Author Archive
By Larry Oscar
As we all get older we have something to enjoy that all the young folks will just have to be patient to acquire….memories.
Memories are something that takes a lifetime to acquire. And in some cases they take a lifetime also to understand. Nothing in life is free, and this applies to memories just like everything else. You pay a price for the good and the bad ones. Funny thing, when you get old you can often look back on those bad memories with a bittersweet smile.
Somehow time and wisdom transforms those bad experiences in life to a not-so-painful memory. The whole thing just sort of fits together like a puzzle. The pains in life are something we have to experience along with the pleasures. Life is a mixed bag, or, as it has been said many times, “a box of chocolates”.
I know I find myself laughing at a lot of memories these days. Maybe that’s why younger people think all of us older folks are just plain crazy. You have to admit that it’s not normal to burst into laughter for no apparent reason at all. I hope the younger people today will have the same opportunity to experience the wonderful world that I have. What a time it was to be growing up in a free land of hope and prosperity.
It was a Christmas of electric trains, red bicycles, a soft warm puppy, and the safety of a warm home filled with smells of mom’s cooking. It was a new black and white television that yielded Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Roy Rogers, and the Lone Ranger. Bedtime was nine o’clock and the only reprieve was the Jack Benny or Red Skelton show.
Now just mention a black and white TV to a millennial and watch the cold stare in disbelief you get in return. In a conversation with a friend of mine he mentioned that his kids had been listening to some of his music of the sixties and seventies and how it captured their ear. They just don’t make music today like we did in the era of “peace and love”. I know one thing for sure. I wish I had my 56 Chevy back. Cars seemed to be a lot bigger back then. I’m sure that was because we were all much smaller in our youth.
I mean really, can you imagine crawling over the front seat to go make out in the back seat today. Why, you would have to call the fire department to be extracted from the car with a muscle sprain. Back in 1966, on a hot August night, my girlfriend and I were “parked” and she had her feet hanging out the back window. We were listening to KAKC radio with DJ Scooter Seagraves. Then out of the moonlight a very large Great Dane ran up and licked the bottom of her feet. Fifty years later I still have problems hearing out of that ear.
Over time life has a way of changing your opinions and outlook on things somewhat. Somehow the bad things just bring a smile of wisdom, and the good things a happy glow in your heart. When I sit outside my favorite bar now and watch the younger people walk by I can’t help but wonder what their memories of life will be like. I can hear it now….”Hey Bob do you remember the good old days when our country was only 20 trillion in debt and, we had Pokemon 2 going on those old Iphones?” They weren’t here when we landed on the moon.
If you mention the Beetles to them they think you’re talking about some form of roach. And I remember the day Mickey Mantle hit a homer out of Yankee Stadium. He hit it over five hundred feet. Are you kidding me? Ten million years from now, when this planet is visited by aliens, they will uncover one of my polyester suits from the seventies. Those things were completely indestructible. I had a polyester tie that glowed in the dark and repelled mosquitoes.
It is often said that the best things in life are free. Well, nothing is actually free, but I think the best part of life is the friends you make over time. Don’t let time pass you by without taking note of the positive impact your friends have made on your life. And if you have a few that affected you negatively, well just smile and thank God you have the wisdom to overlook them. We have lived in a land that enabled you to live out your life in an era of individual freedom. As humans we are not part of an ant colony. The fifty’s, sixty’s, and seventy’s could not have happened without the freedom of expression we enjoyed. Those freedoms that made this the greatest nation ever to exist on the Earth are slowly being eroded.
(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.)
Fewer total U.S. citrus shipments are seen this season from the leading states of Florida, California and Texas.
Florida’s first forecast for citrus shipments reveals a continued decline across all varieties with grapefruit and navel oranges expected to be among the lowest levels in history. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on October 12th forecast Florida to ship 81 million equivalent cartons of oranges, grapefruit and specialty fruit or tangerines, down from 94.1 million boxes last season.
The Sunshine state is expected to move 70 million 90-pound cartons of oranges with navel oranges amounting 1 million cartons. Navels are predicted to be three percent lower than last season and the lowest since the 1979-80 season when the USDA began separate navel forecasts.
Regarding grapefruit, Florida should ship 9.6 million 85-pound cartons, down 11 percent from the 2015-16 season and the lowest level in 50 years. As for tangerines, early season fallglos, midseason sunbursts and later season honeys are forecast to decline as well.
The USDA report forecast 7.5 million boxes of red grapefruit and 2.1 million boxes of white grapefruit.
California Citrus Shipments
California orange loadings are forecast to be down from 54.2 million 80-pound cartons last season to 50.5 million cartons this season. The state’s grapefruit shipments are forecast to increase from 3.8 million 80-pound cartons last season to 4 million cartons for 2016-17.
Texas Citrus Shipments
Texas orange shipments are seen falling from 1.7 million 85-pound cartons in 2015-16 to 1.4 million cartons this year. With grapefruit, Texas shipments are forecast to decline from last season’s 4.8 million 80-pound cartons to 4.7 million cartons this season.
25 years ago or so , there were 30 shippers and packers of Texas grapefruit and oranges operating the Rio Grande Valley and shipment citrus across the U.S. as well as exporting. Today, there are only three shippers.
Worldwide citrus grower are concerned about citrus greening, the primary reason for the decline in Florida citrus volume. In Texas,, the crops have not been affected by the disease. However, observers point out Florida didn’t feel the decline [in volume and tree health] until the sixth year after greening was discovered. Texas is now entering its sixth since green was discovered in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. A lot of folks are holding their breath and taking a wait and see attitude.
Produce trucking sweet potato loads could be affected significantly for the 2016-17 shipping season due to damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. Loading opportunities this fall for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina will be impacted much less, although volume from these three states is limited this time of year.
Southeast produce growers are estimating damage from Hurricane Matthew which hugged coastal Florida and Georgia before slamming into South Carolina and North Carolina, where it flooded fields and caused evacuations
North Carolina Sweet Potato Shipments
Around 40 to 45 percent of the sweet potato harvest had been dug when the storm dumped up to 18 inches of rain October 6 – 9 during the middle of the North Carolina harvest.
There is little doubt North Carolina sweet potato shipments were hit pretty hard, and significant losses will occur, but the bottom line is it will take days, if not week to assess the damage. Earlier this week many roads remained impassible with a lot of farmland remaining underwater as river levels were still rising in some areas.
Besides sweet potatoes, the Tar Heel state also grows and ships cabbage, greens and a variety of fall vegetables including bell peppers, cucumbers and squash.
South Carolina Vegetable Shipments
The South Carolina received 8-18 inches of rain and growers and state officials are assessing damages. However, South Carolina isn’t a significant player in vegetable shipments this time of the year, although it does have leafy greens are grown in small acreage in the flooded areas east of Columbia. There also are crops grown in sandy soils of the interior growing regions that should fair okay.
South Carolina’s peach shipments were completed in September, but there are cucumbers, squash, tomatoes and watermelons grown closer to the Atlantic Coast. There are expected to have damage.
Georgia Vegetable Shipments
Most of Georgia’s southern vegetables are grown in the south-central part of the state, but are believe to have escaped serious damage. As for the 2017 Vidalia onion crop that starting shipping in April, the area had up to six inches of rain resulting in minor damage to Vidalia onion seed beds, which are planted for the spring harvest.
Some Vidalia onion shippers lost power for about 10 hours. The electricity runs coolers for their imported Peruvian onions but no damage was reported.
Florida Produce Shipments
Little or no damage was reported with Florida vegetables or citrus.
by Sharon Durham, USDA AgResearch Magazine
Up until the early 1900s, blueberries were picked from the wild, and the bushes of the berries often did not survive when transplanted elsewhere. True domestication-involving propagation of the plant by the grower and plant breeding to improve desirable traits-was beyond reach until 1910. That’s when USDA botanist Frederick Coville discovered that blueberry bushes require moist, acidic soil to thrive. In 1916, exactly a century ago, the first commercial cultivated crop of
highbush blueberries was harvested.
That history is now enhanced by Baby Blues, a cultivar released in cooperation with the Oregon State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station and the Washington State University’s Agricultural Research Center (ARS). This new blueberry is making its debut during the 100th anniversary of the first cultivated blueberry crop to go to market.
“Baby Blues is a vigorous, high-yielding, small-fruited, machine-harvestable highbush blueberry with outstanding fruit quality. It’s well-suited for those processing markets that require a small fruit size,” says Finn. “Baby Blues should offer growers and processors an alternative to the low-yielding Rubel highbush blueberry, and it may thrive in milder areas where northern highbush blueberries are grown.”
Finn also developed a new blackberry named Columbia Giant. This thornless, trailing blackberry cultivar came from the same breeding program as Baby Blues and was also released in cooperation with the Oregon State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station.
“This cultivar is a high-quality, high-yielding, machine-harvestable blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that, when processed, is similar to or better in quality than fruit from the industry standards Marion and Black Diamond,” says Finn. “Due to its extremely large size, however, Columbia Giant will most commonly be sold in the fresh market.”
Columbia Giant is adaptable to areas where other trailing blackberries successfully grow.
“Two Tasty New Berries From ARS” was published in the September 2016 issue of AgResearch Magazine.
Expansion plans for Port Tampa are announced, plus a huge expansion in advertising plans are announced for Wonderful Pistachios.
Port Tampa
Port Logistics Refrigerated Services has started construction of a cold storage facility at Port Tampa Bay. Based in Tampa, Port Logistics’ 134,000-square-foot on-dock warehouse is scheduled to open in the summer of 2017
The cold storage will have over 9,000 pallet positions, 96 refrigerated container plugs, a Gottwald mobile harbor crane and onsite USDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection, as well as fumigation services. The facility is located on 13.7 acres and will handle both palletized breakbulk cargo and refrigerated containers.
Pistachio Ad Campaign
By The Wonderful Company
LOS ANGELES — Wonderful Pistachios, known for its iconic “Get Crackin’” ads, launched its biggest “Get Crackin’” advertising campaign ever, investing $55 million to support the largest pistachio crop in history. The irreverent and comedic commercials feature a really big star—literally—with the introduction of Ernie the Elephant. This pistachio-loving, health-conscious, somewhat bold, always hilarious, computer-generated spokes-elephant refuses to work for peanuts and is voiced by WWE Superstar John Cena (“Trainwreck,” Fox’s “American Grit”).
“Ernie and I are alike in many ways,” said Cena. “We’re both fun-loving guys, confident in our choices. I’m excited to join Wonderful Pistachios’s popular ‘Get Crackin’’ campaign by bringing to life its newest character, Ernie the Elephant, whose favorite food is Wonderful Pistachios. Whether you’re in the ring, on the go, at work, or hanging out with friends, Wonderful Pistachios is a fun, healthy snack that’s a good source of protein and fiber, and a strong foundation for good nutritional choices.”
Ernie the Elephant makes his debut in two commercials, which air during tonight’s “Monday Night Football,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and more. In one spot, Ernie attends a baseball game, touting Wonderful Pistachios as a superior snack to those tired old peanuts sold at the stadium. Another features Ernie as “the elephant in the room”—or elevator—talking up pistachios, while his tons-of-fun personality tests the elevator’s weight sensors. In the coming months, eight more commercials will air and pistachio lovers will witness Ernie’s unique take on elephant stereotypes, supermarket shopping, working out, lady squirrels and airport travel.
Later this football season, two more spots feature Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman schooling Ernie with his best defensive moves—and his famous trash talk—both on and off the field. As one of the smartest players in football, Sherman not only matches wits with Ernie in the “Get Crackin’” campaign, he demonstrates Wonderful Pistachios’s commitment to healthy eating through a series of “Snack Smarter” digital videos, educating football fans on the nutritional benefits of Wonderful Pistachios compared to other unhealthy salty snacks, such as nachos and crackers.
by Organic Trade Association
Americans are gobbling up more organic fruits and vegetables than ever before, from organic blueberries and organic apples to organic packaged greens and cut-up organic vegetables ready for their children’s lunch box or their family’s dinner plate.
Over half of all households in the United States now purchase organic produce. The sale of organic bananas alone – now a $165 million market – soared by more than 30 percent last year. Organic “value-added” vegetables (think chopped kale, peeled carrots and ready-to-cook squash) grew by a whopping 54 percent in 2015 to almost $150 million.
What’s big in the organic produce sector? A few standouts in the produce section:
- Organic bananas: Sales up a solid 33 percent from a year ago.
- Organic blackberries: Sales up a sharp 61 percent from a year ago.
- Organic salad greens and organic baby carrots: Sales of each up 11 percent versus a year ago.
- Organic Pink Lady Apples: Sales almost double (up 96 percent) that of a year ago.
“The organic produce market is growing and strong, and it is driving trends in produce innovation across the board,” said Laura Batcha, Executive Director and CEO of the Organic Trade Association (OTA) recently at the first-ever Organic Produce Summit, held in Monterey, California.
Digging deep into the produce aisle, Batcha gave a State of the Organic Produce presentation on Thursday, unveiling the findings of a report on the produce-buying habits of Americans compiled for the Organic Trade Association by Nielsen, the global information and measurement company.
According to the OTA 2016 Organic Industry Survey released in May, fresh organic produce sales in the U.S. reached $13 billion in 2015. (Total sales of organic fruits and vegetables, including fresh, frozen and canned, amounted to $14.4 billion.) The $13-billion market includes $5.7 billion worth of organic produce sold in the mass market (supermarkets, big-box stores, warehouse clubs), $4.7 billion sold by specialty and natural retailers, and $2.7 billion in direct sales (farmers’ markets, CSAs, online).
Nielsen measures organic sales primarily from the mass market, and puts organic produce sales at $5.5 billion. The Nielsen figures do not include specialty and natural retailers, nor direct sales. Further, Nielsen’s data reflect grocery coding systems, which are based on retailer description and in which organic can be under-represented.
The Nielsen figures, however, delve down to the specific types of organic vegetable or organic fruit sold, providing detailed information on the buying habits of consumers in the major category of supermarkets and big-box stores.
Since 2011, the sales of produce in this country have increased over 25 percent. Convenience, a greater awareness of the health benefits of produce, and an increased interest in local food sources largely contributed to the increase. And driven by the desire to improve upon already healthy food choices, organic fruit sales have soared 123 percent during that time, while organic vegetable sales have jumped by 92 percent.
The U.S. organic industry saw its largest dollar gain ever in 2015, adding $4.2 billion in sales. Total organic food sales in the U.S. were $39.7 billion, up 11 percent from the previous year. Organic produce sales accounted for 36 percent of the organic market. Almost 13 percent of all the produce sold in the United States now is organic.
The Nielsen findings showed that today’s organic produce shopper tends to be more kid-focused than the average produce shopper, and that the huge majority of these enthusiastic organic produce buyers – 77 percent – are going to their favorite grocery store or supermarket chain to buy their organic fruits and vegetables.
The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the membership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America. OTA is the leading voice for the organic trade in the United States, representing over 8,500 organic businesses across 50 states. Its members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmers’ associations, distributors, importers, exporters, consultants, retailers and others. OTA’s Board of Directors is democratically elected by its members. OTA’s mission is to promote and protect ORGANIC with a unifying voice that serves and engages its diverse members from farm to marketplace.
Fall is settling in to many parts of the U.S. and that is good for storage potato and onion shipments. Here’s a look at the most active shipping areas.
Storage onions from around the country are being shipped, although the heaviest volume is coming from Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Leading the nation in dry onion shipments is Washington state’s Columbia Basin. It is averaging about 875 truck loads per week. Coming in a close second are onion shipments out of western Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon, amount to a little over 800 loads weekly. From here volume is significantly less from other areas.
Ranking third are sweet onion imports from Peru. An equivalent of nearly 150 truck loads are arriving weekly by boat. However, keep in mind these arrivals are scattered among a few different ports along the East Coast. Placing fourth in volume are storage onions from upstate New York led by Orange County, although some volume is scattered from the central and western portions of the state. Use some caution as some quality problems are being reported.
Finally, there is some very light volume coming out of the Bakersfield are of Southern California.
Columbia Basin potatoes and onions – grossing $3500 to Chicago.
Potato Shipments
Potato shipments, mostly from the Northwestern U.S. and the central U.S. are mostly moving in steady volume now. As usual, Idaho easily leads the volume. It is moving nearly 1600 truck load equivalents weekly, mostly from the Twin Falls, Burley areas. Keep in mind, up to about 40 percent of this volume may be moving by rail. Two separate shipping areas have similar potato right now. Colorado’s San Luis Valley, as well as Washington’s Columbia Basin and the adjacent Umatillia Basin of Oregon are averaging about 675 truck loads weekly.
A number of other potato shipments are available from other parts of the nation, but in very light volume. Among those are Western Texas (Hereford) and Eastern New Mexico; Northwest Washington, the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota, Nebraska, Michigan, Southern California, Long Island, NY and the Klamath Basin of Northern California and Southern Oregon.
Idaho potato shipments – grossing about $5000 to New York City.
Colorado potato loadings – grossing about $2900 to Atlanta.
Wisconsin potato shipments – grossing about $950 to Chicago.
Total domestic apple and grape shipments are expected to be up this season, while a drop in pear and peach loadings is seen. California raspberry loads also are lagging.
Apple, Pear, Peach Shipments
U.S. apple and grape shipments are expected to increase in 2016, while pear and peach volume will decline, according to a USDA report.
About 10.4 billion pounds of apples will be produced in the U.S. this season. The Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook from the USDA’s Economic Research Service reports the 2016 apple crop is on track to be 4 percent larger than last year’s crop and the fourth-largest since 2000.
California grape shipments are expected to hit 15.6 billion pounds in 2016, up 2 percent from 2015. The increase comes despite persistent drought in California, the top producing state.
The number of pear shipments in the U.S. this season, however, is predicted to fall 5 percent, with about 1.56 billion pounds being shipped. That would be the lowest U.S. total in more than 20 years. The top three states for pear shipments, Washington, Oregon and California, are expected to be down between 2 and 4 percent.
U.S. peach loadings also will be down this season with a total of 1.61 billion pounds That would be 5 percent below last year, and it would be the seventh consecutive year U.S. peach volumes have declined.
Washington’s Yakima Valley apples and pears – grossing about $6200 to Boston.
California’s San Joaquin Valley table grapes – grossing about $5000 to Atlanta.
California Raspberry Shipments
California raspberry shipments so far this season has been about 122 million pounds shipped, down from 143 million pounds. Around 4.1 million pounds of raspberries were shipped in the U.S. during the week ending October 1, off from 5.3 million pounds last year at the same time and 4.5 million pounds the previous week.
California’s Watsonville district strawberries, raspberries – grossing about $4100 to Dallas.
California’s Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $6300 to New York City.
PALMETTO, FL — Port Manatee will have Del Monte fruit as a tenant for up to 20 more years.
Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc., , has signed a lease extension through Aug. 30, 2021 with Florida’s Port Manatee.
The company has imported fruit through the port since 1989. Under the agreement Del Monte has options for three additional five-year extensions. If all options are exercised, Del Monte will be doing business at Port Manatee until at least 2036.
The lease agreement will continue to pay the port $108,000 a year.
“Extension of Port Manatee’s long-term partnership with Del Monte demonstrates the mutual commitment on the part of our port and a most-valued tenant,” said Betsy Benac, chairwoman of the Manatee County Port Authority, which OK’d the lease extension recently.
“We are very pleased to continue our relationship with Port Manatee,” said Brian Giuliani, Del Monte’s Port Manatee-based port manager. “The cooperation with Port Manatee is exceptional and has been vital to the growth of our business at Port Manatee.”
Since 1989, Del Monte, based in Coral Gables, FL, has moved 8.7 million short tons* of cargo through the port, and the company’s distribution center there has become the company’s second-largest U.S. facility.
One of the North America’s largest marketers and distributors of fresh produce and the world’s No. 1 marketer of fresh pineapple, Del Monte uses refrigerated ships to import bananas and pineapples from Central America weekly.
Export cargo on the Del Monte ships includes liner board that is used for packaging, as well as various third-party containers and project cargo.
Del Monte is one of the world’s leading producers, marketers and distributors of high-quality fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, as well as a leading producer and distributor of prepared fruit and vegetables, juices, beverages and healthy snacks in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the countries formerly part of the Soviet Union.
*The short ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds (907.18474 kg), that is most commonly used in the United States where it is known simply as the ton.
Mexican fresh fruit and vegetable exports to the U.S. could increase by 32 percent over the next seven years.
South Texas is expected to grow at an even faster rate with the Mexican produce exports, according to a study by economists at Texas A&M University’s Center for North American Studies.
As many as 569,650 truckloads of Mexican fresh produce could be exported to the U.S. by 2023. Of that amount, Texas could claim 298,542 of those truckloads, a 41 percent increase.
During the past seven years, and imports at the Mexico – Texas border are up 41 percent, making the projected 32 percent growth rate in the next seven years quite possible.
There is a rapid growth in Mexican exports through Texas, with a lot of cold storage facilities going up near the Pharr/Hidalgo Bridge. Millions of dollars have been spent in the last few years on new cold storage facilities and most are operating a full capacity.
In fact, some observers believe the 32 percent estimated increase for Texas may be low because of the high cost of labor in the U.S. plus the costly and increasing rules and regulations not fouind in Mexico.
The A&M study also found that the growth in Mexican produce exports to the U.S. could produce 7,700 jobs in Texas and contribute $815 million to the state’s economy.
The Texas International Produce Association changed to its current name several years ago to reflect the importance of imports to Texas-based produce companies. The result has certainly been a positive economic impact in the Lower Rio Grand Valley of Texas. A number of South Texas growers are some of the largest importers of Mexican grown produce.
This allows many Texas produce shippers keep their operations running the year around with greater volume than relying exclusively on Texas-grown fruits and vegetables.
Texas is expected to account for 52.4 percent of all U.S. produce imports from Mexico by 2023. In 2015, 48.6 percent of all imports came through the Lone Star State.
Mexican produce through South Texas – grossing about $1900 to Atlanta; $2000 to Chicago.
By Larry Oscar
As we all get older we have something to enjoy that all the young folks will just have to be patient to acquire….memories.
Memories are something that takes a lifetime to acquire. And in some cases they take a lifetime also to understand. Nothing in life is free, and this applies to memories just like everything else. You pay a price for the good and the bad ones. Funny thing, when you get old you can often look back on those bad memories with a bittersweet smile.
Somehow time and wisdom transforms those bad experiences in life to a not-so-painful memory. The whole thing just sort of fits together like a puzzle. The pains in life are something we have to experience along with the pleasures. Life is a mixed bag, or, as it has been said many times, “a box of chocolates”.
I know I find myself laughing at a lot of memories these days. Maybe that’s why younger people think all of us older folks are just plain crazy. You have to admit that it’s not normal to burst into laughter for no apparent reason at all. I hope the younger people today will have the same opportunity to experience the wonderful world that I have. What a time it was to be growing up in a free land of hope and prosperity.
It was a Christmas of electric trains, red bicycles, a soft warm puppy, and the safety of a warm home filled with smells of mom’s cooking. It was a new black and white television that yielded Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Roy Rogers, and the Lone Ranger. Bedtime was nine o’clock and the only reprieve was the Jack Benny or Red Skelton show.
Now just mention a black and white TV to a millennial and watch the cold stare in disbelief you get in return. In a conversation with a friend of mine he mentioned that his kids had been listening to some of his music of the sixties and seventies and how it captured their ear. They just don’t make music today like we did in the era of “peace and love”. I know one thing for sure. I wish I had my 56 Chevy back. Cars seemed to be a lot bigger back then. I’m sure that was because we were all much smaller in our youth.
I mean really, can you imagine crawling over the front seat to go make out in the back seat today. Why, you would have to call the fire department to be extracted from the car with a muscle sprain. Back in 1966, on a hot August night, my girlfriend and I were “parked” and she had her feet hanging out the back window. We were listening to KAKC radio with DJ Scooter Seagraves. Then out of the moonlight a very large Great Dane ran up and licked the bottom of her feet. Fifty years later I still have problems hearing out of that ear.
Over time life has a way of changing your opinions and outlook on things somewhat. Somehow the bad things just bring a smile of wisdom, and the good things a happy glow in your heart. When I sit outside my favorite bar now and watch the younger people walk by I can’t help but wonder what their memories of life will be like. I can hear it now….”Hey Bob do you remember the good old days when our country was only 20 trillion in debt and, we had Pokemon 2 going on those old Iphones?” They weren’t here when we landed on the moon.
If you mention the Beetles to them they think you’re talking about some form of roach. And I remember the day Mickey Mantle hit a homer out of Yankee Stadium. He hit it over five hundred feet. Are you kidding me? Ten million years from now, when this planet is visited by aliens, they will uncover one of my polyester suits from the seventies. Those things were completely indestructible. I had a polyester tie that glowed in the dark and repelled mosquitoes.
It is often said that the best things in life are free. Well, nothing is actually free, but I think the best part of life is the friends you make over time. Don’t let time pass you by without taking note of the positive impact your friends have made on your life. And if you have a few that affected you negatively, well just smile and thank God you have the wisdom to overlook them. We have lived in a land that enabled you to live out your life in an era of individual freedom. As humans we are not part of an ant colony. The fifty’s, sixty’s, and seventy’s could not have happened without the freedom of expression we enjoyed. Those freedoms that made this the greatest nation ever to exist on the Earth are slowly being eroded.
(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.)
Fewer total U.S. citrus shipments are seen this season from the leading states of Florida, California and Texas.
Florida’s first forecast for citrus shipments reveals a continued decline across all varieties with grapefruit and navel oranges expected to be among the lowest levels in history. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on October 12th forecast Florida to ship 81 million equivalent cartons of oranges, grapefruit and specialty fruit or tangerines, down from 94.1 million boxes last season.
The Sunshine state is expected to move 70 million 90-pound cartons of oranges with navel oranges amounting 1 million cartons. Navels are predicted to be three percent lower than last season and the lowest since the 1979-80 season when the USDA began separate navel forecasts.
Regarding grapefruit, Florida should ship 9.6 million 85-pound cartons, down 11 percent from the 2015-16 season and the lowest level in 50 years. As for tangerines, early season fallglos, midseason sunbursts and later season honeys are forecast to decline as well.
The USDA report forecast 7.5 million boxes of red grapefruit and 2.1 million boxes of white grapefruit.
California Citrus Shipments
California orange loadings are forecast to be down from 54.2 million 80-pound cartons last season to 50.5 million cartons this season. The state’s grapefruit shipments are forecast to increase from 3.8 million 80-pound cartons last season to 4 million cartons for 2016-17.
Texas Citrus Shipments
Texas orange shipments are seen falling from 1.7 million 85-pound cartons in 2015-16 to 1.4 million cartons this year. With grapefruit, Texas shipments are forecast to decline from last season’s 4.8 million 80-pound cartons to 4.7 million cartons this season.
25 years ago or so , there were 30 shippers and packers of Texas grapefruit and oranges operating the Rio Grande Valley and shipment citrus across the U.S. as well as exporting. Today, there are only three shippers.
Worldwide citrus grower are concerned about citrus greening, the primary reason for the decline in Florida citrus volume. In Texas,, the crops have not been affected by the disease. However, observers point out Florida didn’t feel the decline [in volume and tree health] until the sixth year after greening was discovered. Texas is now entering its sixth since green was discovered in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. A lot of folks are holding their breath and taking a wait and see attitude.
Produce trucking sweet potato loads could be affected significantly for the 2016-17 shipping season due to damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. Loading opportunities this fall for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina will be impacted much less, although volume from these three states is limited this time of year.
Southeast produce growers are estimating damage from Hurricane Matthew which hugged coastal Florida and Georgia before slamming into South Carolina and North Carolina, where it flooded fields and caused evacuations
North Carolina Sweet Potato Shipments
Around 40 to 45 percent of the sweet potato harvest had been dug when the storm dumped up to 18 inches of rain October 6 – 9 during the middle of the North Carolina harvest.
There is little doubt North Carolina sweet potato shipments were hit pretty hard, and significant losses will occur, but the bottom line is it will take days, if not week to assess the damage. Earlier this week many roads remained impassible with a lot of farmland remaining underwater as river levels were still rising in some areas.
Besides sweet potatoes, the Tar Heel state also grows and ships cabbage, greens and a variety of fall vegetables including bell peppers, cucumbers and squash.
South Carolina Vegetable Shipments
The South Carolina received 8-18 inches of rain and growers and state officials are assessing damages. However, South Carolina isn’t a significant player in vegetable shipments this time of the year, although it does have leafy greens are grown in small acreage in the flooded areas east of Columbia. There also are crops grown in sandy soils of the interior growing regions that should fair okay.
South Carolina’s peach shipments were completed in September, but there are cucumbers, squash, tomatoes and watermelons grown closer to the Atlantic Coast. There are expected to have damage.
Georgia Vegetable Shipments
Most of Georgia’s southern vegetables are grown in the south-central part of the state, but are believe to have escaped serious damage. As for the 2017 Vidalia onion crop that starting shipping in April, the area had up to six inches of rain resulting in minor damage to Vidalia onion seed beds, which are planted for the spring harvest.
Some Vidalia onion shippers lost power for about 10 hours. The electricity runs coolers for their imported Peruvian onions but no damage was reported.
Florida Produce Shipments
Little or no damage was reported with Florida vegetables or citrus.
by Sharon Durham, USDA AgResearch Magazine
Up until the early 1900s, blueberries were picked from the wild, and the bushes of the berries often did not survive when transplanted elsewhere. True domestication-involving propagation of the plant by the grower and plant breeding to improve desirable traits-was beyond reach until 1910. That’s when USDA botanist Frederick Coville discovered that blueberry bushes require moist, acidic soil to thrive. In 1916, exactly a century ago, the first commercial cultivated crop of highbush blueberries was harvested.
That history is now enhanced by Baby Blues, a cultivar released in cooperation with the Oregon State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station and the Washington State University’s Agricultural Research Center (ARS). This new blueberry is making its debut during the 100th anniversary of the first cultivated blueberry crop to go to market.
“Baby Blues is a vigorous, high-yielding, small-fruited, machine-harvestable highbush blueberry with outstanding fruit quality. It’s well-suited for those processing markets that require a small fruit size,” says Finn. “Baby Blues should offer growers and processors an alternative to the low-yielding Rubel highbush blueberry, and it may thrive in milder areas where northern highbush blueberries are grown.”
Finn also developed a new blackberry named Columbia Giant. This thornless, trailing blackberry cultivar came from the same breeding program as Baby Blues and was also released in cooperation with the Oregon State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station.
“This cultivar is a high-quality, high-yielding, machine-harvestable blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that, when processed, is similar to or better in quality than fruit from the industry standards Marion and Black Diamond,” says Finn. “Due to its extremely large size, however, Columbia Giant will most commonly be sold in the fresh market.”
Columbia Giant is adaptable to areas where other trailing blackberries successfully grow.
“Two Tasty New Berries From ARS” was published in the September 2016 issue of AgResearch Magazine.
Expansion plans for Port Tampa are announced, plus a huge expansion in advertising plans are announced for Wonderful Pistachios.
Port Tampa
Port Logistics Refrigerated Services has started construction of a cold storage facility at Port Tampa Bay. Based in Tampa, Port Logistics’ 134,000-square-foot on-dock warehouse is scheduled to open in the summer of 2017
The cold storage will have over 9,000 pallet positions, 96 refrigerated container plugs, a Gottwald mobile harbor crane and onsite USDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection, as well as fumigation services. The facility is located on 13.7 acres and will handle both palletized breakbulk cargo and refrigerated containers.
Pistachio Ad Campaign
By The Wonderful Company
LOS ANGELES — Wonderful Pistachios, known for its iconic “Get Crackin’” ads, launched its biggest “Get Crackin’” advertising campaign ever, investing $55 million to support the largest pistachio crop in history. The irreverent and comedic commercials feature a really big star—literally—with the introduction of Ernie the Elephant. This pistachio-loving, health-conscious, somewhat bold, always hilarious, computer-generated spokes-elephant refuses to work for peanuts and is voiced by WWE Superstar John Cena (“Trainwreck,” Fox’s “American Grit”).
“Ernie and I are alike in many ways,” said Cena. “We’re both fun-loving guys, confident in our choices. I’m excited to join Wonderful Pistachios’s popular ‘Get Crackin’’ campaign by bringing to life its newest character, Ernie the Elephant, whose favorite food is Wonderful Pistachios. Whether you’re in the ring, on the go, at work, or hanging out with friends, Wonderful Pistachios is a fun, healthy snack that’s a good source of protein and fiber, and a strong foundation for good nutritional choices.”
Ernie the Elephant makes his debut in two commercials, which air during tonight’s “Monday Night Football,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and more. In one spot, Ernie attends a baseball game, touting Wonderful Pistachios as a superior snack to those tired old peanuts sold at the stadium. Another features Ernie as “the elephant in the room”—or elevator—talking up pistachios, while his tons-of-fun personality tests the elevator’s weight sensors. In the coming months, eight more commercials will air and pistachio lovers will witness Ernie’s unique take on elephant stereotypes, supermarket shopping, working out, lady squirrels and airport travel.
Later this football season, two more spots feature Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman schooling Ernie with his best defensive moves—and his famous trash talk—both on and off the field. As one of the smartest players in football, Sherman not only matches wits with Ernie in the “Get Crackin’” campaign, he demonstrates Wonderful Pistachios’s commitment to healthy eating through a series of “Snack Smarter” digital videos, educating football fans on the nutritional benefits of Wonderful Pistachios compared to other unhealthy salty snacks, such as nachos and crackers.
by Organic Trade Association
Americans are gobbling up more organic fruits and vegetables than ever before, from organic blueberries and organic apples to organic packaged greens and cut-up organic vegetables ready for their children’s lunch box or their family’s dinner plate.
Over half of all households in the United States now purchase organic produce. The sale of organic bananas alone – now a $165 million market – soared by more than 30 percent last year. Organic “value-added” vegetables (think chopped kale, peeled carrots and ready-to-cook squash) grew by a whopping 54 percent in 2015 to almost $150 million.
What’s big in the organic produce sector? A few standouts in the produce section:
- Organic bananas: Sales up a solid 33 percent from a year ago.
- Organic blackberries: Sales up a sharp 61 percent from a year ago.
- Organic salad greens and organic baby carrots: Sales of each up 11 percent versus a year ago.
- Organic Pink Lady Apples: Sales almost double (up 96 percent) that of a year ago.
“The organic produce market is growing and strong, and it is driving trends in produce innovation across the board,” said Laura Batcha, Executive Director and CEO of the Organic Trade Association (OTA) recently at the first-ever Organic Produce Summit, held in Monterey, California.
Digging deep into the produce aisle, Batcha gave a State of the Organic Produce presentation on Thursday, unveiling the findings of a report on the produce-buying habits of Americans compiled for the Organic Trade Association by Nielsen, the global information and measurement company.
According to the OTA 2016 Organic Industry Survey released in May, fresh organic produce sales in the U.S. reached $13 billion in 2015. (Total sales of organic fruits and vegetables, including fresh, frozen and canned, amounted to $14.4 billion.) The $13-billion market includes $5.7 billion worth of organic produce sold in the mass market (supermarkets, big-box stores, warehouse clubs), $4.7 billion sold by specialty and natural retailers, and $2.7 billion in direct sales (farmers’ markets, CSAs, online).
Nielsen measures organic sales primarily from the mass market, and puts organic produce sales at $5.5 billion. The Nielsen figures do not include specialty and natural retailers, nor direct sales. Further, Nielsen’s data reflect grocery coding systems, which are based on retailer description and in which organic can be under-represented.
The Nielsen figures, however, delve down to the specific types of organic vegetable or organic fruit sold, providing detailed information on the buying habits of consumers in the major category of supermarkets and big-box stores.
Since 2011, the sales of produce in this country have increased over 25 percent. Convenience, a greater awareness of the health benefits of produce, and an increased interest in local food sources largely contributed to the increase. And driven by the desire to improve upon already healthy food choices, organic fruit sales have soared 123 percent during that time, while organic vegetable sales have jumped by 92 percent.
The U.S. organic industry saw its largest dollar gain ever in 2015, adding $4.2 billion in sales. Total organic food sales in the U.S. were $39.7 billion, up 11 percent from the previous year. Organic produce sales accounted for 36 percent of the organic market. Almost 13 percent of all the produce sold in the United States now is organic.
The Nielsen findings showed that today’s organic produce shopper tends to be more kid-focused than the average produce shopper, and that the huge majority of these enthusiastic organic produce buyers – 77 percent – are going to their favorite grocery store or supermarket chain to buy their organic fruits and vegetables.
The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the membership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America. OTA is the leading voice for the organic trade in the United States, representing over 8,500 organic businesses across 50 states. Its members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmers’ associations, distributors, importers, exporters, consultants, retailers and others. OTA’s Board of Directors is democratically elected by its members. OTA’s mission is to promote and protect ORGANIC with a unifying voice that serves and engages its diverse members from farm to marketplace.
Fall is settling in to many parts of the U.S. and that is good for storage potato and onion shipments. Here’s a look at the most active shipping areas.
Storage onions from around the country are being shipped, although the heaviest volume is coming from Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Leading the nation in dry onion shipments is Washington state’s Columbia Basin. It is averaging about 875 truck loads per week. Coming in a close second are onion shipments out of western Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon, amount to a little over 800 loads weekly. From here volume is significantly less from other areas.
Ranking third are sweet onion imports from Peru. An equivalent of nearly 150 truck loads are arriving weekly by boat. However, keep in mind these arrivals are scattered among a few different ports along the East Coast. Placing fourth in volume are storage onions from upstate New York led by Orange County, although some volume is scattered from the central and western portions of the state. Use some caution as some quality problems are being reported.
Finally, there is some very light volume coming out of the Bakersfield are of Southern California.
Columbia Basin potatoes and onions – grossing $3500 to Chicago.
Potato Shipments
Potato shipments, mostly from the Northwestern U.S. and the central U.S. are mostly moving in steady volume now. As usual, Idaho easily leads the volume. It is moving nearly 1600 truck load equivalents weekly, mostly from the Twin Falls, Burley areas. Keep in mind, up to about 40 percent of this volume may be moving by rail. Two separate shipping areas have similar potato right now. Colorado’s San Luis Valley, as well as Washington’s Columbia Basin and the adjacent Umatillia Basin of Oregon are averaging about 675 truck loads weekly.
A number of other potato shipments are available from other parts of the nation, but in very light volume. Among those are Western Texas (Hereford) and Eastern New Mexico; Northwest Washington, the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota, Nebraska, Michigan, Southern California, Long Island, NY and the Klamath Basin of Northern California and Southern Oregon.
Idaho potato shipments – grossing about $5000 to New York City.
Colorado potato loadings – grossing about $2900 to Atlanta.
Wisconsin potato shipments – grossing about $950 to Chicago.
Total domestic apple and grape shipments are expected to be up this season, while a drop in pear and peach loadings is seen. California raspberry loads also are lagging.
Apple, Pear, Peach Shipments
U.S. apple and grape shipments are expected to increase in 2016, while pear and peach volume will decline, according to a USDA report.
About 10.4 billion pounds of apples will be produced in the U.S. this season. The Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook from the USDA’s Economic Research Service reports the 2016 apple crop is on track to be 4 percent larger than last year’s crop and the fourth-largest since 2000.
California grape shipments are expected to hit 15.6 billion pounds in 2016, up 2 percent from 2015. The increase comes despite persistent drought in California, the top producing state.
The number of pear shipments in the U.S. this season, however, is predicted to fall 5 percent, with about 1.56 billion pounds being shipped. That would be the lowest U.S. total in more than 20 years. The top three states for pear shipments, Washington, Oregon and California, are expected to be down between 2 and 4 percent.
U.S. peach loadings also will be down this season with a total of 1.61 billion pounds That would be 5 percent below last year, and it would be the seventh consecutive year U.S. peach volumes have declined.
Washington’s Yakima Valley apples and pears – grossing about $6200 to Boston.
California’s San Joaquin Valley table grapes – grossing about $5000 to Atlanta.
California Raspberry Shipments
California raspberry shipments so far this season has been about 122 million pounds shipped, down from 143 million pounds. Around 4.1 million pounds of raspberries were shipped in the U.S. during the week ending October 1, off from 5.3 million pounds last year at the same time and 4.5 million pounds the previous week.
California’s Watsonville district strawberries, raspberries – grossing about $4100 to Dallas.
California’s Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $6300 to New York City.
PALMETTO, FL — Port Manatee will have Del Monte fruit as a tenant for up to 20 more years.
Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc., , has signed a lease extension through Aug. 30, 2021 with Florida’s Port Manatee.
The company has imported fruit through the port since 1989. Under the agreement Del Monte has options for three additional five-year extensions. If all options are exercised, Del Monte will be doing business at Port Manatee until at least 2036.
The lease agreement will continue to pay the port $108,000 a year.
“Extension of Port Manatee’s long-term partnership with Del Monte demonstrates the mutual commitment on the part of our port and a most-valued tenant,” said Betsy Benac, chairwoman of the Manatee County Port Authority, which OK’d the lease extension recently.
“We are very pleased to continue our relationship with Port Manatee,” said Brian Giuliani, Del Monte’s Port Manatee-based port manager. “The cooperation with Port Manatee is exceptional and has been vital to the growth of our business at Port Manatee.”
Since 1989, Del Monte, based in Coral Gables, FL, has moved 8.7 million short tons* of cargo through the port, and the company’s distribution center there has become the company’s second-largest U.S. facility.
One of the North America’s largest marketers and distributors of fresh produce and the world’s No. 1 marketer of fresh pineapple, Del Monte uses refrigerated ships to import bananas and pineapples from Central America weekly.
Export cargo on the Del Monte ships includes liner board that is used for packaging, as well as various third-party containers and project cargo.
Del Monte is one of the world’s leading producers, marketers and distributors of high-quality fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, as well as a leading producer and distributor of prepared fruit and vegetables, juices, beverages and healthy snacks in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the countries formerly part of the Soviet Union.
*The short ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds (907.18474 kg), that is most commonly used in the United States where it is known simply as the ton.
Mexican fresh fruit and vegetable exports to the U.S. could increase by 32 percent over the next seven years.
South Texas is expected to grow at an even faster rate with the Mexican produce exports, according to a study by economists at Texas A&M University’s Center for North American Studies.
As many as 569,650 truckloads of Mexican fresh produce could be exported to the U.S. by 2023. Of that amount, Texas could claim 298,542 of those truckloads, a 41 percent increase.
During the past seven years, and imports at the Mexico – Texas border are up 41 percent, making the projected 32 percent growth rate in the next seven years quite possible.
There is a rapid growth in Mexican exports through Texas, with a lot of cold storage facilities going up near the Pharr/Hidalgo Bridge. Millions of dollars have been spent in the last few years on new cold storage facilities and most are operating a full capacity.
In fact, some observers believe the 32 percent estimated increase for Texas may be low because of the high cost of labor in the U.S. plus the costly and increasing rules and regulations not fouind in Mexico.
The A&M study also found that the growth in Mexican produce exports to the U.S. could produce 7,700 jobs in Texas and contribute $815 million to the state’s economy.
The Texas International Produce Association changed to its current name several years ago to reflect the importance of imports to Texas-based produce companies. The result has certainly been a positive economic impact in the Lower Rio Grand Valley of Texas. A number of South Texas growers are some of the largest importers of Mexican grown produce.
This allows many Texas produce shippers keep their operations running the year around with greater volume than relying exclusively on Texas-grown fruits and vegetables.
Texas is expected to account for 52.4 percent of all U.S. produce imports from Mexico by 2023. In 2015, 48.6 percent of all imports came through the Lone Star State.
Mexican produce through South Texas – grossing about $1900 to Atlanta; $2000 to Chicago.