The packing date for the 2019 Vidalia onion season is set for 8 a.m. on Monday, April 22, according to The Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Vidalia Onion Committee.
Five to 6 million cartons are expected to be shipped this season.
Vidalia onion acreage in 2019 will hit a 10-year low, according to Bland Farms LLC of Glennville, GA. The least amount of acreage planted during the past 10 years was 10,500 acres — at least until this season when 9,262 have been planted. Last year 11,251 acres were planted.
Vidalia onions represent about 40 percent of the sweet onions shipped in the U.S. each season.
Vidalia onions are grown in parts of 20 southeastern Georgia counties by 80 registered growers.
Each year, the Vidalia Onion Advisory Panel, state agricultural scientists and the Department of Agriculture determine the pack date based on soil and weather conditions in South Georgia during the growing season to help avoid early season onions being picked before maturity and tend to have a high pungency, or hot taste. Onions shipped prior to April 22nd cannot legally be shipped as Vidalia onions.
This year, the Vidalia Onion Committee is launching “The Sweet Life,” a new marketing campaign to reach home cooks across the country. The campaign targets grocery shoppers who enjoy cooking and entertaining.
“The Sweet Life builds on our very successful marketing effort over the last two years that helped to raise the profile of the Vidalia onion among food connoisseurs, particularly millennials who set many of today’s consumer trends,” said Bland. “Now we plan to focus on broader category of consumers who like to cook, entertain and use onions. The goal is to elevate the brand as a signifier of good taste and living well.”
The Vidalia trademark is owned by the state of Georgia because of the Vidalia Onion Act of 1986. To be considered a Vidalia onion, the vegetables must be cultivated in the south Georgia soil from a distinctive Granex seed and packed and sold after the official pack date each year, resulting in only the highest-quality onions reaching Vidalia fans each season.
A moderate decline in volume has been reported for U.S.
banana imports in 2018, while tomato imports are increasing, according the USDA.
U.S. imports of bananas totaled 4.2 million metric tons in
2018, off 4 percent from 2017. By value, imports of bananas totaled $1.91
billion in 2018, up 2 percent from 2017.
Guatemala was the leading supplier of bananas to the U.S. in
2018, accounting for 1.88 billion metric tons, down 5 percent from 2017. By
value, imports of Guatemala bananas totaled $851.4 million, up 2 percent from
2017. Guatemala accounted for 45 percent of volume and value of total
banana imports.
Other leading suppliers of bananas in 2018 to the U.S., by
value and compared with last year, are:
Costa Rica: $399.9 million, down 10 percent;
Honduras: $218.5 million, down 1 percent;
Ecuador: $189.2 million, up 16 percent;
Mexico: $136.2 million, up 19 percent; and
Colombia: $104.8 million, up 15 percent.
Tomato Imports
In 2018 total U.S. tomato imports increased 9 percent in
value and 4 percent in volume.
USDA trade statistics show that total U.S. tomato imports
were $2.38 billion in 2018, up 9 percent from $2.17 billion in 2017.
Volume of tomato imports rose 4 percent in 2018, climbing
from 1.79 million metric tons in 2017 to 1.86 million metric tons in 2018.
Mexico is the top supplier of imported tomatoes, accounting
for 87 percent of the value of total U.S. tomato imports and 91 percent of
imported tomato volume. By value, U.S. imports of Mexican tomatoes, at $2.06
billion, were up 12 percent from 2017.
The volume of U.S. imports of Mexican tomatoes totaled 1.69
million metric tons in 2018, up 5 percent from 1.61 million metric tons in 2017.
By comparison, U.S. imports of Canadian tomatoes declined 7
percent in value and 9 percent in volume in 2018. Canada is the number two
supplier of imported tomatoes, accounting for 9 percent of imported tomato
value and 8 percent of tomato volume.
The Dominican Republic and Guatemala are number three and
four ranked tomato suppliers, but both represent less than 1 percent of value.
Ready-to-eat convenience food sales over the last decade have increased, according to a new survey.
The USDA’s Flexible Consumer behavior Survey reports consumers in 2015-16 reported purchases of 2.4 ready-to-eat foods in the past 30 days, up more than 25 percent from 2007-08, when consumers reported consuming 1.9 ready-to-eat foods in the same period.
Eating out
The USDA survey found for 2015-16, about 89 percent of adults bought food from a fast-food restaurant and 90 percent of adults ate at a sit-down restaurant in the past 12 months.
The 2015-16 survey related consumers reported eating 3.6 food away from home meals in the last week, down slightly from 4 food-away-from-home meals reported in the same period in 2007-08.
For both 2007-08 and 2015-16, less than half of food-away-from-home meals were from a fast-food restaurant.
The percentage of adults who saw nutrition information on a fast-food restaurant menu increased from 20 percent in 2007-08 to 42 percent in 2015-16. The percentage of adults who saw nutrition information on a sit-down restaurant menu increased from 16 to 27 percent.
However, the percentage of adults who used nutrition information on a fast-food restaurant menu was 41 percent in 2015-16, up only 1 percent from 2007-08. The number of adults who used nutrition information on a sit-down restaurant menu actually declined, from 53 percent in 2007-08 to 43 percent in 2015-16.
The survey found that the MyPlate guide to support healthy eating is not widely known by consumers.
The survey found 24 percent of adults reported that they had heard of MyPlate in 2015-16, up from 20 percent in 2013-14. Among those who heard of MyPlate, the survey found the percentage of adults who had tried to follow the recommendations in the MyPlate plan remained stable at 35 percent over these two time periods.
Eastern sweet corn shippers are optimistic about the coming crops following good growing conditions.
Florida is the nation’s leading sweet corn shipper in early spring. The Sunshine state shipped more volume as of March 9 than last year at the same time: 145.3 million pounds, compared to 136 million pounds in 2018, according to the USDA.
Nationally, 259.8 million pounds of corn were shipped this season through March 9, which is 23.3 million fewer pounds at the same point last season, which was at 283.1 million.
Scotlynn Sweet Pac Growers of Belle Glade, FL reports an excellent sweet corn crop spurred by great weather that is leading to good volume and supplies.
The company ships corn initially out of Belle Glade, then Bainbridge, GA., and finishes with Vittoria, Ontario.
Belle Glade sweet corn shipments run from mid-March to June 1st.
Scotlynn’s Georgia sweet corn shipments will be available from May 15 until July 15, and from Vittoria, availability runs from July 15 until September 5.
Duda Farm Fresh Foods of Oviedo, FL plans on similar volumes as in recent years from its winter and spring corn seasons in South Florida, followed by its short Georgia season.
After Duda’s Florida winter corn shipments finish at the end of March, spring corn is available the first week of April through end of May. The season winds down with Georgia’s quick harvest from late May to early June.
Turek Farms of King Ferry, NY is working with Florida and Georgia growers from SM Jones and Co. to ship corn the year-round. Sales are handled by Cayuga Produce Inc of King Ferry. The company ships New York sweet corn from mid-July through early October.
Florida vegetables – grossing about $2600 to New York City.
Citrus shipments for the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas are expected to continue through mid- to late May.
Wonderful Citrus, with offices in California and South Texas should be shipping Texas grapefruit and Texas oranges through May this season.
At Texas Citrus Mutual of Mission, about 40 percent of its grapefruit and 75 percent of its late oranges remained to be shipped as of March 25.
Total Texas grapefruit shipments forecast by the USDA stand at 6.2 million boxes for the 2018-19 season, up from 4.8 million boxes in 2017-18.
South Texas Organics of Mission, said it should finish with it’s organic valencia orange shipments as well as its Rio Star grapefruit the last half of April.
The USDA reports through the middle of March season-to-date domestic shipments of Texas grapefruit totaled 134.7 million pounds, down from 172.3 million pounds a year ago. Total shipments last season were 205.6 million pounds.
Texas export shipments of grapefruit totaled 10.1 million pounds by mid-March, down from 14.6 million pounds a year ago. Total grapefruit export shipments a year ago were 15.2 million pounds.
Texas Orange Shipments
Texas orange shipments through mid-March were 69.6 million pounds, off from 99.2 million pounds at the same time a year ago.
Total Texas orange shipments last season totaled 121.9 million pounds, the USDA reports.
In December, the USDA predicted Texas all-orange output for 2018-19 at 2.4 million boxes, up from 1.88 million boxes in the 2017-18 season.
Research shows women truck drivers are safer truck drivers than men, at least according the conclusion of the American Transportation Research Institute’s Crash Predictor Model. The model statistically estimates the likelihood of future crash involvement based on specific truck driving behaviors, according to a news release.
Published in 2018, the 62-page report, draws data from over 435,000 U.S. truck drivers over a 2-year time period to reveal nearly a dozen behaviors that raise a driver’s risk of being involved in a future truck crash by more than 50 pecent. Female truck drivers were safer than male counterparts in every statistically significant safety behavior and men were 20 percent more likely to be involved in a crash than women, the study reports.
“ATRI’s Crash Predictor Model is a key input to our driver hiring and training practices,” John Prewitt, president of Tideport Distributing Inc., said in the release.
“Safety is our first concern and by understanding how driver histories relate to future crash probability, we can develop targeted solutions for minimizing safety risks.”
Other key findings from the report, according to the release, are:
The top 2 behaviors for predicting future crash involvement, each with more than 100 percent increased likelihood of a future crash, are a reckless driving violation and a failure to yield right of way violation;
Prior crash involvement continues to have a statistically significant relationship to future crash involvement with a 74 percent increase of the likelihood of being in a future crash; and
Other statistically significant predictors of future crash involvement including convictions for improper lane/location, reckless/careless/inattentive/negligent driving, and improper or erratic lane change.
The report also provides a list of states that have proven track records of maximizing their enforcement resources while minimizing their share of the nation’s truck crashes.
Indiana tops that list, followed by New Mexico, Washington, California and Maryland, according to the release.
Argentina lemon exporters are taking a cautious approach in their second year exporting to the U.S. market after a long absence.
About 10 lemon exporters resumed lemon exports to the U.S. after a 17-year absence, and in their second season are planning to have more volume.
Europe is the biggest market for Argentina’s lemons, with arrivals mostly in Spain, the Netherlands and Italy.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture report on Argentina lemons notes fresh lemon production for the marketing year 2018-19 is forecast up to 1.6 million metric tons, an increase from 1.5 million metric tons in 2017-18. Of that, lemon exports to all countries are estimated at 290,000 metric tons, up from 265,000 metric tons in 2017-18 and 241,000 metric tons in 2016-17.
The U.S. received only a small fraction of Argentina’s lemon exports last year.
According to the USDA report, U.S. imports of Argentina lemons in 2018 were 5.9 million pounds in 2018, or about 2,681 metric tons. Arrivals of Argentina lemons arrived by boat at Philadelphia from May through August and into Tampa in June, according to the USDA.
These cabover tractors pulling reefer trailers were photographed in 1992 at a Chilean port during a visit to that country by Bill Martin.
This is a transitional season for Chilean fruit as items such as peaches and nectarines are wrapping up, while others such as kiwifruit will soon be ramping up.
However, for the time being Chilean table grapes remain the focus of fruit imports from this South American country. Strong volumes of Chilean table grapes will continue arriving at American ports through April. Over 26 million cases of Chilean grapes were shipped to the United States through March 17th.
There have been heavy arrivals, although overall volume is now starting to slowly decrease. There are the more traditional varieties such as Crimsons, Flames and Thompson Seedless. However, there is increasing volumes of proprietary and newer varieties like Timco, Sweet Celebration and Jack’s Salute.
While peach and nectarine volumes are in a seasonal decline, there were still strong volumes of plums shipped in mid-March from Chilean ports, resulting in good volumes arriving at U.S. ports well into April.
While Chilean kiwifruit have been exported to the U.S. for many years, volume is now to the point where the Chilean Kiwifruit Committee plans marketing campaign for the first time in the United States.
Chilean kiwi exports begin in April with good volume occurring at U.S. ports by late May.
The Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in Philadelphia welcomed two super Post-Panamax container cranes from China that arrived recently.
The arrival marks another important milestone in the comprehensive modernization project underway at Packer Avenue, according to a news release.
The arrival highlights a key competitive advantage for shippers looking to improve time to market on the East Coast of the U.S.
PhilaPort has seen a 166 percent container growth in the past decade, and in 2018 handled a record 600,000 20-foot-equivalent units.
“Our terminal is currently under capacity, meaning we could handle rerouted surplus bound for nearby congested terminals immediately without blinking an eye,” David Whene, president of Greenwich Terminals, operator of the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, said in the release.
“With ship productivity as high as 140 gross moves per hour, turn-times of under 40 minutes, and an abundance of available chassis, Packer Avenue offers carriers unparalleled efficiency in reaching the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond.”
With a $300 million public-private investment in the terminal, the release said Packer Avenue is a model of 21st century port operations.
According to the release, the upcoming completion of the Delaware River Deepening Project will provide a full 45-foot shipping channel through Philadelphia, allowing vessels as large as 14,500 TEUs to traverse into the port.
That deepening project is timed perfectly with the arrival of the new super Post-Panamax cranes, bringing the total operational cranes on the terminal to six (a seventh will arrive in August).
The gain in capacity will lead to improvements on the 40-minute turn times for containers coming in and out, according to the release.
“We have always known that PhilaPort’s market potential was significantly greater than reflected in past volumes,” PhilaPort CEO Jeff Theobald said.
“Now with our capital improvements nearing their completion, shippers should know that we have excess capacity and that we are open for new business.”
Lane Southern Orchards, a major peach grower and shipper based in Fort Valley, GA, is doubling the capacity of its packinghouse in a $4 million project to be completed before the 2019 season.
By the early summer peach harvest, the renovated and expanded facility will allow the company to pack 23,000 25-pounds boxes a day, putting Lane’s seasonal capacity at 3 million boxes.
Technology upgrades to grading and sorting processes is also included, along with improved cold storage and shipping and receiving facilities, according to a news release.
A Durand-Wayland robotic bin handling system, designed to be gentle on the peaches, will streamline efficiencies in the packinghouse.
International Farming Corp. purchased Lane Southern Orchards in 2015, and the peach company’s CEO, Mark Sanchez, said it has been a “great partner.”
“They understand the culture of farming and have given us the opportunity for tremendous growth,” Sanchez said in the release. “The ability to enhance our facilities to create best-in-class efficiencies and quality control is the latest example of that growth.”
In 2018, Lane Southern Orchards and Taylor Orchards of Reynolds, GA merged, combining peach/pecan acreage, facilities and innovation. A surge in plantings in 2018 and this year brings the total acreage of peaches and nuts to more than 10,000.
“The complete renovation of the original Lane facility with new technology allows us to easily handle the additional supply of peaches and be a better supplier to our existing customers while we expand our customer base,” Duke Lane III, director of sales for Lane Southern Orchards, said in the release.
