are third-generation family businesses. Gerawan is a stone fruit industry pioneer with best-in-class farming, packing practices, and proprietary varieties marketed under the Prima brand. Wawona is a California-based supplier of high-quality stone fruit and a leader in the organic segment of the market. The merger builds upon the legacies and reputations of the two industry-leading companies and creates an enhanced platform for growth and innovation. The combined business will be able to better serve its customers and create significant opportunities for employees.
The combined company will be led by Dan Gerawan, who will be the largest individual shareholder and chief executive officer of the merged entity. Brent Smittcamp, current executive chairman of Wawona, will also remain a significant shareholder and continue to be highly involved with the combined company. The management team will be comprised of leaders from both companies.
Gerawan said, “At Gerawan, innovating on a large scale to grow, pack and ship the world’s best fruit has been key to our success, and those efforts have always hinged on investing in our employees.”
Smittcamp said, “Over the last several years, we have focused on accelerating Wawona’s growth by building on the inherent strengths of our business and management team. Our acquisition last year of Burchell Nursery Inc. was one example, and now this historic merger with Gerawan takes it to yet another level.”
A growing, marketing and distribution partnership has been formed with BlueDrop of Jalisco, Mexico by blueberry grower Consalo Family Farms of Egg Harbor City, N.J.,
Consalo will sell and distribute BlueDrop blueberries and other products in the U.S. and Canada through the partnership.
BlueDrop is a large distributor of blueberries, bananas and other products — including proprietary varieties — in Mexico, with more than 32,000 acres of production, according to a news release.
“This new partnership provides us with clarity throughout the distribution chain and provides retail customers as well as consumers the freshest blueberries available,” Hector Bonilla, CEO and chairman of the board of BlueDrop Cos., said in a news release.
“We are very excited about partnering with a company of BlueDrop’s magnitude,” Skip Consalo, president, said in the release. “The growth that we envision in not only the blueberry category but across multiple other produce categories is something that we feel will greatly benefit our customers but ultimately the consumer.”
A record $7.89 billion in Fresno County agriculture production was hit in 2018, a 12 percent increase over 2017, with almonds, grapes and pistachios leading the list. The information is included in an annual report from the county’s ag commissioner.
The previous record was in 2014, when crop values totaled $7.07 billion. The numbers reflect commodities for fresh and processing markets, and include row crops, dairy, livestock and other production.
Overall, the county’s fruit and nut crops were worth $4.36 billion, an 8 percent increase from 2017, topping the $4 billion mark for just the second time. Vegetable production values rose a whopping 54 percent, to $1.52 billion, about 19.3 percent of the county’s overall ag production.
The numbers don’t represent net income or losses to the producers, Fresno County Agriculture Commission Melissa Cregan wrote in the annual report.
“Crop values vary from year to year based on production, market fluctuations and weather,” she said in the report. “It is important to note the figures provided in this report reflect gross values and do not take into account the costs of production, marketing, transportation, or other ancillary costs.”
The top crops by value in Fresno County in 2018 (and 2017 rank) were:
Almonds, $1.178 billion (1)
Grapes (including fresh, wine, juice and raisin), $1.107 billion (2)
Pistachios, $862.144 million (4)
Poultry, $596.477 million (3)
Garlic $435.340 million (12)
Milk, $415.812 million (5)
Onions, $370.384 m)
Mandarins, $234.969 (6)
Fruits and nuts
Nuts are an important crop in Fresno County. Almonds have surpassed the billion-dollar mark for five years and accounted for 15% of the entire agriculture production in the county in 2018. Pistachios, which moved up a slot, saw a record crop value, according to the report.
While total grape crop values topped $1 billion, the table grape crop was valued at $409.82 million, up from $359.27 million in 2017. Per-ton prices for table grape varieties dropped, but the segment was buoyed by increased yields and more acres being harvested, according to the report.
Oranges dropped from the top 10 for the first time since 2014, although the total value rose $8.81 million to $212.13 million.
Mandarins’ dramatic drop from 2017 shows a value decrease of more than 46%, with a $197.68 million plummet in crop value — despite an increase of about 1,000 harvested acres.
Vegetables
Two years of lower vegetable crop values were wiped away with a 54% increase, to $1.52 billion, according to the release.
A 34% decrease in the crop value of “standard tomatoes” was caused by price drops from the market being “flooded with foreign imports,” according to Fresno County’s vegetable analysis.
Increased yields and price-per-ton paid for garlic boosted the crop value from 12 in 2017 to 5 in 2018. :yye
MILL VALLEY, CA – TerraFresh Organics (TFO), a new organic fruit company with a focus on supplying organic citrus, mangoes, stone fruit and grapes to North America, announces the first rollout of organic citrus and mangoes under the Earth Greens Organic label.
TerraFresh Organics has a strong supply of citrus sourcing fruit from growing partners in California, Mexico and Peru. The organic citrus line will include Earlies/Valencia oranges, Navel oranges, lemons and grapefruit. TerraFresh’s capabilities include providing customers with a year-round supply of organic citrus.
TerraFresh’s mangoes will be sourced from Ecuador, Peru and Mexico to complete a near year-round program as its principles have done for over 20 years.
“In only a few weeks, we’ll be providing customers with fresh, organic citrus from Mexico to add to our current supply of mangoes from the finest growing regions,” said Greg Holzman, co-founder and managing partner of TerraFresh Organics. “We’ve built strong relationships with our growers in Latin America and the U.S. and are confident in the excellent organic produce they provide.”
TerraFresh sought out growers in Latin America and the U.S. who are committed to organic fruit, sustainable practices and quality produce. With state-of-the-art packing and loading operations located in Central and Southern California, Nogales, AZ, McAllen, TX and Toughkenamon, PA, TerraFresh Organics ensures reliable supply and services logistic across the U.S.
