It appears lettuce shipments out of the Yuma, AZ area and California’s near by Imperial Valley are getting back on track following a few weeks of inclement weather including snow and cold temperatures, plus a slow down from the holidays.
dCoastline Family Farms Inc. of Salinas, CA, which has an operation in Brawley, CA has noted three separate delays in harvesting, packing and shipper because of icy weather, plus an additional two days harvest was reduced due to light rain. However, business is now returning to normal.
Still, if you are hauling lettuce be aware of some possible quality issues relating to epidermal peeling and discoloration, although the core of the lettuce should be in good condition. The main concern now is possible rain in the forecast.
Suppliers observe the market has regained some momentum after the holidays. Prices are steadying as producers ship more stable volume again. Hope is that the steady market will continue, but growers will be keeping an eye on forecast rain in the growing regions later this week.
While snow in the desert regions of California and Arizona are a bit unusual, it does happen. However, much the leafy green shipments in the United States occurs here during the winter months. Some observers note the desert areas generally have less disruption of shipments than coastal California areas such as Ventura County and Santa Maria.
Desert lettuce and other vegetables – grossing about $5400 to Atlanta.
Banana imports to the U.S. and European Union increased year-on-year in the first few months of 2018, with many important Latin American suppliers shipping greater volumes.
U.S. imports through September rose by 9 pecent from the previous year to 3.2 million metric tons (MT), while to the EU through August rose by 4 percent to 4 million MT, according to USDA and Eurostat data.
The U.S.’s main supplier of the period, Guatemala, increased its shipments to the North American country by 6 percent to 1.4 million MT, while the second-biggest supplier, Costa Rica, saw a 4 percent hike to 649,000MT.
There were significant increases from some smaller suppliers such as Mexico (+22 percent, 241,000MT) and Ecuador (39 percent, 353,000MT). Honduras, the number-three supplier, shipped 4 percent fewer with 360,000MT.
As for Europe, the region’s main supplier, Ecuador, boosted shipments by 12 percent to 1.7 million MT, while Costa Rica, the number-three supplier, increased shipments by 8 percent to 837,000MT.
Meanwhile, there were decreases for Colombia (-2 percent, 902,000MT), the Dominican Republic (-4 percent, 198,000MT), and the Ivory Coast (-1 percent, 197,000MT).
Hollister, CA – Berry People has announced the start of its organic strawberry season from Baja California in Mexico, having recently completed a successful first year of operations.
These top-quality strawberries, which are now available in both an 8x1lb and 12×8.8oz formats, will ramp up in volume in January, peak from February through April, and taper off in June.
The Baja season comes at a time when U.S. domestic production is limited, providing retailers and their customers an attractive alternative for a reliable supply of organic strawberries. Work is also underway to develop acreage for substantial November and December volumes next season.
The company has grown since it started operating in late 2017 and is now set for further controlled expansion in 2019 by developing important summertime production to finish out its year-round shipments.
Jerald Downs, President of Berry People, noted shareholders recently completed a substantial 2018 equity capital contribution in preparation for 2019’s projected growth.
“A strong balance sheet and sufficient capital resources are important to stay in the vanguard as to the marketplace’s product and service needs, whether that be in the development of new varieties, pack-styles and technologies, investment into new facilities, or in the provision of harvest advances to key outside growers,” said Downs.
About Berry People: Berry People is a year-round, full-line shipper of organic and conventional strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and avocados, and owner of the Berry People® and Avo People brands®. Headquartered in Hollister, California, the company’s ownership and key alliance partners hold important production assets in California, Mexico, Chile and Peru.
Texas produce growers are currently harvesting and shipping melons, citrus and other crops to supermarkets mostly throughout the Eastern half of the country.
When the Lone Star State producers of fresh fruits and vegetable are not in season, Texas is the major route for fruits and vegetables from Mexico.
Many Texas produce operations also have relationships with the growers in Mexico.
For example, in 2016, two-thirds of all the fresh produce sold in Texas was grown in Mexico. Texas grows $900 million of 60 different produce items on 117,000 acres. There are 26,000 acres of watermelons, and 22,000 acres of grapefruit out of a total of 29,000 acres of citrus.
As of 2018, Texas had a population of 28 million people and has the third highest growth population rate of all the states at 1.8 percent per year.
J & D Produce Inc. of Edinburg, TX is a grower-shipper in the Rio Grande Valley and has been shipping kale during the winter for over 25 years to the northeastern U.S.
The company estimates 20 percent of what it grows is distributed in the Lone Star State, while the other 80 percent is shipped out of the state wholesale terminal markets and retail distribution centers, mostly east of the Mississippi River.
Texas is so important in grapefruit and orange production that when California’s largest grower-shipper wanted to fill out their portfolio of year-round citrus, they looked to the Lower Rio Grand Valley.
Wonderful Citrus of Los Angeles grows and ships Texas grapefruit and oranges. While volume during the past five years has been flat, new plantings of grapefruit and oranges were launched a few years ago. The company is now expecting shipments to increase over the next several years.
Wonderful citrus is now the largest red grapefruit grower in Texas, accounting for 50 to 55 percent total share of volume this winter season.
Although Florida remains the orange juice king despite struggles with citrus greening disease, California and Texas are by far the leading fresh market citrus producers with a combined total of nearly 300,000 acres,
The 2018-2019 Texas vegetable shipments experienced problems due to weather factors during the growing season and will conclude in the middle of April. Excessive rains in the Rio Grande Valley, including the Winter Garden district west of San Antonio, made for difficulty in planting schedules, and then later with harvesting, packing and shipping.
In 2016, U.S. fruit and vegetable imports from Mexico reached about 10 million metric tons, with a total value of about $12.4 billion, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service statistics, which accounted for 43 percent of all U.S. fruit-and-vegetable imports from all countries.
About half of all the fresh produce coming into the country from Mexico does so through Texas. Each year, 255,000 truckloads cross the border from Mexico into Texas. At the Pharr International Bridge south of McAllen alone, 157,000 loads of produce come in every year, which is a little more than Nogales, AZ.
Tomatoes account for nearly 30 percent of all the vegetables imported from Mexico, while avocados, watermelons and limes make up more than half the volume of fruits.
Over the previous 12 years, fresh produce from Mexico has grown significantly each year, the biggest items being tomatoes, avocados, limes, mangos and broccoli. Mangos and limes are very close in volume and one or the other can lead in volume from year-to-year to rank number 5 in imports. The volume of both is now larger than sweet peppers.
During the holiday season we often get caught up with all the commercialism and bombardment of TV adds for new cars, perfumes, and law suits for bad drugs.
With all this commercial madness it’s sometimes hard to reflect on what the true purpose of the season is. I was reminded of that a few weeks ago by one of our lake association members. I asked one of our members whom I had not seen for several months how she was doing. She replied, “I’m blessed.”
No big deal, just a simple statement of fact with a smile. Now if you stop all the hustle and bustle of the season and just think about that you will find it speaks volumes. There are about 195 countries in this weird world of ours. Yet the United States is the only country in the world that people are immigrating too by the millions every year.
In 2017 there were over 1.5 million legal immigrants allowed into our country. And even with that huge number there were tens of thousands of illegal immigrants. Now if you listen to the news media you would have to ask yourself why? According to the news media we are a bunch of racist, homophobic, privileged, rich people who are oppressing the poor workers with evil corporations. And we are doing this by consuming the earths natural resources and responsible for global warming that will cause the seas to rise and drown over half of the earths population.
Now why would anybody want to immigrate to a country like that? After all, according to the news media, we are just a capitalist evil empire. There must be some underlying factor here that we don’t know about. Somehow I don’t think we get all this immigration because people really like moving to a racist bigoted country of oppressors.
The United States is only 5 percent of the entire world’s population, yet we are 25 percent of the world’s economy. Just maybe people are immigrating here because we offer a much better quality of life and opportunity than where they are currently living.
Our top poverty income in the US is about $24,000/yr. Do you know that our closest economic competitor, the EU, has a median income of just $29,000/yr? Our median income is double that. No other continent even comes close to the US in providing economic opportunity. The absolute fact is that if you are born in the United States you are in the top 5 percent of the worlds privileged population.
Now isn’t that a kick in the shorts for all of you people that like to play the victim? All those victim lovers who want to whine about how downtrodden their ancestors were and how miserably they have been discriminated against are actually one of the worlds most privileged. Say it ain’t so Joe! Yep, it is so.
If you don’t believe this just listen to one of those immigrants who walked across Mexico just to get the opportunity to climb over or dig under a fence to set foot on U.S. soil. Would you do that? Would any of us have that much motivation to do that? I think not. We have become a spoiled nation.
We don’t know what it’s like to live under true oppression and tyranny. We see all those idiots who complain and cry out for socialism in our country, but not a single one of them is willing to immigrate to Venezuela to help their socialist brothers out. After all, there is a shortage of latte in Venezuela. If you can’t make it in the United States then you can’t make it anywhere on this planet, period.
We are the world’s land of opportunity. Opportunity is what you make of it. It is not the governments responsibility to give it to you. It is your responsibility to earn it. We strive for equality before the law in our country, but true equality in life is a myth. All of us have differences that tip the scales of opportunity. Life is not fair. Don’t expect it to be. Life has its ups and downs. But one thing is for sure. We are all privileged to live in the United States. So as the new year approaches take some time to think about it. When you are sitting in your warm heated house with indoor plumbing sipping your tea or coffee just contemplate those living in places like North Korea or Somalia.
Think about how your house is stocked with food. How you have a choice of what vehicle to drive to dinner with friends. And how your closet is stuffed with clothes. Most people in this world just have the cloths on their back. Maybe, just maybe, all of you victims will come to the same conclusion as most of us already have. The United States is an independent sovereign capitalist nation that is free of socialist dictators. We are the envy of the world and we are all truly blessed.
(Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.)
Bee Sweet Citrus of Fowler, CA is shipping heirloom navel oranges until June.
“Unlike other citrus varieties, heirloom navels are never compromised by acidity,” Bee Sweet Citrus director of communications Monique Bienvenue said in a news release.
The release said heirloom navels are grown in older citrus groves, and the same farming methods that were used to grow Washington navels over a century ago are used to grow heirlooms now.
The release said the heirloom navel is a selection of a parent Washington variety, which was the first navel variety brought to America from Brazil in 1870.
“Heirloom navels set a very high standard for other easy-peel varieties,” Bienvenue said in the release. “Its high brix levels make them perfect for numerous snacks and desserts, and we encourage everyone to try them while they’re in season.”
Henry Avocado has moved its headquarters, packing and distribution center in Escondido, CA, to a new building in a nearby industrial center.
The 50,000-square-foot two-story facility in Escondido is 20 percent larger than the previous site and features the latest processing, refrigeration and forced-air ripening elements in the industry.
The new Henry operation consolidates under one roof the administrative and processing machinery and personnel of several buildings at the old location, and provides space for 20 forced-air ripening rooms and five loading docks.
The company, which is a year-round grower-shipper, made the move to maximize efficiency of operation and now has the potential to custom-ripen over 2 million cartons annually. The fresh product is shipped to customers via two adjacent major highways. The I-15 services the north-south corridor while the I-78 services the east-west customer network.
Henry also opened a large distribution center in Charlotte, NC, in 2017, in order to deliver fresh shipments that meet custom-ripening orders as precisely as possible.
“We consider the supply chain as paramount to quality, which motivates our decisions to modernize and relocate as required,” Henry added. “Our seven centers are strategically located, designed and managed to ensure quality, food safety and fresh delivery to customers wherever they are.”
Headed by the new Escondido building, all seven of Henry’s Primus Labs-certified distribution centers meet or exceed the federal, state and industry Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines. Two are located in Escondido and there is one each in Phoenix; Milpitas, CA; San Antonio and Houston, TX; and Charlotte, NC. Together they total 100 ripening rooms with delivery by a modern fleet of refrigerated trucks.
A pioneer in the industry, Henry was founded in 1925 and was among the first to commit to growing and promoting the Hass variety of avocados. Subsequently, Henry developed the first forced-air ripening rooms in 1983. By adding import contacts and capabilities in Mexico, Chile and Peru, Henry Avocado became one of the early year-round suppliers of fresh avocados in 1990.
Tropical fruit grower, packer and shipper WP Produce, Miami, is kicking off its 2019 season with green-skinned avocado varieties to be available the year round.
Green-skinned avocados are experiencing a surge in popularity, according to the company, which markets fruit under the Desbry brand.
In a press release WP Produce noted the non-hass varieties, instead of being used for guacamole, have a firmer texture and are perfect for salads, smoothies, toast, sushi and in soups.
The company sources from growers in Florida and imports from the Dominican Republic, and packs them at a new facility.
“Because we own the land we farm and have strong relationships with our growers, we can ensure a consistent supply of produce throughout the season,” Desiree Morales, vice president of WP Produce, said in the release. “Our customers have come to depend on the care we take in selecting and packing our produce.”
The company has farms in the Valdesia and Ocoa regions of the Dominican Republic, and partners with growers in the Cambita and Puerto Plata regions, according to the release.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the International Executive Service Corps are educating consumers on the Dominican green-skinned fruit.
“We are very excited for the work being done to promote green skin avocados in the U.S.,” said Christopher Gonzalez, vice president of sales at WP Produce, said in the release. “Consumers are becoming more and more interested in exotic, tropical produce, and green skin avocados are really starting to see a surge in popularity, especially with the continued demand for avocados as a whole. Consumers want to try the next big thing in avocados.”
Decent strawberry shipments are finally taking place from the Plant City area of Florida after a slow start during the past month or so. However, it will be February 1st before volume hits a peak.
Although there is no official government acreage estimate for the 2018-19 season, some observers believe total acreage is around 10,000 to 11,000 acres. However, for the 2017-18 the USDA reported planted acres totaled 10,800, while harvested acreage was 10,700 acres.
The USDA said Florida strawberry growers had an average yield of 225 hundredweight per acre. Total production totaled 2.41 million cwt.
Hot weather last fall resulted in smaller strawberries and less volume although that situation started improving in mid December.
USDA shipment statistics show so far this season, conventional Florida strawberry shipments totaled 8.73 million pounds through December 8th, down 43 percent compared with the same time a year ago, when 15.1 million pounds had been shipped.
Total loadings of Florida conventional strawberries during the 2017-18 totaled 240.8 million pounds, according to the USDA.
Strawberry shipments were in a lull in mid-December and decent volume did not occur until after the New Year.
Wish Farms of Plant City, FL reports acreage in Florida could be off a little, perhaps 5 percent — compared with a year ago. Hillsborough County, FL has about 10,000 acres and Manatee County at about 1,000 acres.
While Florida strawberry volume is building, it is not expected to hit real good levels volume until the week of January 20th, which puts shippers in a good position for the important Valentine Day’s (February 14th) demand.
United States Cold Storage recently opened its third facility in Laredo, Texas.
The 232,366 square-foot-warehouse was built in eight months by engineering firm Stellar, and completed with a tight schedule driven by the timing of the Mexican strawberry season, according to a news release from Stellar, Jacksonville, Fla.
The $35 million facility distributes a variety of produce, including Mexican avocados.
U.S. Cold Storage, Camden, N.J., has operated in Laredo for more than 50 years, George Cruz, senior vice president of U.S. Cold Storage’s Southern Region, said in the press release.
“As food trade with Mexico continues to grow, we found ourselves in a position to respond to our customers’ growing needs with more space,” Cruz said in the release.
Cruz credited Stellar with building the facility in time for Mexican harvests.
The cold storage facility’s features include:
Refrigerated loading dock with 21 truck doors;
Separate cross-dock area with four truck doors for inspections/transloads;
Refrigerated repacking room;
27,000 pallet positions; and
Secure trailer yard for ease of importing and border crossings.
U.S. Cold Storage, a subsidiary of John Swire & Sons Ltd. in the United Kingdom, has 40 facilities in 13 states.
Banana imports to the U.S. and European Union increased year-on-year in the first few months of 2018, with many important Latin American suppliers shipping greater volumes.
Henry Avocado has moved its headquarters, packing and distribution center in Escondido, CA, to a new building in a nearby industrial center.
United States Cold Storage recently opened its third facility in Laredo, Texas.