South Carolina shippers are gearing up for a promising season starting in June with most loads destined for markets in the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states.
South Carolina ranks 5th nationally in watermelon shipments. It has 10,000 acres of watermelon planted this season. Melon shipments are expected from mid-June thru late July. Approximately 80 percent of South Carolina watermelons shipments are seedless.
Following an early March freeze, the state’s peach estimate plunged to about 70 percent of a normal crop. Still, excellent quality fruit is expected. South Carolina ranks second to California in domestic peach shipments. Loadings started in early May and will continue through early August.
The state is also known for it vegetable shipments of collards, summer squash and sweet corn, although there are shipments of beans, peas and Sea Island tomatoes. Berries ranging from strawberries to blueberries will come on in June.
California Sun Dry Foods, a leading brand of sun-dried tomatoes, launched the company’s first-ever Sun-Dried Tomato Bruschetta. The new appetizer caters directly to consumers’ preferences for all-natural spreads and conveniently packaged snack foods, and it is a unique addition to the company’s already extensive portfolio.
“We’re excited to expand our segment in the produce category,” said Charles Olin, vice president of sales and marketing at Saco Foods LLC, based in Middleton, WI. Saco Foods acquired California Sun Dry in January of this year. “We’ve come up with a recipe that meets shoppers’ snacking needs, making it easy to enjoy a fast and healthy bite or serve to a crowd.”
The Sun-Dried Tomato Bruschetta, comprising fresh tomatoes, diced onion, a zesty herb blend and the company’s signature sun-dried tomatoes, is the first ready-made appetizer for the company, adding a distinctive item to the brand’s produce set. California Sun Dry’s comprehensive product portfolio includes jarred and bagged sun-dried tomatoes, sauces and spreads.
“We approached the creation of this product by looking at what is trending in consumer purchasing and came up with a solution that meets the growing interest in healthy diets and elevated snack platters. It appeals to ingredient-conscious consumers at a price that is accessible to all,” said Pam Statz, vice president of sales at Saco Foods.
The new bruschetta is adaptable in the kitchen for a wide variety of uses. Suggested retail price for California Sun Dry Sun-Dried Tomato Bruschetta is $4.49 per nine-ounce jar. It is shipped in a six-count case.
Southern Hemisphere citrus suppliers to North America, Chile commenced shipping the week of April 13th with 71,771 boxes of clementines by boat.
As of May 2nd, 55,268 boxes of clementines were headed for the East Coast and 16,503 boxes to the West Coast. Chilean Clementines will be followed by lemons, navels and mandarins. It takes about 21 days to arrive at U.S. ports.
The Chilean citrus industry anticipates similar overall volumes of citrus in comparison to last year, with the total volume reaching 350,000 tons vs. 358,000 in 2018. Clementine volume is expected to have the greatest variation, falling by 8 percent to 58,000 tons.
Juan Enrique Ortuzar, president of the Chilean Citrus Committee, explains this was not unexpected.
“In 2018, Chilean clementine production jumped 53 three percent. After a year of high production, blooms tend to be less intense, so this reduction in volume is not a surprise. The overall trend for Chilean Clementine volume is incredibly positive. In 2017, we shipped 40,687 tons of clementines to North America, and this year, the estimate is 58,000 tons. That’s an increase of 43 three percent in just two years!”
Expectations are high for a strong clementine season. Weather and growing conditions have provided the ideal scenario for good brix and sizing, and cool fall nights have turned the fruit to a brilliant orange color. Chile is facing higher than usual stock levels in the U.S. market, but the Committee is confident that consistently high quality fruit and strong marketing support will be the right combination to generate demand and drive sales.
“In 2018, we ran citrus promotions in more than 50 retail chains, with a strong focus on creative, high-impact promotions that generated double digit sales increases,” says Karen Brux, Managing Director of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association . “We hope to extend our reach even further this season. We’ll also engage our social media followers with videos direct from Chilean citrus orchards, new recipes and interactive promotions. We just reached a Facebook following of 350,000, so we have a large, captive audience!”
Weekly crop updates are now available, and the Committee will be sending more detailed information on lemons, navels and mandarins as shipments of these fruits begin.
Superfresh Growers, Yakima, Wash., is marketing blueberries with an exclusive supply agreement with Norris Farms, Roseburg, Ore.
The blueberry grower has acreage in southern Oregon’s Umpqua River Valley, according to a news release, where harvest starts in early- to mid-June, and lasts to late September.
“Our collective farming, sales, and logistical expertise, combined with mutual multi-generational farming knowledge, make our families a great match,” Robert Kershaw, CEO of Superfresh Growers, said in the release.
Norris Farms owner Paul Norris said his family farming operation is excited to work with Superfresh Growers.
“It has been apparent from the day we met that our companies share cultures that are centered around quality, service and strong customer relationships,” Norris said in the release.
Superfresh also markets apples, pears, apricots and cherries.
As of May 1st fresh apple shipments have plunged 13 percent compared to a year ago.
This means U.S. fresh-market apples remaining to be shipped total 38.6 million bushel cartons on May 1st compared to 44.2 million cartons at the same time last year and 2 percent less than the 5-year average of 39.2 million cartons. By variety, the May 1st apples remaining to be shipped compared with a year ago, were:
Fuji: 4.71 million cartons, down 17 percent;
Gala: 7.51 million cartons, down 4 percent;
Golden delicious: 1.67 million cartons, down 43 percent;
Granny smith: 4.85 million cartons, down 42 percent;
Honeycrisp: 2.67 million cartons, up 9 percent;
Cripps pink/Pink Lady: 2.23 million cartons, up 17 percent; and
Red delicious: 11.9 million cartons, down 1 percent.
Washington state accounts for approximately 92 percent of the remaining 2018 apple crop.
Oneonta Starr Ranch of Wenatchee, WA reports Washington apple shipments have been pretty steady in May. Washington apple loading will continue until the start of the 2019 season.
East-West routes have been added to Georgia’s Port of Savannah for its chilled produce business.
The port serves as a gateway for perishable products after joining the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southeast In-Transit Cold Treatment Pilot Program, according to a news release. Before, the port received produce from Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Argentina that had been cold treated. Now the port serves all of South America, with the ability to import from Spain, Morocco and Italy.
“This is an exciting development that opens Savannah as a new option for growers around the world to reach the U.S. Southeast with greater speed and efficiency,” Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch said in the release. “Georgia’s central location means shorter overland routes to inland markets, allowing time-sensitive cargo to reach customers faster, fresher and at lower cost.”
Proximity to large cities like Atlanta and Memphis sets the port up as a hub for refrigerated produce. Ships call on the port 35 times a week.
Earlier this year, Americold Realty Trust, which owns and operates temperature-controlled facilities and infrastructure, acquired PortFresh Holdings, which serves the fresh produce industry primarily through the Port of Savannah.
“We’ve got kiwis on the water, and we are getting our first few containers in from Morocco now,” Ken Burke, vice president of client relations at PortFresh, said in the release. “We’re gearing up to handle very heavy business starting with the summer citrus program from Chile and Peru, and for next season, the Spanish and Moroccan produce will really start to come online.”
Savannah can handle time-sensitive items like asparagus, previously shipped as air cargo, but now delivered in containers to the port.
“Not only can we now handle produce that has undergone cold treatment while in transit, Savannah also has a local facility certified to perform re-treatment should that prove necessary,” Cliff Pyron, Georgia Ports Authority chief commercial officer.
A variety of fruit comes through the port, including blueberries, mangoes, apples, pineapples, grapes, bananas and avocados, according to the release.
PortFresh has 100,000 square feet for chilled produce storage, and Americold plans to add an additional facility with 37,000 pallet positions.
Pearsall, TX – Black Gold Farms began colored potato shipments of the 2019 fresh crop from Texas last week.
Texas grown red and yellow potatoes will ship from Pearsall, TX as well Black Gold Farms’ Arbyrd, MO packing facility until early June. After that, Black Gold Farms will transition to their Missouri fresh colored potato crop that will pack and ship out of the Arbyrd location for the summer.
The first run fields have indicated that the quality will be better than ever. Steve Wright, Farm Manager of the Pearsall farm says, “I’m really excited to be digging our fresh red and yellow spuds. I’ve seen a lot of really good-looking potatoes come out of this area year after year – and this particular season, I’m especially excited.” Wright recognizes that optimal weather, timing, variety and land selection as triggers that set up the season for success.
Keith Groven, Sales Manager at Black Gold Farms explains, “Getting into fresh crop for the year is always exciting – for us at the farm and for our customers. Retailers are thrilled to get their hands on fresh, red and yellow potatoes.” Black Gold Farms recently finished up a strong storage season out of their North Dakota location.
Texas is a prime example of where local makes a difference. Black Gold Farms has truly leveraged that consumer demand for local potatoes. “Texas retailers particularly, have witnessed the demand that Texas-grown colored potatoes can create. A lot of product can move when consumers know it’s local” Groven remarks.
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Black Gold Farms is a fourth-generation family farm and grower, shipper, marketer of all types of Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other commodities. They have an extensive network of farm locations throughout the United States, and are headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Santa Maria is California’s second leading produce and shipper of strawberries and this season could be a banner one. As with other Golden State berry production areas, Santa Mara has been producing greater volumes with higher yield under new varieties.
Positioned on the Central Coast with Ventura to its south and Watsonville to the north, in 2018, Santa Maria strawberry shipments totaled over 33 percent of California’s total volume — about 70.4 million crates.
In the fall of 2018, growers planted 8,583 acres for the upcoming winter, spring and summer season, off from 11,744 acres from the previous season.
Providence Farms in Santa Maria has mostly organic strawberries on 260 acres, which grows and ships its product through California Giant Berry Farms. The company reports increasing yields as a result of research by the University of California, Davis program. Providence Farms 35 years ago was producing around 6,000 trays an acre, but now yields are up to 8,500 to 9,000 trays an acre with newer, improved varieties.
If the weather is normal this season, weekly shipment volume is expected to equal or exceed average shipment totals the past three years from April 15th to October 31st.
Total California strawberry shipments have set records the past three years in total, increasing 6 percent. It is a trend where growers are producing higher yields with less planted acreage. During the past three years strawberry acreage has declined 12 percent.
Two of the three top-yielding varieties in production yield studies conducted in Watsonville by UC Davis, include the monterey variety, producing 10,554 cartons per acre, and the san andreas variety, which yielded 10,414 cartons per acre.
However, problems can arise with the higher-producing varieties. Weather factors delayed fruit harvests until California’s three strawberry districts came online with fruit, including those high-yield varieties, close in time with each other. That was around May 11th, when production hit nearly 10 million trays and exceeded the three-year average of just over 8 million trays.
Annual shipments increased 9 percent to nearly 225 million trays.
Weather has resulted in statewide shipments this year trailing behind last year at this time. As of March 23rd, shipments were at about 7.2 million trays — significantly behind the nearly 11.9 million trays harvested at the same time last year.
In Santa Maria, about 637,000 crates of berries have been shipped compared to over 2.4 million crates a year ago. Timing, however, is on track with normal years.
Santa Maria strawberry and vegetable shipments – grossing about $4700 to Chicago.
A new crop of potato shipments are now underway with both red and gold varieties from Cal-Organic Farms of Bakersfield, CA.
The organic potatoes will be followed by russet and rainbow fingerling varieties, also organic, in June.
The company is harvesting the red and gold potatoes in California’s desert region and will move to Kern County in late May, when harvest of the company’s complete portfolio of potatoes will begin, according to a news release.
Cal-Organic, a division of Grimmway Farms, will ship potatoes through October.
“We are anticipating outstanding quality and consistent supply to launch our fresh crop potato program,” Bob Borda, vice president of organic sales at Grimmway Farms, said in the release.
Cooler growing conditions and other factors resulted in watermelon shipments, both domestic and imports, being 13 percent lower in late March than a year ago, but volume now is on the rise.
Peak shipments for seedless watermelons typically occur during June. The latest USDA statistics are for 2017, when in June of that year 28 percent of the US. domestic seedless watermelon loadings took place, followed closely by July with 25 percent and August with 22 percent. May accounted for 16 percent of the volume.
Georgia was the nation’s leading domestic shipper of seedless watermelons in 2017, accounting for 22 percent of the total volume.
Other leading shippers by state for 2017 were:
Florida, 18 percent;
California, Indiana and Texas, all 12 percent each;
Missouri, 5 percent;
North Carolina, 4 percent;
Delaware and South Carolina, both at 3 percent.
Imported watermelon supplies are shipped to the U.S. the year around, but are mainly concentrated in a few months. Representing about one third the total of annual domestic shipments, import volume of watermelons peaks in April (36 percent of annual imported volume), followed by May (21 percent), March (12 percent), October (11 percent) and February (7 percent).
Mexico accounts for the vast majority of imported seedless watermelons, representing 79 percent of total annual imports in 2017. Other important suppliers to the U.S. market are Guatemala (12 percent) and Honduras (7 percent).
Mexican crossings through south Texas are just wrapping up, and are followed by shipments from south Florida near Immokalee and then moving north through other growing districts.
Pacific Trellis Fruit/Dulcinea, of Reedley, CA reports its mini seedless watermelons transitioned from Mexico into Arizona in late April and early May, to be followed by shipments from California’s Central San Joaquin Valley.
While the company’s primary shipments originate from the West Coast, it also grows melons in Texas, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina.
Southern and central Florida vegetable and watermelon shipments – grossing about $3800 to New York City.
