Author Archive
Organic produce in various categories continues to show significant growth in popularity.
According to FreshFacts on Retail, published by the United Fresh Produce Association for the third-quarter of 2016, weekly dollar sales of organic vegetables per store were up 7.6 percent compared to the third quarter of 2015. Dollar sales of organic fruit were up 17.5 percent.
Organic Attitudes and Beliefs 2016 published by The Organic Trade Association found over 82 percent of American families say they buy organic sometimes, one of the highest levels in the survey’s seven-year history.
Almost 5 percent of all the food sold in the U.S. in 2015 was organic.
Suppliers of organic produce were reporting sizeable increases.
Naturipe Farms LLC of Salinas, CA, the world’s larger produce of organic blueberries, doubling its production of organic blueberries in Argentina and Chile.
This month the company is producing its first crops of organic raspberries, blackberries and blueberries from Mexico and is investing in new production of organic strawberries, blueberries and blackberries in California and Florida.
Well-Pict Inc. of Watsonville started its new spring crop of strawberries from Ventura County, CA in mid-January, and will be shipping into spring.
Boskovich Farms Inc., of Oxnard, CA ships a number of organic vegetables led by kale, then Brussels sprouts, green onions and celery.
Stemilt Growers LLC, Wenatchee, WA is shipping organic apples and pears, with approximately 10 percent of it apple shipments coming from organic apples with galas, Honeycrisp, and granny smith among the top varieties.
CMI Orchards LLC in Wenatchee, WA has organic shipments that are up about 50 percent, with the trend expected to continue for the next four years. More acreage is being transitioned from conventional to organic. CMI offers 15 organic apple varieties and six organic pear varieties.
Viva Tierra Organic Inc., Sedro-Woolley, WA is handling organic apple supplies from Argentina and Chile that started earlier this month, in addition to its organic supply from Washington.
Citrus shipments from the Florida industry continues to decline, with the loading of oranges dropping another million boxes in the past month.
The USDA reports February 9th that orange growers will ship 70 million 90-pound boxes to market. The season, which peaks during the winter months, had shown some promise in November. At that time industry analysts predicted 72 million boxes.
However, in January, the forecast dipped to 71 million. That is a 14 percent decline from last season’s final Florida orange shipping report.
Valencia production estimates from January to February held even at 35 million boxes, but the prediction for early, mid-season and navel oranges dropped from 36 million to 35 million boxes.
“Today’s forecast reflects a true utilization of early, mid-season, and navel varieties. We hope for higher numbers of valencia production as we continue through the second half of the season,” executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus Shannon Shepp said in a news release.
Oranges make up about 65 percent of Florida citrus trees and fresh loadings account for about 4percent of orange shipments.
Overall production estimates of all oranges, which also includes California and Texas, dropped 1 percent, to 5.35 million tons, from January’s estimate. That is a 10 percent slump from overall shipments a year ago.
Citrus greening, weather and other issues have created challenges for Florida’s citrus production, which accounts for almost half of the total U.S. harvest.
In its February report, the USDA kept California’s orange crop estimates the same at 53 million 80-pound boxes to be shipped, with 44 million boxes of navel, early and mid-season oranges and 9 million boxes of valencias for shipping.
Florida grapefruit estimates remained steady at 9 million 85-pound boxes. California grapefruit production estimates were also the same from January, with 4.1 million 80-pound boxes.
Florida produce shipments, ranging from vegetables to melons, berries and citrus – grossing about $2500 to New York City.
Loading opportunities for produce haulers for imported Mexican fresh fruits and vegetables have been rising for the past two decades or more, and this trend is expected to continue.
The reasons range from favoritable climates (with the emphasis on the plural) south of the border, cheaper labor and growing costs, not to mention the outrageous political and regulatory climate in crazy California that is makes it ever more difficult to do business there.
For example, A.M. Farms, Stockton, CA., had grown asparagus there since the 1930s, but no longer farms the product. Dole Fresh Vegetables of Monterey, CA no longer markets asparagus from California and is concentrating its efforts with Mexican grown asparagus.
It used to be Mexican imports by U.S. businesses got underway around Thanksgiving and continued through March or maybe mid-April. Now some produce items are still crossing the border in late spring and early summer. For example, watermelon shipments are now available through most of June. Table grape, mangos and some leafy items go well into summer.
Peak loading opportunities of Mexican produce imports for the winter season, used to be January or February, but now it is closer to being March and April.
Some produce growers are moving farther south into Mexico building greenhouse operations, allowing a longer growing and shipping season. This helps them bridge the supply gap for the U.S. crops in May and June that are hitting big volume.
Just as some product from west Mexico now is imported through McAllen, TX, during the fall and winter to offer a freight advantages for the Midwest and Eastern markets, some product from Jalisco now comes through Nogales during the spring and summer to offer freight advantages to West Coast receivers.
Some U.S. tomato growers now ship from Mexico year-round by sourcing from new growing areas during what traditionally has been the off season. Sonora is a huge area for Mexican grown produce and it continues to expand. It used to be the state of Sinaloa was where the main volume originated.
Virtually all of Mexico’s grapes come from the Caborca and Hermosillo regions of Sonora, with shipments starting in April and continuing into July.
Imported Mexican melons, tomatoes and vegetables from Nogales – grossing about $2800 to Chicago.
by Chiquita®
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Chiquita North America is proud to announce its dedicated new banana shipping service and supply chain improvements to better serve its West Coast customers. The new shipping service will reduce fruit transit time by half, resulting in 4-5 days from the banana production area to the Port of Hueneme-Los Angeles, CA . This will result in better quality and fresher bananas for Chiquita’s Western customers.
In addition, Chiquita has been engaged in a major refrigerated container renewal program. Since 2014, it has replaced 65 percent of its fleet to create a more sustainable shipping practices. Chiquita operates in excess of 15,000 refrigerated containers, which play a key role in the logistics of today’s banana supply chain. Improvements in the design and operating efficiency of containers has led to important environmental benefits including reduced electric power consumption, greenhouse friendly refrigerants, and use of insulation materials with reduced emissions footprint.
“All of us on the North America team are excited to deliver the freshest and highest quality Chiquita Bananas available to our customers,” said executive vice president of Chiquita Fresh North America Chris Dugan. “In addition to recent investment in our farms, this is another example of how we continue look for new ways to improve our freshness, our everyday quality and the satisfaction of our costumers”.
The impact of this fleet renewal is substantial, giving Chiquita the opportunity to save up to 35 percent on energy compared to old units, and electricity savings of 34 million kilowatt hours and an annual emissions reductions of 17,000 tons of CO2 per year is possible – equivalent to taking over 3,000 cars off the road every year.
For additional information, please visit www.chiquita.com.
About Chiquita®
Chiquita grows, procures, markets, and sells bananas and other fresh fruits and is a leading global company with 20,000 employees across 30 countries being present in nearly 70 countries, mainly in North America and Europe. They are passionate about their nutritious, high-quality, energy-rich and value-added bananas. But they’re also passionate about upholding the values which is at the very core of the company – integrity, respect, opportunity and responsibility. The company believes what they do day in and day out reflects these values, our brand and their purpose.
U.S. fresh market apples remaining to be shipped are double digit over last season and 97 percent of those apples for hauling are located in three states.
U.S. fresh market apples remaining to be shipped on February 1st were 13 percent higher compared with the 2015-16 shipping season and 9 percent more than the five-year average, according to the February storage report from the U.S. Apple Association. The leading varieties remaining to be shipped are red delicious and gala.
Total fresh market apples remaining to be shipped were 85.7 million bushels, up from 76 million bushels in 2016, but lower than 95.1 million bushels two years ago.
Washington state reported holdings of 76.4 million bushels, or about 89 percent of the total national fresh holdings. Michigan apples remaining to be shipped totaled 4.1 million bushels, or about 5 percent of the remaining supplies. New York’s apple inventories were 2.9 million bushels, or 3 percent of the U.S. total fresh market apples in storage on February 1st.
By variety, the storage report showed that fresh market red delicious holdings were 28.2 million bushels, up from 21.5 million bushels last year but down from 33.8 million bushels two years ago. Gala inventories on hand totaled 16.1 million bushels, up from 12.2 million bushels a year ago and 15.95 million bushels in 2015.
Other fresh market apples remaining in storage 1 were:
- Pink Lady/cripps pink: 4.4 million bushels, up from 3.7 million bushels last year;
- Fuji: 9.3 million bushels, up from 8 million bushels a year ago;
- Golden delicious: 5.3 million bushels, compared with 6 million bushels in 2016;
- Granny smith: 8.4 million bushels, compared with 10.9 million bushels last year; and
- Honeycrisp: 3.2 million bushels, compared with 2.9 million bushels a year ago.
Yakima and Wenatchee Valley, WA apples and pears – grossing about $4500 to Dallas and $6400 to Boston.
Western Michigan apples – grossing about$900 to Chicago and $2700 to Atlanta.
By Hass Avocado Board
MISSION VIEJO, Calif. – February is American Heart Month – a critical time to raise awareness about the importance of heart health and the harmful consequences if ignored. As part of its four-year collaboration, the Hass Avocado Board (HAB) is teaming up with the American Heart Association during American Heart Month to encourage Americans to consume the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables in an effort to improve the health of all Americans which is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular disease and stroke. American Heart Month comes on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) announcement that raw fruits and vegetables – including fresh avocados – now qualify for the “Dietary Saturated Fat and Cholesterol and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease” health claim.
As part of its American Heart Month support, HAB via its Love One Today® program is implementing a three-pronged approach to target consumers, general market and Hispanic media and health professionals through a variety of tactics that will help create and promote heart-check certified recipes and highlight the health benefits of avocados. This includes a recipe contest hosted by the American Heart Association open to consumers and health professionals, and supporting influencer and traditional media relations.
- The Take Avocado To Heart recipe contest, open February 9 – 27, encourages consumer and health professional participants to submit their favorite original heart healthy avocado recipes for the chance to win a variety of prizes, including the grand prize of $1,000. The official contest hashtag is #AddAvocado. Entry information can be found at heart.org/avocadorecipecontest.
- Influencer relations will take the form of a blogger network partnership, intended to not only promote participation in the recipe contest, but generate additional avocado recipes that are Heart-Check certified by the American Heart Association. The recipes will be housed on LoveOneToday.com.
- Traditional media relations will be enhanced by American Heart Association Ambassador and Go Red For Women spokesperson, Chef Hamlet Garcia.
- Facebook, Instagram and other engaging platforms will be used to further drive the heart healthy discussion on HAB and the American Heart Association’s social channels.
“American Heart Month is an ideal time to reinforce our relationship with the American Heart Association. In doing so, we are supporting their Healthy for Good movement, which aims to inspire Americans to create lasting change for better health,” said Emiliano Escobedo, Executive Director of the Hass Avocado Board. “The efforts during the month of February clearly demonstrate our commitment to finding new ways to showcase how avocados can contribute to a healthy lifestyle, boost heart health and ultimately save lives.”
For more information about how fresh avocados can help keep your heart healthy, visit Love One Today.
About the Hass Avocado Board
The Hass Avocado Board (HAB) is an agriculture promotion group established in 2002 to promote the consumption of Hass avocados in the United States. A 12-member board representing domestic producers and importers of Hass avocados directs HAB’s promotion, research and information programs under supervision of the United States Department of Agriculture. Funding for HAB comes from Hass avocado producers and importers in the United States.
In 2010, HAB established a Nutrition Research program to increase awareness and improve understanding of the unique benefits of avocados to human health and nutrition. Fresh Hass avocados are a delicious, cholesterol-free, whole food source of naturally good fats. The Nutrition Research program is an integral part of Love One Today, HAB’s multi-year, science-based food and wellness education program. Love One Today encourages Americans to include fresh Hass avocados in everyday healthy eating plans to increase fruit and vegetable intake.
There has been a small turn around in California strawberry fields following a three-year trend of declining acreage, while shipments are up significantly.
At least for this year, the trend for decreased acreage has been halted, with an estimate of a bit more than 36,000, on par with 2016 numbers, according to the California Strawberry Commission Acreage Survey for 2017.
In 2016, total strawberry shipments from California topped 196 million trays, representing about 3.4 percent gain over the previous year even with 5 percent fewer acres.
2017 has not gotten off to a very good start due to several rain storms having drenched California during the first six weeks of the season. However, it is still running ahead of 2016 though behind 2015. By mid-January, total California shipments were in the 750,000 tray range compared to half that in 2016, but 1.2 million in 2015.
However, shipments from both Mexico and Florida were well ahead of the past two years. In mid-January, Florida strawberry shipments loaded almost 3 million trays for shippin while Mexico topped 3.5 million. In 2016, by mid-January those two competing points of origin had only delivered a total of 2.5 million trays last year and about 3.8 million the previous year.
Central Florida strawberries – grossing about $1200 to Atlanta.
California growers continue to be the leading production region in the world and are expected to supply more than 79 percent of the volume shipped in the United States in 2017.
The acreage report is published two times a year with acreage information voluntarily provided by California strawberry growers and shippers. The first “Acreage Survey” for the 2017 harvest year includes acres that were planted in the fall of 2016 as well as the forecast of acreage that will be planted in the summer of 2017 for fall production. For 2017, the commission reports a total of 36,141 acres, with 30,074 planted last fall and an estimated 6,067 slated for summer planting. As a point of comparison, last year, fall plantings totaled 29,318 acres with a then estimate of 6,721 for summer planting.
In 2013, the CSC January acreage report revealed 35,670 acres of fall plantings and 5,146 summer plantings for a total of 40,816 acres. In 2014, total acreage dropped to just under 39,000 and in 2015, the total was 38,100. Last year saw another decline of about 5 percent to 36,039. This year represents a negligible gain, but it’s a gain nonetheless.
In its report about acreage, CSC noted that while acreage has declined in recent years production has actually remained stable or increased partially due to new varieties, which has led to higher yields per acre.
Ventura County strawberries – grossing about $3600 to Dallas.
Refrigerated haulers expecting to load California citrus could very well face significant delays because rains have delayed harvest. On another front, an upstate New York apple shipper will be shipping Canadian apples this season.
California Citrus Shipments
Disruptions at citrus loading docks are expected the week of February 13-17 due to rain delayed harvests in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
A rainy week in California has citrus growers there expecting some shortages in mid-February due to excessive rains in citrus groves the week of February 6 – 10.
California citrus growers have been conducting picking operations on a limited basis between the rains. It has been a challenge getting workers and equipment into the fields after big storms. Some citrus orchards have been affected more than others depending on soil types and location. In some cases it is takes a few days for the orchards to dry out.
Delays in harvest as well as loading opportunities for citrus haulers are expected with lemons, oranges and specialty citrus, such as mandarins. Mandarins typically are more sensitive to the rain than other types of fruit.
California citrus – grossing about $4200 to Atlanta.
New York Apple Shipments
New York Apple Sales Inc., based in Glenmont, NY is shipping late-harvest apple varieties from Nova Scotia. The fruit is coming from orchards in the Scotian Gold Cooperative, which grows and harvests Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, and Sonya apples. The product is grown in the Annapolis Valley, near the Bay of Fundy. The three Nova Scotia apple varieties being imported and distributed by New York Apple Sales differ from U.S.-grown counterparts.
Nova Scotia apples have the latest apple-growing season in North America, according to a news release, and trees don’t bloom until the later weeks of May, with the Honeycrisp harvest typically starting during the last week of September, and Ambrosia and Sonya picking to follow.
The Scotian Gold Growers have been providing apples to New York Apple Sales for the past three years.
Here’s an update on Chiquita’s involvement with Port Everglades. On another front, Parker Farms will be a new shipper of Vidalia onions.
The Broward County Commission voted recently to terminate the lease for most of Chiquita Brands International’s facilities at Port Everglades. It was leasing 13.1 acres with 14,097 square feet of offices and 28,352 square feet of warehouses to support its banana shipments. Under the termination, the Chiquita would keep 6.59 acres of land under a short-term lease, but not the buildings.
The move does not impact Chiquita’s headquarters at the Design Center of the Americas in Dania Beach, where it moved in 2015. The company also has a separate warehouse lease at the port for a banana ripening facility that would remain in place.
Chiquita first leased space at Port Everglades in 2013 and later that year extended its lease to Sept. 30, 2018.
In 2014, Chiquita signed a deal with Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) to provide cargo service for its bananas, so Chiquita started using MSC’s facilities at Port Everglades for its shipments. Then in 2015, Chiquita was sold to Cutrale-Safra.
Port Everglades officials contacted Chiquita about its plans and the company said it wanted to divest its terminal and base all of its shipments out of MSC’s terminal.
Under the proposed termination of the deal to be executed by March 1st.
“The early termination of the Chiquita lease agreement will benefit the port by creating opportunities for the currently dormant Chiquita land and the warehouse and office space to be made available for other Port users to expand their businesses and generate new revenue through both ship calls and cargo throughput,” the county memo stated. “The port will also continue to receive grid revenue from Chiquita for the 6.59 acre parcel they will continue to use.”
Parker Farms
Parker Farms, based in Oak Grove, VA, is adding Vidalia sweet onions to its program this year.
The sweet onions, which will be sourced from B.G. Williams Farms in Uvalda, GA., will be sold under the company’s new Diamond Sweet label. B.G. Williams grows about 400 acres of sweet onions annually.
Park Farms plans to eventually source sweet onions from more regions so it can offer the product the year around, as it does with the other commodities it supplies. The company will also ship sweet potatoes and seedless watermelons under the Diamond Sweet label.
Parker Farms is a longtime shipper of sweet corn, broccoli, squash, bell peppers and cucumbers.
Whether recent weather issues in Mexico will adversely affect quality of imported Mexican mangos remains to been seen.
Through the third week of May, a normal projection of 29 million boxes is projected, with much of this production to be imported by the U.S.
As much as 30 to-40 percent of the Mexican mango crop was reported affected by winds. This is expected to decrease import volume by U.S. importers in February, but quality appears normal — so far. Mexico ships mangos most of the year and various production regions begin at different times.
Volume for imported mangos from Peru has increased 20 to 30 percent from last year after a bumper crop in a season that started earlier than usual. Peak volume imports to the U.S. are occurring, but will start declining in the next couple of weeks or so.
Mango imports by the U.S. during January included much less fruit from Ecuador than last season, down from about 18.5 million pounds to about 3.5 million pounds. This was due to the Ecuador season starting two to three weeks earlier than usual. Peak season for imported mangos from Ecuador is mid October through mid November (last year). The season is now virtually complete, with the exception of one late season variety that will continue until March.
Total mango imports by the U.S. during January were about 32 million pounds, down from about 52 million pounds for the same period last year. The big decline was due to a change in timing for one country’s season.
The Peruvian mango season was early by about four weeks in 2016, resulting in peak volumes to be shipped earlier in December and well into January of 2017. Last year this time, Peru had already pretty much finished their season.
Imported Mexican tropical fruit, and vegetables through the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas – grossing $1100 to Dallas; and $3200 to Miami.
Organic produce in various categories continues to show significant growth in popularity.
According to FreshFacts on Retail, published by the United Fresh Produce Association for the third-quarter of 2016, weekly dollar sales of organic vegetables per store were up 7.6 percent compared to the third quarter of 2015. Dollar sales of organic fruit were up 17.5 percent.
Organic Attitudes and Beliefs 2016 published by The Organic Trade Association found over 82 percent of American families say they buy organic sometimes, one of the highest levels in the survey’s seven-year history.
Almost 5 percent of all the food sold in the U.S. in 2015 was organic.
Suppliers of organic produce were reporting sizeable increases.
Naturipe Farms LLC of Salinas, CA, the world’s larger produce of organic blueberries, doubling its production of organic blueberries in Argentina and Chile.
This month the company is producing its first crops of organic raspberries, blackberries and blueberries from Mexico and is investing in new production of organic strawberries, blueberries and blackberries in California and Florida.
Well-Pict Inc. of Watsonville started its new spring crop of strawberries from Ventura County, CA in mid-January, and will be shipping into spring.
Boskovich Farms Inc., of Oxnard, CA ships a number of organic vegetables led by kale, then Brussels sprouts, green onions and celery.
Stemilt Growers LLC, Wenatchee, WA is shipping organic apples and pears, with approximately 10 percent of it apple shipments coming from organic apples with galas, Honeycrisp, and granny smith among the top varieties.
CMI Orchards LLC in Wenatchee, WA has organic shipments that are up about 50 percent, with the trend expected to continue for the next four years. More acreage is being transitioned from conventional to organic. CMI offers 15 organic apple varieties and six organic pear varieties.
Viva Tierra Organic Inc., Sedro-Woolley, WA is handling organic apple supplies from Argentina and Chile that started earlier this month, in addition to its organic supply from Washington.
Citrus shipments from the Florida industry continues to decline, with the loading of oranges dropping another million boxes in the past month.
The USDA reports February 9th that orange growers will ship 70 million 90-pound boxes to market. The season, which peaks during the winter months, had shown some promise in November. At that time industry analysts predicted 72 million boxes.
However, in January, the forecast dipped to 71 million. That is a 14 percent decline from last season’s final Florida orange shipping report.
Valencia production estimates from January to February held even at 35 million boxes, but the prediction for early, mid-season and navel oranges dropped from 36 million to 35 million boxes.
“Today’s forecast reflects a true utilization of early, mid-season, and navel varieties. We hope for higher numbers of valencia production as we continue through the second half of the season,” executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus Shannon Shepp said in a news release.
Oranges make up about 65 percent of Florida citrus trees and fresh loadings account for about 4percent of orange shipments.
Overall production estimates of all oranges, which also includes California and Texas, dropped 1 percent, to 5.35 million tons, from January’s estimate. That is a 10 percent slump from overall shipments a year ago.
Citrus greening, weather and other issues have created challenges for Florida’s citrus production, which accounts for almost half of the total U.S. harvest.
In its February report, the USDA kept California’s orange crop estimates the same at 53 million 80-pound boxes to be shipped, with 44 million boxes of navel, early and mid-season oranges and 9 million boxes of valencias for shipping.
Florida grapefruit estimates remained steady at 9 million 85-pound boxes. California grapefruit production estimates were also the same from January, with 4.1 million 80-pound boxes.
Florida produce shipments, ranging from vegetables to melons, berries and citrus – grossing about $2500 to New York City.
Loading opportunities for produce haulers for imported Mexican fresh fruits and vegetables have been rising for the past two decades or more, and this trend is expected to continue.
The reasons range from favoritable climates (with the emphasis on the plural) south of the border, cheaper labor and growing costs, not to mention the outrageous political and regulatory climate in crazy California that is makes it ever more difficult to do business there.
For example, A.M. Farms, Stockton, CA., had grown asparagus there since the 1930s, but no longer farms the product. Dole Fresh Vegetables of Monterey, CA no longer markets asparagus from California and is concentrating its efforts with Mexican grown asparagus.
It used to be Mexican imports by U.S. businesses got underway around Thanksgiving and continued through March or maybe mid-April. Now some produce items are still crossing the border in late spring and early summer. For example, watermelon shipments are now available through most of June. Table grape, mangos and some leafy items go well into summer.
Peak loading opportunities of Mexican produce imports for the winter season, used to be January or February, but now it is closer to being March and April.
Some produce growers are moving farther south into Mexico building greenhouse operations, allowing a longer growing and shipping season. This helps them bridge the supply gap for the U.S. crops in May and June that are hitting big volume.
Just as some product from west Mexico now is imported through McAllen, TX, during the fall and winter to offer a freight advantages for the Midwest and Eastern markets, some product from Jalisco now comes through Nogales during the spring and summer to offer freight advantages to West Coast receivers.
Some U.S. tomato growers now ship from Mexico year-round by sourcing from new growing areas during what traditionally has been the off season. Sonora is a huge area for Mexican grown produce and it continues to expand. It used to be the state of Sinaloa was where the main volume originated.
Virtually all of Mexico’s grapes come from the Caborca and Hermosillo regions of Sonora, with shipments starting in April and continuing into July.
Imported Mexican melons, tomatoes and vegetables from Nogales – grossing about $2800 to Chicago.
by Chiquita®
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Chiquita North America is proud to announce its dedicated new banana shipping service and supply chain improvements to better serve its West Coast customers. The new shipping service will reduce fruit transit time by half, resulting in 4-5 days from the banana production area to the Port of Hueneme-Los Angeles, CA . This will result in better quality and fresher bananas for Chiquita’s Western customers.
In addition, Chiquita has been engaged in a major refrigerated container renewal program. Since 2014, it has replaced 65 percent of its fleet to create a more sustainable shipping practices. Chiquita operates in excess of 15,000 refrigerated containers, which play a key role in the logistics of today’s banana supply chain. Improvements in the design and operating efficiency of containers has led to important environmental benefits including reduced electric power consumption, greenhouse friendly refrigerants, and use of insulation materials with reduced emissions footprint.
“All of us on the North America team are excited to deliver the freshest and highest quality Chiquita Bananas available to our customers,” said executive vice president of Chiquita Fresh North America Chris Dugan. “In addition to recent investment in our farms, this is another example of how we continue look for new ways to improve our freshness, our everyday quality and the satisfaction of our costumers”.
The impact of this fleet renewal is substantial, giving Chiquita the opportunity to save up to 35 percent on energy compared to old units, and electricity savings of 34 million kilowatt hours and an annual emissions reductions of 17,000 tons of CO2 per year is possible – equivalent to taking over 3,000 cars off the road every year.
For additional information, please visit www.chiquita.com.
About Chiquita®
Chiquita grows, procures, markets, and sells bananas and other fresh fruits and is a leading global company with 20,000 employees across 30 countries being present in nearly 70 countries, mainly in North America and Europe. They are passionate about their nutritious, high-quality, energy-rich and value-added bananas. But they’re also passionate about upholding the values which is at the very core of the company – integrity, respect, opportunity and responsibility. The company believes what they do day in and day out reflects these values, our brand and their purpose.
U.S. fresh market apples remaining to be shipped are double digit over last season and 97 percent of those apples for hauling are located in three states.
U.S. fresh market apples remaining to be shipped on February 1st were 13 percent higher compared with the 2015-16 shipping season and 9 percent more than the five-year average, according to the February storage report from the U.S. Apple Association. The leading varieties remaining to be shipped are red delicious and gala.
Total fresh market apples remaining to be shipped were 85.7 million bushels, up from 76 million bushels in 2016, but lower than 95.1 million bushels two years ago.
Washington state reported holdings of 76.4 million bushels, or about 89 percent of the total national fresh holdings. Michigan apples remaining to be shipped totaled 4.1 million bushels, or about 5 percent of the remaining supplies. New York’s apple inventories were 2.9 million bushels, or 3 percent of the U.S. total fresh market apples in storage on February 1st.
By variety, the storage report showed that fresh market red delicious holdings were 28.2 million bushels, up from 21.5 million bushels last year but down from 33.8 million bushels two years ago. Gala inventories on hand totaled 16.1 million bushels, up from 12.2 million bushels a year ago and 15.95 million bushels in 2015.
Other fresh market apples remaining in storage 1 were:
- Pink Lady/cripps pink: 4.4 million bushels, up from 3.7 million bushels last year;
- Fuji: 9.3 million bushels, up from 8 million bushels a year ago;
- Golden delicious: 5.3 million bushels, compared with 6 million bushels in 2016;
- Granny smith: 8.4 million bushels, compared with 10.9 million bushels last year; and
- Honeycrisp: 3.2 million bushels, compared with 2.9 million bushels a year ago.
Yakima and Wenatchee Valley, WA apples and pears – grossing about $4500 to Dallas and $6400 to Boston.
Western Michigan apples – grossing about$900 to Chicago and $2700 to Atlanta.
By Hass Avocado Board
MISSION VIEJO, Calif. – February is American Heart Month – a critical time to raise awareness about the importance of heart health and the harmful consequences if ignored. As part of its four-year collaboration, the Hass Avocado Board (HAB) is teaming up with the American Heart Association during American Heart Month to encourage Americans to consume the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables in an effort to improve the health of all Americans which is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular disease and stroke. American Heart Month comes on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) announcement that raw fruits and vegetables – including fresh avocados – now qualify for the “Dietary Saturated Fat and Cholesterol and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease” health claim.
As part of its American Heart Month support, HAB via its Love One Today® program is implementing a three-pronged approach to target consumers, general market and Hispanic media and health professionals through a variety of tactics that will help create and promote heart-check certified recipes and highlight the health benefits of avocados. This includes a recipe contest hosted by the American Heart Association open to consumers and health professionals, and supporting influencer and traditional media relations.
- The Take Avocado To Heart recipe contest, open February 9 – 27, encourages consumer and health professional participants to submit their favorite original heart healthy avocado recipes for the chance to win a variety of prizes, including the grand prize of $1,000. The official contest hashtag is #AddAvocado. Entry information can be found at heart.org/avocadorecipecontest.
- Influencer relations will take the form of a blogger network partnership, intended to not only promote participation in the recipe contest, but generate additional avocado recipes that are Heart-Check certified by the American Heart Association. The recipes will be housed on LoveOneToday.com.
- Traditional media relations will be enhanced by American Heart Association Ambassador and Go Red For Women spokesperson, Chef Hamlet Garcia.
- Facebook, Instagram and other engaging platforms will be used to further drive the heart healthy discussion on HAB and the American Heart Association’s social channels.
“American Heart Month is an ideal time to reinforce our relationship with the American Heart Association. In doing so, we are supporting their Healthy for Good movement, which aims to inspire Americans to create lasting change for better health,” said Emiliano Escobedo, Executive Director of the Hass Avocado Board. “The efforts during the month of February clearly demonstrate our commitment to finding new ways to showcase how avocados can contribute to a healthy lifestyle, boost heart health and ultimately save lives.”
For more information about how fresh avocados can help keep your heart healthy, visit Love One Today.
About the Hass Avocado Board
The Hass Avocado Board (HAB) is an agriculture promotion group established in 2002 to promote the consumption of Hass avocados in the United States. A 12-member board representing domestic producers and importers of Hass avocados directs HAB’s promotion, research and information programs under supervision of the United States Department of Agriculture. Funding for HAB comes from Hass avocado producers and importers in the United States.
In 2010, HAB established a Nutrition Research program to increase awareness and improve understanding of the unique benefits of avocados to human health and nutrition. Fresh Hass avocados are a delicious, cholesterol-free, whole food source of naturally good fats. The Nutrition Research program is an integral part of Love One Today, HAB’s multi-year, science-based food and wellness education program. Love One Today encourages Americans to include fresh Hass avocados in everyday healthy eating plans to increase fruit and vegetable intake.
There has been a small turn around in California strawberry fields following a three-year trend of declining acreage, while shipments are up significantly.
At least for this year, the trend for decreased acreage has been halted, with an estimate of a bit more than 36,000, on par with 2016 numbers, according to the California Strawberry Commission Acreage Survey for 2017.
In 2016, total strawberry shipments from California topped 196 million trays, representing about 3.4 percent gain over the previous year even with 5 percent fewer acres.
2017 has not gotten off to a very good start due to several rain storms having drenched California during the first six weeks of the season. However, it is still running ahead of 2016 though behind 2015. By mid-January, total California shipments were in the 750,000 tray range compared to half that in 2016, but 1.2 million in 2015.
However, shipments from both Mexico and Florida were well ahead of the past two years. In mid-January, Florida strawberry shipments loaded almost 3 million trays for shippin while Mexico topped 3.5 million. In 2016, by mid-January those two competing points of origin had only delivered a total of 2.5 million trays last year and about 3.8 million the previous year.
Central Florida strawberries – grossing about $1200 to Atlanta.
California growers continue to be the leading production region in the world and are expected to supply more than 79 percent of the volume shipped in the United States in 2017.
The acreage report is published two times a year with acreage information voluntarily provided by California strawberry growers and shippers. The first “Acreage Survey” for the 2017 harvest year includes acres that were planted in the fall of 2016 as well as the forecast of acreage that will be planted in the summer of 2017 for fall production. For 2017, the commission reports a total of 36,141 acres, with 30,074 planted last fall and an estimated 6,067 slated for summer planting. As a point of comparison, last year, fall plantings totaled 29,318 acres with a then estimate of 6,721 for summer planting.
In 2013, the CSC January acreage report revealed 35,670 acres of fall plantings and 5,146 summer plantings for a total of 40,816 acres. In 2014, total acreage dropped to just under 39,000 and in 2015, the total was 38,100. Last year saw another decline of about 5 percent to 36,039. This year represents a negligible gain, but it’s a gain nonetheless.
In its report about acreage, CSC noted that while acreage has declined in recent years production has actually remained stable or increased partially due to new varieties, which has led to higher yields per acre.
Ventura County strawberries – grossing about $3600 to Dallas.
Refrigerated haulers expecting to load California citrus could very well face significant delays because rains have delayed harvest. On another front, an upstate New York apple shipper will be shipping Canadian apples this season.
California Citrus Shipments
Disruptions at citrus loading docks are expected the week of February 13-17 due to rain delayed harvests in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
A rainy week in California has citrus growers there expecting some shortages in mid-February due to excessive rains in citrus groves the week of February 6 – 10.
California citrus growers have been conducting picking operations on a limited basis between the rains. It has been a challenge getting workers and equipment into the fields after big storms. Some citrus orchards have been affected more than others depending on soil types and location. In some cases it is takes a few days for the orchards to dry out.
Delays in harvest as well as loading opportunities for citrus haulers are expected with lemons, oranges and specialty citrus, such as mandarins. Mandarins typically are more sensitive to the rain than other types of fruit.
California citrus – grossing about $4200 to Atlanta.
New York Apple Shipments
New York Apple Sales Inc., based in Glenmont, NY is shipping late-harvest apple varieties from Nova Scotia. The fruit is coming from orchards in the Scotian Gold Cooperative, which grows and harvests Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, and Sonya apples. The product is grown in the Annapolis Valley, near the Bay of Fundy. The three Nova Scotia apple varieties being imported and distributed by New York Apple Sales differ from U.S.-grown counterparts.
Nova Scotia apples have the latest apple-growing season in North America, according to a news release, and trees don’t bloom until the later weeks of May, with the Honeycrisp harvest typically starting during the last week of September, and Ambrosia and Sonya picking to follow.
The Scotian Gold Growers have been providing apples to New York Apple Sales for the past three years.
Here’s an update on Chiquita’s involvement with Port Everglades. On another front, Parker Farms will be a new shipper of Vidalia onions.
The Broward County Commission voted recently to terminate the lease for most of Chiquita Brands International’s facilities at Port Everglades. It was leasing 13.1 acres with 14,097 square feet of offices and 28,352 square feet of warehouses to support its banana shipments. Under the termination, the Chiquita would keep 6.59 acres of land under a short-term lease, but not the buildings.
The move does not impact Chiquita’s headquarters at the Design Center of the Americas in Dania Beach, where it moved in 2015. The company also has a separate warehouse lease at the port for a banana ripening facility that would remain in place.
Chiquita first leased space at Port Everglades in 2013 and later that year extended its lease to Sept. 30, 2018.
In 2014, Chiquita signed a deal with Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) to provide cargo service for its bananas, so Chiquita started using MSC’s facilities at Port Everglades for its shipments. Then in 2015, Chiquita was sold to Cutrale-Safra.
Port Everglades officials contacted Chiquita about its plans and the company said it wanted to divest its terminal and base all of its shipments out of MSC’s terminal.
Under the proposed termination of the deal to be executed by March 1st.
“The early termination of the Chiquita lease agreement will benefit the port by creating opportunities for the currently dormant Chiquita land and the warehouse and office space to be made available for other Port users to expand their businesses and generate new revenue through both ship calls and cargo throughput,” the county memo stated. “The port will also continue to receive grid revenue from Chiquita for the 6.59 acre parcel they will continue to use.”
Parker Farms
Parker Farms, based in Oak Grove, VA, is adding Vidalia sweet onions to its program this year.
The sweet onions, which will be sourced from B.G. Williams Farms in Uvalda, GA., will be sold under the company’s new Diamond Sweet label. B.G. Williams grows about 400 acres of sweet onions annually.
Park Farms plans to eventually source sweet onions from more regions so it can offer the product the year around, as it does with the other commodities it supplies. The company will also ship sweet potatoes and seedless watermelons under the Diamond Sweet label.
Parker Farms is a longtime shipper of sweet corn, broccoli, squash, bell peppers and cucumbers.
Whether recent weather issues in Mexico will adversely affect quality of imported Mexican mangos remains to been seen.
Through the third week of May, a normal projection of 29 million boxes is projected, with much of this production to be imported by the U.S.
As much as 30 to-40 percent of the Mexican mango crop was reported affected by winds. This is expected to decrease import volume by U.S. importers in February, but quality appears normal — so far. Mexico ships mangos most of the year and various production regions begin at different times.
Volume for imported mangos from Peru has increased 20 to 30 percent from last year after a bumper crop in a season that started earlier than usual. Peak volume imports to the U.S. are occurring, but will start declining in the next couple of weeks or so.
Mango imports by the U.S. during January included much less fruit from Ecuador than last season, down from about 18.5 million pounds to about 3.5 million pounds. This was due to the Ecuador season starting two to three weeks earlier than usual. Peak season for imported mangos from Ecuador is mid October through mid November (last year). The season is now virtually complete, with the exception of one late season variety that will continue until March.
Total mango imports by the U.S. during January were about 32 million pounds, down from about 52 million pounds for the same period last year. The big decline was due to a change in timing for one country’s season.
The Peruvian mango season was early by about four weeks in 2016, resulting in peak volumes to be shipped earlier in December and well into January of 2017. Last year this time, Peru had already pretty much finished their season.
Imported Mexican tropical fruit, and vegetables through the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas – grossing $1100 to Dallas; and $3200 to Miami.