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A new report claims that over 14,000 U.S. farms grew organic produce and other agricultural products in 2012.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistic Service’s 2014 Organic Survey, recently released, analyzes data from the 2012 Census of Agriculture. About 3.7 million acres of land had organic products in 2012, 687,000 of them in industry leader California.
Of the 14,093 certified or exempt U.S. farms, 2,805 were in California.
The value of U.S. organic agricultural products in 2012 was $5.5 billion, according to the report. California accounted for about $2.2 billion of that total. About 164,403 acres of organic vegetables, potatoes and melons worth $1.25 billion were harvested in 2012.
Organic grape production totaled 98,805 tons and was worth about $188 million. About 563 million pounds of organic apples, worth $250 million, were produced in 2012. In the “other fruit, nuts and berries” category, about 3,523 farms produced $579 million worth of product in 2012.
They may not necessarily be truck loads, but at least partial loads should be available in a number of Eastern produce shipping areas, ranging from the deep south, to New York and Michigan.
Georgia Produce Shipments
Southern Georgia should ship around 110-120 million pounds of pecans this year, making it one of the best seasons in the last three years. Georgia is No.1 in U.S pecan shipments…..Elsewhere in South Georgia are a number of vegetables being shipped, but it is light volume with only partial loads available. For example, about 75 truck load equivalents of beans are being loaded weekly. There also is light, but increasing volume with items ranging from peppers to eggplant and greens.
North Carolina Produce Shipments
Eastern North Carolina sweet potato shipments are currently your best bet in the Tar Heel state. About 250 truck loads per week are being loaded….Meanwhile the cabbage harvest has just started, with very light loadings just getting underway.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing about $2500 to New York City.
New York Produce Shipments
The Hudson Valley provides the majority of apple shipments, although there is lighter volume from other parts of the state including central and western New York. All total, New York apple shipments are averaging a little over 300 truck loads per week….Cabbage shipments from central and western areas are averaging about 225 truck loads weekly. Storage onions, primarily from Orange County, are amounting to around 150 truck loads per week.
New York cabbage – grossing about $1200 to Boston.
Michigan Produce Shipments
Not much going on here. Your best bet is with apples, primarily from the Grand Rapids area. Michigan is averaging about 250 truck loads weekly. There also very light volume with storage onions.
Michigan apples – grossing about $3400 to Orlando.
Here’s a look at loading opportunities for California kiwifruit, as well as imported kiwi and blueberries.
If you’re looking for California kiwifruit shipments, loadings are purposely being delayed. The reason is imported Chilean kiwi is still in the pipeline. California shippers are holding off for the end of the Chilean season so prices will improve. California volumes will probably be down about 10 percent this season, but there will still be plenty of product. Look for good California loading opportunities to start by late November.
Meanwhile, imported Italian kiwifruit should start shipping in volume on the East Coast by late November. Italian kiwifruit shipments to the U.S. are expected to be about 10 percent higher than last season. Imported New Zealand kiwi will be available through November.
Southern California kiwi, citrus and vegetables – grossing about $6400 to New York City.
Argentina Blueberry Imports
Frost in Argentina affected blueberry production, so imports of Argentine berries have been light in the United States. Argentina blueberry imports are now increasing, but have been off by as much as 60 percent due to cold weather and rain in South America and will remain lighter than normal for weeks to come. Arrivals by boat are occurring on both coasts.
Here’s a national produce shipping round up ranging from both domestic and imported onions, to South Texas and imported Mexican items, to Western U.S. vegetable shipments.
Caution is recommended for hauling onions out of the Northwest, including Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Weather problems earlier in the year are being blamed.
Meanwhile, quality apparently is much better for onion shipments out of Utah and Colorado. Loadings involve red, white and yellow storage onions. Northeast Colorado onion shipments will continue through the end of the year and Utah onion shipments will be available into February.
Imported Peruvian sweet onions continues, with the heaviest volume being available through Thanksgiving. Lighter volume imports of onions from Peru will continue into February.
Western Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon onions – grossing about $3400 to Dallas.
Columbia Basin, Washington, potatoes and onions – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
South Texas Produce Shipments
Texas grapefruit shipments and Texas orange shipments from the Lower Rio Grande Valley got underway a couple of weeks ago and are moving into steady volume. Total volume this season is expected to be about normal. There also are numerous items from Mexico crossing the border into Pharr, TX. There’s over 600 truck loads of avocados and nearly 400 truck loads of limes crossing the border weekly. There ‘s also lesser amounts of lemons and other items.
South Texas citrus and imported Mexican tropical fruit – grossing about $2500 to Chicago, $3900 to New York City.
KALE SHIPMENTS
The trendy vegetable item kale will continue to be shipped from the Salinas Valley, while loadings out of Yuma, AZ will start in mid November, along with several other desert vegetable shipments such as lettuce.
Grapefruit consumption has declined, according to USDA data.
While consumers haven’t completely abandoned grapefruit, as of 2013, Americans ate just over 2.5 pounds of fresh, pulpy citrus on average each year.
In 1976, at the height of America’s love for grapefruit, few fruits were more popular. The average American citizen ate almost 25 pounds of grapefruit each year. Since then, however, fresh grapefruit consumption has plunged by 70 percent, and total grapefruit consumption, which includes the processed kind often used for juice, has tumbled by almost 80 percent.
Grapefruits are likely falling victim to the growing demand for convenience in the United States. Americans want foods that are fast and easy, fruits that can be eaten with a single hand.
It’s not a convenient fruit eat, especially when people can grab a banana, an apple, and head out the door.
USDA data show that this is, in many ways, true. Americans eat almost 40 percent more fresh fruit that they did some 40 years ago. Bananas, in particular, have grown in popularity over the years, with consumption being over 60 percent greater per person than it was in the 1970s.
Nothing, however, has been more detrimental to America’s ability to enjoy grapefruits over the years than an insect-borne disease called citrus greening, which has ravaged production. The disease, which first crept into Florida, where some three-quarters of all grapefruits are grown in the country, in the early 2000s, has turned grapefruit farming into a nightmare.
Grapefruits, which are typically among the cheapest citrus, have gotten more expensive over the years. And higher prices have meant even lower demand.
For the first time in about a decade, total North American blueberry shipments in 2015 were lower, according to preliminary estimates.
The crop was down 22 million pounds from last year’s 744.8 million pounds. The final numbers would be released in March.
The only regions that grew in volume were the western U.S. and Mexico. The rest of the United States and Canada saw comparable or smaller blueberry shipments.
The biggest drop in volume for any region was in Michigan, which had a rough year due to weather, and the states of Georgia and New Jersey were moderately down. British Columbia remained the largest producing region on the continent and experienced flat figures this year. Meanwhile, Washington State saw the largest increase as the U.S.’s leading blueberry state.
Elsewhere, California and Oregon saw only minimal increases and Mexico registered a gradual increase. However, Mexican production was still relatively small, and will have less than 30 million pounds of blueberries. Weather was a major factor for the decline, while labor was also an issue in many areas. North American blueberry shippers have been growing at 80-100 million pounds a year for a number of years, so perhaps a decline was over due.
There is a 2.3% decline in retail fresh vegetable availability — what’s displayed on store shelves — but a 3.5% increase for fresh fruit in 2013, newly updated per capita availability statistics show.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reported figures for fresh produce in a recent report. The report said that loss-adjusted U.S. fruit and vegetable availability falls well short of dietary guidelines, with per-capita availability of fruit totaling just 43 percent of dietary recommendations.
Per-capita availability of fresh vegetables are representing 66 percent of U.S. dietary recommendations, according to the report. In contrast, per-capita availability of meat was 131 percent of recommendations, with per-capita availability for grains 112 percent of recommended levels, according to the USDA.
Fresh fruit availability, adjusted for loss at all levels including in consumers’ homes, was projected to be 50.4 pounds per capita, up 3.5 percent from 2012 and 8percent higher than in 2003. For fresh vegetables, the loss-adjusted per-capita was 83.7 pounds, down 2.3 percent from 2012, and down 12 [percent from 2003.
Normal Thanksgiving produce shipments are occurring for such favorites as sweet potatoes and cranberries, but green bean volume will be light.
North Carolina sweet potatoes shipments for the new crop got underway in mid August this year, a couple of week earlier than usual. Fortunately, there was great weather for about six weeks that allowed harvesting to go pretty much uninterrupted.
It could have been a real disaster for North Carolina sweet potato shippers if Hurricane Joaquin hadn’t taken a right turn into the Atlantic. Otherwise North Carolina may have been pounded with rains and flooding like South Carolina.
Eastern North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing $3000 to Boston and Chicago.
Cranberry Shipments
Wisconsin continues to the be leading state for fresh cranberry shipments, with Tomah, Wis.-based Habelman Bros. Co., of Tomah, WI being the largest grower/shipper. The Wisconsin cranberry harvest has been in full swing as it gears up for Thanksgiving shipments.
Green Bean Shipments
Green bean shipments for Thanksgiving out of the Southeast are expected to be very light due to heavy September rains. Some bean shippers will be down as much as 60 percent compared to last year. Excessive rains washed a lot of plantings out. Green bean shipments are not expected to rebound until after Thanksgiving.
Salinas Valley vegetable shipments will be transitioning this week to the Huron district in the San Joaquin Valley, while shipments from the desert will start in early November.
It’s been a roller coaster ride for Salinas veggies this season, with periods of heavy shipments, followed by shipping gaps, primarily due to hot weather affecting everything from Iceberg lettuce, to broccoli, cauliflower, celery and other crops. It’s unclear when, but shipping gaps are being predicted right into the Thanksgiving pull for product by receivers next month.
The Salinas Valley has had warmer than normal temperature since the first of August, resulting in early harvests, followed by shipping gaps.
The transition for Huron vegetable shipments in Central California is taking place this week, while the initial harvest from Yuma, AZ, in the desert begins next week. Yuma vegetable shipments will be increasing in the weeks to follow.
California’s Santa Maria Valley has experienced many of the same challenges found in Salinas.
With frost hitting eastern Canada and excessive rains on the east coast of the U.S., California is about the only place shipping vegetables now.
Central San Joaquin Valley produce items – grossing about $7000 to Boston.
Here’s a national shipping round up on imported bananas, grapes and avocados from California, as well as Eastern apples.
Banana imports, particularly from Gulfport, MS, are expected to increase as fall kicks in and summer peaches, strawberries and other fruit shipments decline. Banana imports are generally expected to be stable for the next several months from such countries as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Peru.
Among the larger banana handlers are Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc.; Turbana Corp. of Coral Gables, FL; and Dole Food Co. of Westlake Village, CA.
California Grape Shipments
Grape loadings in mid-October were similar to last year with about 79.8 million pounds of grapes shipped in the U.S. the week ending October 10th, up slightly from 79.1 million pounds in the same week in 2014. Season-to-date, about 2.34 billion pounds had been shipped through October 10th, up from 2.23 billion pounds last year.
Central San Joaquin Valley grape and other produce shipments – grossing about $5200 of Atlanta.
California Avocado Shipments
Avocado shipments were up significantly in mid-October with about 50.8 million pounds of avocados shipped in the U.S. in the week ending October 10th, up from 32.1 million pounds last year at the same time. Season-to-date volumes also are up, climbing from 706 million pounds through October 10th, 2014, to 795 million pounds this year.
Southern California avocado, citrus and vegetable shipments – grossing about $4300 to Chicago.
Eastern Apple Shipments
Apple shippers east of the Mississippi River are reporting brisk movement, in part, due to less volume expected out of Washington state this season.
As of mid-October, New York apple shipments were on schedule to meet, if not exceed, the preseason estimate of 27.5 million boxes. While no record shipments are being forecast, the volume is in line with the 5-year average for shipments.
Michigan also is having strong demand for its apples, and is running ahead of last year in terms of shipments. Harvest should be completed by the end of this month.
Western Michigan apple shipments – grossing about $800 to Chicago.
Hudson Valley New York apple shipments – grossing about $2400 to Orlando.
A new report claims that over 14,000 U.S. farms grew organic produce and other agricultural products in 2012.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistic Service’s 2014 Organic Survey, recently released, analyzes data from the 2012 Census of Agriculture. About 3.7 million acres of land had organic products in 2012, 687,000 of them in industry leader California.
Of the 14,093 certified or exempt U.S. farms, 2,805 were in California.
The value of U.S. organic agricultural products in 2012 was $5.5 billion, according to the report. California accounted for about $2.2 billion of that total. About 164,403 acres of organic vegetables, potatoes and melons worth $1.25 billion were harvested in 2012.
Organic grape production totaled 98,805 tons and was worth about $188 million. About 563 million pounds of organic apples, worth $250 million, were produced in 2012. In the “other fruit, nuts and berries” category, about 3,523 farms produced $579 million worth of product in 2012.
They may not necessarily be truck loads, but at least partial loads should be available in a number of Eastern produce shipping areas, ranging from the deep south, to New York and Michigan.
Georgia Produce Shipments
Southern Georgia should ship around 110-120 million pounds of pecans this year, making it one of the best seasons in the last three years. Georgia is No.1 in U.S pecan shipments…..Elsewhere in South Georgia are a number of vegetables being shipped, but it is light volume with only partial loads available. For example, about 75 truck load equivalents of beans are being loaded weekly. There also is light, but increasing volume with items ranging from peppers to eggplant and greens.
North Carolina Produce Shipments
Eastern North Carolina sweet potato shipments are currently your best bet in the Tar Heel state. About 250 truck loads per week are being loaded….Meanwhile the cabbage harvest has just started, with very light loadings just getting underway.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing about $2500 to New York City.
New York Produce Shipments
The Hudson Valley provides the majority of apple shipments, although there is lighter volume from other parts of the state including central and western New York. All total, New York apple shipments are averaging a little over 300 truck loads per week….Cabbage shipments from central and western areas are averaging about 225 truck loads weekly. Storage onions, primarily from Orange County, are amounting to around 150 truck loads per week.
New York cabbage – grossing about $1200 to Boston.
Michigan Produce Shipments
Not much going on here. Your best bet is with apples, primarily from the Grand Rapids area. Michigan is averaging about 250 truck loads weekly. There also very light volume with storage onions.
Michigan apples – grossing about $3400 to Orlando.
Here’s a look at loading opportunities for California kiwifruit, as well as imported kiwi and blueberries.
If you’re looking for California kiwifruit shipments, loadings are purposely being delayed. The reason is imported Chilean kiwi is still in the pipeline. California shippers are holding off for the end of the Chilean season so prices will improve. California volumes will probably be down about 10 percent this season, but there will still be plenty of product. Look for good California loading opportunities to start by late November.
Meanwhile, imported Italian kiwifruit should start shipping in volume on the East Coast by late November. Italian kiwifruit shipments to the U.S. are expected to be about 10 percent higher than last season. Imported New Zealand kiwi will be available through November.
Southern California kiwi, citrus and vegetables – grossing about $6400 to New York City.
Argentina Blueberry Imports
Frost in Argentina affected blueberry production, so imports of Argentine berries have been light in the United States. Argentina blueberry imports are now increasing, but have been off by as much as 60 percent due to cold weather and rain in South America and will remain lighter than normal for weeks to come. Arrivals by boat are occurring on both coasts.
Here’s a national produce shipping round up ranging from both domestic and imported onions, to South Texas and imported Mexican items, to Western U.S. vegetable shipments.
Caution is recommended for hauling onions out of the Northwest, including Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Weather problems earlier in the year are being blamed.
Meanwhile, quality apparently is much better for onion shipments out of Utah and Colorado. Loadings involve red, white and yellow storage onions. Northeast Colorado onion shipments will continue through the end of the year and Utah onion shipments will be available into February.
Imported Peruvian sweet onions continues, with the heaviest volume being available through Thanksgiving. Lighter volume imports of onions from Peru will continue into February.
Western Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon onions – grossing about $3400 to Dallas.
Columbia Basin, Washington, potatoes and onions – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
South Texas Produce Shipments
Texas grapefruit shipments and Texas orange shipments from the Lower Rio Grande Valley got underway a couple of weeks ago and are moving into steady volume. Total volume this season is expected to be about normal. There also are numerous items from Mexico crossing the border into Pharr, TX. There’s over 600 truck loads of avocados and nearly 400 truck loads of limes crossing the border weekly. There ‘s also lesser amounts of lemons and other items.
South Texas citrus and imported Mexican tropical fruit – grossing about $2500 to Chicago, $3900 to New York City.
KALE SHIPMENTS
The trendy vegetable item kale will continue to be shipped from the Salinas Valley, while loadings out of Yuma, AZ will start in mid November, along with several other desert vegetable shipments such as lettuce.
Grapefruit consumption has declined, according to USDA data.
While consumers haven’t completely abandoned grapefruit, as of 2013, Americans ate just over 2.5 pounds of fresh, pulpy citrus on average each year.
In 1976, at the height of America’s love for grapefruit, few fruits were more popular. The average American citizen ate almost 25 pounds of grapefruit each year. Since then, however, fresh grapefruit consumption has plunged by 70 percent, and total grapefruit consumption, which includes the processed kind often used for juice, has tumbled by almost 80 percent.
Grapefruits are likely falling victim to the growing demand for convenience in the United States. Americans want foods that are fast and easy, fruits that can be eaten with a single hand.
It’s not a convenient fruit eat, especially when people can grab a banana, an apple, and head out the door.
USDA data show that this is, in many ways, true. Americans eat almost 40 percent more fresh fruit that they did some 40 years ago. Bananas, in particular, have grown in popularity over the years, with consumption being over 60 percent greater per person than it was in the 1970s.
Nothing, however, has been more detrimental to America’s ability to enjoy grapefruits over the years than an insect-borne disease called citrus greening, which has ravaged production. The disease, which first crept into Florida, where some three-quarters of all grapefruits are grown in the country, in the early 2000s, has turned grapefruit farming into a nightmare.
Grapefruits, which are typically among the cheapest citrus, have gotten more expensive over the years. And higher prices have meant even lower demand.
For the first time in about a decade, total North American blueberry shipments in 2015 were lower, according to preliminary estimates.
The crop was down 22 million pounds from last year’s 744.8 million pounds. The final numbers would be released in March.
The only regions that grew in volume were the western U.S. and Mexico. The rest of the United States and Canada saw comparable or smaller blueberry shipments.
The biggest drop in volume for any region was in Michigan, which had a rough year due to weather, and the states of Georgia and New Jersey were moderately down. British Columbia remained the largest producing region on the continent and experienced flat figures this year. Meanwhile, Washington State saw the largest increase as the U.S.’s leading blueberry state.
Elsewhere, California and Oregon saw only minimal increases and Mexico registered a gradual increase. However, Mexican production was still relatively small, and will have less than 30 million pounds of blueberries. Weather was a major factor for the decline, while labor was also an issue in many areas. North American blueberry shippers have been growing at 80-100 million pounds a year for a number of years, so perhaps a decline was over due.
There is a 2.3% decline in retail fresh vegetable availability — what’s displayed on store shelves — but a 3.5% increase for fresh fruit in 2013, newly updated per capita availability statistics show.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reported figures for fresh produce in a recent report. The report said that loss-adjusted U.S. fruit and vegetable availability falls well short of dietary guidelines, with per-capita availability of fruit totaling just 43 percent of dietary recommendations.
Per-capita availability of fresh vegetables are representing 66 percent of U.S. dietary recommendations, according to the report. In contrast, per-capita availability of meat was 131 percent of recommendations, with per-capita availability for grains 112 percent of recommended levels, according to the USDA.
Fresh fruit availability, adjusted for loss at all levels including in consumers’ homes, was projected to be 50.4 pounds per capita, up 3.5 percent from 2012 and 8percent higher than in 2003. For fresh vegetables, the loss-adjusted per-capita was 83.7 pounds, down 2.3 percent from 2012, and down 12 [percent from 2003.
Normal Thanksgiving produce shipments are occurring for such favorites as sweet potatoes and cranberries, but green bean volume will be light.
North Carolina sweet potatoes shipments for the new crop got underway in mid August this year, a couple of week earlier than usual. Fortunately, there was great weather for about six weeks that allowed harvesting to go pretty much uninterrupted.
It could have been a real disaster for North Carolina sweet potato shippers if Hurricane Joaquin hadn’t taken a right turn into the Atlantic. Otherwise North Carolina may have been pounded with rains and flooding like South Carolina.
Eastern North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing $3000 to Boston and Chicago.
Cranberry Shipments
Wisconsin continues to the be leading state for fresh cranberry shipments, with Tomah, Wis.-based Habelman Bros. Co., of Tomah, WI being the largest grower/shipper. The Wisconsin cranberry harvest has been in full swing as it gears up for Thanksgiving shipments.
Green Bean Shipments
Green bean shipments for Thanksgiving out of the Southeast are expected to be very light due to heavy September rains. Some bean shippers will be down as much as 60 percent compared to last year. Excessive rains washed a lot of plantings out. Green bean shipments are not expected to rebound until after Thanksgiving.
Salinas Valley vegetable shipments will be transitioning this week to the Huron district in the San Joaquin Valley, while shipments from the desert will start in early November.
It’s been a roller coaster ride for Salinas veggies this season, with periods of heavy shipments, followed by shipping gaps, primarily due to hot weather affecting everything from Iceberg lettuce, to broccoli, cauliflower, celery and other crops. It’s unclear when, but shipping gaps are being predicted right into the Thanksgiving pull for product by receivers next month.
The Salinas Valley has had warmer than normal temperature since the first of August, resulting in early harvests, followed by shipping gaps.
The transition for Huron vegetable shipments in Central California is taking place this week, while the initial harvest from Yuma, AZ, in the desert begins next week. Yuma vegetable shipments will be increasing in the weeks to follow.
California’s Santa Maria Valley has experienced many of the same challenges found in Salinas.
With frost hitting eastern Canada and excessive rains on the east coast of the U.S., California is about the only place shipping vegetables now.
Central San Joaquin Valley produce items – grossing about $7000 to Boston.
Here’s a national shipping round up on imported bananas, grapes and avocados from California, as well as Eastern apples.
Banana imports, particularly from Gulfport, MS, are expected to increase as fall kicks in and summer peaches, strawberries and other fruit shipments decline. Banana imports are generally expected to be stable for the next several months from such countries as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Peru.
Among the larger banana handlers are Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc.; Turbana Corp. of Coral Gables, FL; and Dole Food Co. of Westlake Village, CA.
California Grape Shipments
Grape loadings in mid-October were similar to last year with about 79.8 million pounds of grapes shipped in the U.S. the week ending October 10th, up slightly from 79.1 million pounds in the same week in 2014. Season-to-date, about 2.34 billion pounds had been shipped through October 10th, up from 2.23 billion pounds last year.
Central San Joaquin Valley grape and other produce shipments – grossing about $5200 of Atlanta.
California Avocado Shipments
Avocado shipments were up significantly in mid-October with about 50.8 million pounds of avocados shipped in the U.S. in the week ending October 10th, up from 32.1 million pounds last year at the same time. Season-to-date volumes also are up, climbing from 706 million pounds through October 10th, 2014, to 795 million pounds this year.
Southern California avocado, citrus and vegetable shipments – grossing about $4300 to Chicago.
Eastern Apple Shipments
Apple shippers east of the Mississippi River are reporting brisk movement, in part, due to less volume expected out of Washington state this season.
As of mid-October, New York apple shipments were on schedule to meet, if not exceed, the preseason estimate of 27.5 million boxes. While no record shipments are being forecast, the volume is in line with the 5-year average for shipments.
Michigan also is having strong demand for its apples, and is running ahead of last year in terms of shipments. Harvest should be completed by the end of this month.
Western Michigan apple shipments – grossing about $800 to Chicago.
Hudson Valley New York apple shipments – grossing about $2400 to Orlando.