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By the United Fresh Produce Association
The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) will 
host a webinar on produce transportation best practices on Wednesday, July 18 at 11:00 am PT/2:00 pm ET. The session will give an overview of the best practices and delve into the roles and responsibilities of the shipper, carrier and receiver in facilitating a seamless, safe, and sustainable global supply-chain. Speakers include industry veterans with varied perspectives: Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management, United Fresh; Doug Stoiber, vice president, L&M Transportation Services, Inc.; Jim Gordon, operations manager, Ippolito Fruit & Produce LTD.; and Doug Nelson, special services manager, Blue Book Services, Inc. A question and answer period will follow the presentation and the session will be posted on the website as a resource.
“As summer quickly approaches, the webinar will be especially valuable to anyone involved in the movement of perishables and refrigerated cargo via truck,” said Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management for United Fresh. “It’s vital that the entire industry be on the same page when dealing with the movement of fresh fruits and vegetables. We need to ensure the cold chain remains intact and to prevent complications in the distribution and delivery of our fresh and wholesome products.”
Registration is complimentary to all interested parties. Register now!
This is the first in a series of educational webinars the NAPTWG will hold. For more information, please visit the NAPTWG website, or contact Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management, at 425-629-6271.
The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) is comprised of more than 25 national and regional produce industry associations, transportation service providers, grower/shippers and perishable receivers. In cooperation with United Fresh Produce Association, NAPTWG works to provide best practice resources to those involved in the fresh produce supply chain.
Vegetable shipments out of Ontario province are gearing up. Sweet corn gets 
underway the first half of July, quickly followed by bell peppers, zucchini, cabbage, beets and tomatoes.
Ontario’s apple shipments will be pretty much non existent this season due a devastating April freeze. Nearly half of the asparagus also was wiped out.
Some of the major vegetables shippers are located around Windham Centre, Scotland, Bradford and Oakland Ontario. Many shipments to the USA are to mid-western markets.
In Quebec province, apples were hit by the same storm that visited Ontario, but losses were not as severe. The province is now shipping vegetables ranging from celery, to cauliflower and broccoli.
While a majority of the shipments remain regional in Canadian, there are loads moving to New England and as far south as New York. The Canadian vegetables are made even more attractive to some Northeastern USA receivers because of the savings over freight rates from the West Coast
By Larry Oscar
A great American from Fritch, Texas once said, “You can’t fix stupid.” Perhaps 
that has never been more true than in today’s global political arena. It’s hard to imagine more glaring examples of stupidity than we have witnessed in government leaders over the past few years. It was Forest Gump’s mother that said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
That too has been duly noted in the actions of such leaders as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. The stupidity of Saddam was astounding. He would still be alive and the leader in Iraq if he had just let the UN inspectors back into his country, thrown them a party, and let them inspect and visit anything in the country their heart desired. In fact, he should have invited George Bush and Bill Clinton over for a bunga-bunga party. Instead he had to act tough and thumb his nose at the world. The result was he ended up swinging from a rope Texas style.
Now we have that little runt with a huge nose from Iran threatening to “Wipe Israel off of the face of the Earth.” And at the same time celebrating his country’s march toward nuclear technology that will ultimately end in nuclear weapons. What a complete fool. What would you do if your neighbor down the street threatened to “wipe you off of the face of the Earth,” and then proceeded to build a bomb in his garage. Would you wait until his bomb was complete before taking action? Would you sit idly by like the Jews did in World War II and just let him exterminate you? Or would you learn from history and defend yourself while you still had the power to do so?
It’s hard to imagine what goes through these bozo’s little minds. There are many roads to Rome. And if you want to accomplish things in life you need to study the roads toward your goal with some thought and circumstance. Emotions will be your worst enemy. The emotional route will almost certainly be the most costly for you. For example, the best way for the Muslim countries to deal with Israel is through friendship and trade and not through religious emotionalism. Take a look at Europe for example. Germany fought WWII to conquer Europe and what was the result? Their own destruction. However, by working hard as capitalists and establishing free trade, they now own Europe. They have now accomplished through Capitalism what they were unable to accomplish through the forces of war.
We are now at another crossroads in the world. We still have leaders that do not understand the power of capitalism or how it works. They are still preaching the failed promises of Socialism-Marxism and ignoring the historical failures of this philosophy such as the Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Greece, and Cuba. The only conclusion you can come to is that they are blinded by their own stubborn stupidity. No system is perfect. And all systems of government will leave some people behind, but only Capitalism lets the people use their creative talents to the fullest, and that generates the greatest wealth for the greatest numbers.
Without Capitalism we would not have had Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, or Oprah Winfrey. We are now facing a critical election; one that will determine if we are to retain a Socialist-Marxist leaning President who thinks that we should all have equal amounts of “stuff,” and that the government should tell us what to eat and how to live our lives.
Or do we move forward and choose a new President that will remove the burdensome weight of this government from our backs, and let us live free creative lives according to our own abilities as the founding fathers of this country envisioned. There are always risks in life. None of us has a guarantee that we will even be alive tomorrow, but one thing is for sure, if we are not free to develop the talents that are given to us by God, then we will pay a price far greater than life itself.
This nation has the richest poor on the face of the Earth. We have the only poor people with big screen TVs, cell phones, cars, and air conditioned housing. We will always have the poor, and it is Capitalism that will keep them from living in mud huts like they do in other countries! The best way to redistribute wealth is with a paycheck, and not a welfare check. If you want tomatoes you have to grow healthy tomato plants. If you want jobs you must grow healthy corporations, and not a bloated overgrown government that is funded with borrowed money!
Normally we would see a bump in rates for hauling produce as the Fourth of 
July holiday approaches – when Independence Day falls on any day but Wednesday. This is not to say there will not be a increase in produce rates, but some observers are saying it may not be as high, or may not even occur this year for the holiday. Regardless, strong demand for refrigerated equipment will continue before and after the Fourth, and rates are expected to remain healthy in the coming weeks.
In Southeastern Arkansas, peak tomato shipments are continuing. While it has been an excellent growing season, triple digit temperatures have moved in. If the extreme heat continues the mid July conclusion to tomato shipments may happen even before that.
In Virginia, some are not aware the state ranks fourth nationally in tomato shipments, and 6th nationally in potato, apple and snap bean volume.
Moving to the Northwest, Washington state cherry shipments are in heavy volume. Loadings should continue until September and the state is on a course for record shipments.
In California, rates have had only minor fluctuations since early June. The Salinas Valley has lighter than usual volume with broccoli and cauliflower, plus lettuce shipments have been hampered as East Coast receivers took advantage of coastal shipping areas such as New Jersey, which started weeks earlier than normal. This put Eastern lettuce shipments on a collision coarse with West Coast lettuce shipments. Eastern receivers could save $7 to $8 per carton on lettuce, just on shipping costs, when they purchased eastern lettuce as opposed to that product from California.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $8500 to New York City
If you haul produce for the supermarket chain Safeway, you may have noticed 
fresh fruits and vegetable being hauled are loaded into your refrigerated trailer using reusable product containers (RPCs). The chain’s press release states it allows more product to be loaded into the trailer. It does not address the question of whether this adds more weight to the load, and if so, whether the truck is paid more for that additional weight (yeah, right!). Regardless RPCs are good for the envirnoment. Here’s the Safeway press release and you can decide for yourself.
**********
Safeway Inc. announced that it has transitioned to using reusable product containers rather than corrugated boxes to ship many types of produce from the farm fields, through the distribution channel and to final store destination. This transition eliminated the use of over 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes.
RPCs can be stacked higher and more densely than traditional boxes, allowing for more efficient shipping and requiring fewer trips to transport the same amount of product. This, in turn, decreases trucking emissions and traffic volume.
Safeway, which has introduced a broad range of successful sustainability practices across its operations, has used RPCs for decades on many of its consumer brand categories, including bread, milk and soda. The company began testing RPCs in its distribution system for fresh wet-pack produce — fruits and vegetables kept on ice until they reach the store — in early 2010.
Making the transition for produce was a more complicated process than for other products because, to make it effective and decrease cardboard usage, Safeway’s distributors and grower partners also had to commit to the switch. The transition continued throughout 2011.
Today, many types of produce travel from the field to the distributor to Safeway’s product distribution centers and to the final store location in RPCs. The company’s major supplier of RPCs, IFCO Systems, said that Safeway’s implementation of RPC usage to decrease waste was the fastest and most aggressive program rollout to date.
Safeway’s vice president of transportation, Tom Nartker, said that employing environmentally friendly methods of product distribution is part of Safeway’s overall commitment to sustainable business practices.
“This expansion into produce is a natural extension of best practices in logistics,” Mr. Nartker said in a press release. “Safeway will continue to look for opportunities to expand the usage of RPCs into additional categories to have an even greater positive environmental impact.”
The use of reusable, sustainable containers not only keeps non-recyclable shipping containers out of the supply chain, but it also has an even greater positive environmental impact.
According to Safeway, the positive environmental effects include eliminating the use of over 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes, avoiding the harvesting of approximately 114,000 trees and reduced emissions of 37,518 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the environment, equivalent to removing 6,872 passenger cars off the road.
While 90 percent of Michigan apple shipments for the upcoming season were 
lost to freeze, the state should have more loads of blueberries this summer, plus a near normal volume with vegetables. Blueberries should be up over 10 percent from last year (81 million pounds is forecast). However, cherry shipments are pegged at only 1 million pounds, down over 70 percent from a year ago.
Otherwise, volume with vegetables have been increasing during June and should hit peak shipments in July. Veggies, which avoided the freeze damage to apples, started in early June with radishes and turnips. Since then various types of leafy lettuces, zucchini, and cabbage have become available. There also are greens and cilantro. Warm weather is expected to bring on grape and roma tomatoes in mid-July, followed by sweet corn in early August, two weeks or more earlier than usual.
Refrigerated equipment is in tight supply in a number of areas around the 
country, but it could be much worse. Less than bumper sized crops in several areas is easing some of the pressure for trucks. California’s San Joaquin Valley stone fruit crop is down from a year ago. Central and southern Georgia fruits and vegetables were hit hard by inclement weather during the spring. Watermelons in Texas and some parts of the east coast were also victims of bad weather.
The new apple season will be launched in only a few weeks and crops were decimated in Michigan, Ontario and parts of New York state.
Thus, when folks complain about California rates hitting $6,000 to the Mid-west and $9,000 to the East Coast, with a little more favorable weather conditions in various parts of the USA and Canada, demand for refrigerated equipment could have been worse – resulting in even higher rates on produce hauls. Still, there comes a point when rates reach a certain point, that retail prices for fruits and vegetables rise, and at a certain there is consumer resistance to high the costs.
Whether talking availablity of equipment, volume of fruits and vegetables, as well as the quality of the product — and let’s not forget the availability of professional drivers – many factors can result in the final equasion for supply and demand….If and when this economy ever turns around, produce shipments will be receiving a lot more competition as many drivers will choose to haul other things, which is not as demanding and risky as loads of fresh produce.
Southern Californa citrus and fruit – grossing about $9000 to Boston, sometimes more.
Salinas Valley vegetables and berries – about $6200 to Chicago.
As California table grape shipments will soon be starting from the San Joaquin 
Valley, it is a good two-week swing from a year ago, when the vineyards were 10 to 14 days later than normal. This year, the product is being shipped a few days earlier than normal – and two weeks or more earlier than in 2011. Projections call for 101.6 million, 19-pound boxes of California grapes to be shipped, up 4.5 million cartons from a year ago.
Stone fruit shipments are coming out of the Southern San Joaquin Valley in light to moderate volume and will pick up in volume quickly as the harvest moves northward. The Bakersfield area is shipping potatoes and carrots.
California cherry shipments from the northern part of the valley are winding down, as Washington state will soon take center stage with loads of cherries.
There are still grapes from Mexico and California’s Coachella Valley being shipped in volume. Those areas will still be providing loads into mid July.
One word of caution. There are reports of some red grapes from Coachella having splits, cracks and being low in color. Make sure whoever is paying the freight is aware of this situation before you load — and of course check for quality yourself at the loading dock.
Demand for trucks remains heavy from the Salinas Valley as many vegetables are in peak production. There’s also good volume with strawberries from the nearby Watsonville district. The Santa Maria area has lighter, but consistent movement with vegetables.
San Joaquin Valley stone fruit and vegetables – grossing about $8300 to Baltimore.
Bakersfield area carrots and potatoes – about $6800 to Atlanta.
Looking for healthy food in your local supermarket produce department. 
Nuts are often cited for healthy reasons – and a new study on pistachios is favorable.
A Pennsylvania State University study published online this month in Hypertension, an American Heart Association Journal, reveals that including pistachios in a healthy diet may positively reduce the body’s response to the stresses of everyday life.
Adults with elevated cholesterol were enrolled in a randomized, controlled clinical trial comparing diets containing pistachios to a low fat diet. The results show that a healthy diet supplemented with pistachios helps decrease systolic blood pressure, peripheral vascular resistance and heart rate during acute stress. Cardiovascular responses were measured while participants engaged in a challenging mental arithmetic test and again as they immersed their foot in cold water.
The study conducted at Pennsylvania State University by Drs. Sheila G. West and Penny M. Kris-Etherton and colleagues examined how diets containing pistachios
(one-and-a-half and three ounces per day) versus a low-fat diet without pistachios, affect responses to stress on subjects with elevated LDL cholesterol, but normal blood pressure. This study is the first to show that including both salted and unsalted pistachios in a healthy diet helps reduce blood pressure and lessen the vascular load on the heart.
The people in the study were healthy, non-smoking men and women with elevated LDL cholesterol (commonly regarded as bad cholesterol) but normal blood pressure. All of the meals were provided and calorie levels were customized to maintain body weight. Pistachios were substituted for other foods in the diet to prevent weight gain. Participants followed three different diets – one low fat diet (25% fat ) without pistachios, and two with different levels of pistachios (approximately 1.5 oz or 10% of calories from pistachios and 3.0 oz or (20% of calories from pistachios). The pistachio diets contained higher amounts of potassium, healthy fats and protein. All diets were rich in fruit, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains, consistent with current food-based dietary recommendations. Participant demographics and the diet design have been published previously.2
“Daily events, such as work stress, a tight deadline, or public speaking can increase blood pressure, and we know that we can’t avoid all of the stressors in our lives. These results are significant because they show that physiological responses to stress are affected by the foods we eat,” stated Sheila West, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health and the study’s lead author. Dr. West continues, “These changes in blood pressure occurred even though self-reported mood, anxiety, and tension were not changed.”
The largest drop in blood pressure, – 4.8 mm Hg, was associated with eating about one-and-a-half ounces of pistachios a day versus a -1.8 mm Hg on the low-fat diet and, -2.4 mm Hg, three ounces of pistachios per day. The diet containing three ounces of pistachios resulted in a significant decrease in peripheral vascular resistance, a measure of artery stiffness and heart rate versus the control diet. Fifty percent of the pistachios were given salted as a snack and the other half were unsalted and incorporated into recipes. Interestingly, although high sodium intake is typically associated with high blood pressure, the largest drop in in blood pressure was not associated with the lowest sodium diet. Pistachios do provide potassium (8% Daily Value) and magnesium (8% Daily Value) which are important in maintaining a healthy blood pressure.
“In addition, these results are very exciting because they demonstrate further benefits of pistachios on another risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” added Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, and a lead researcher for the study. Dr. Kris-Etherton adds, “Our previous research suggests including pistachios in a healthy diet lowers LDL cholesterol in a dose-response fashion2 and increases antioxidants in the blood.”
“This research adds to the growing body of literature on the health benefits of pistachios,” added Constance J. Geiger, Ph.D., R.D. who serves as a nutrition research consultant with the American Pistachio Growers. Dr. Geiger continues, “Nuts, such as pistachios, are an important part of a healthy diet.”
For more information and to read the full study, go to hyper.ahajournals.org.1
About the Study
The research support was provided by the Western Pistachio Association, now known as the American Pistachio Growers, with partial support from the NIH-supported General Clinical Research Center at Pennsylvania State University. It was first reported on in 2007. It is relevant because lowering blood pressure may reduce the risk for stroke and heart disease.
Pistachios Pack Powerful Nutrition
In recent years the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognized that tree nuts, including pistachios, may help reduce the risk of heart disease when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Since then, the American Pistachio Growers have committed to learning more about the nutritional benefits of pistachios and the nuts’ impact on other health issues affecting Americans today.
Pistachio Facts
Pistachios are a naturally cholesterol-free and sodium-free snack that contains just 1.5 grams of saturated fat and 13 grams of fat per serving, the majority of which comes from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. A one-ounce serving of pistachios equals 49 nuts, which is more nuts per serving than any other snack nut. One serving has as much potassium (290mg, 8 percent) as an orange (250 mg, 7 percent) and 3 g of fiber making it a nutritious snack choice or ingredient to incorporate into daily diets.
About American Pistachio Growers
American Pistachio Growers (APG) is a voluntary trade association representing members who are pistachio growers, processors and industry partners in California, Arizona and New Mexico. These states represent 100% of the domestic commercial pistachio production. APG pistachios are the “Official Snack” of both USA men’s and women’s water polo teams and Miss California. For more information, visit http://www.AmericanPistachios.org.
___________________________________
¹West SG, Gebaurer SK, Kay CD, Bagshaw DM, Savastano DM, Diefenbach C, Kris-Etherton P. Diets Containing Pistachios Reduce Systolic Blood Pressure and Peripheral Vascular Responses to Stress in Adults with Dyslipidemia. Hypertension. 2012 Jun 4. [Epub ahead of print] doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.111.182147
2Gebauer SK, West SG, Kay CD, Alaupovic P, Bagshaw D, Kris-Etherton PM. “Effects of pistachios on cardiovascular disease risk factors and potential mechanisms of action: A dose-response study.” Amer J Clin Nutr. 2008;88:651–9.
3Kay CD, Gebauer SK, West SG, Kris-Etherton PM. “Pistachios increase serum antioxidants and lower serum oxidized-LDL in hypercholesterolemic adults.” J Nutr. 2010;140:1093-98.
Source: American Pistachio Growers
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Produce shipments on the East Coast are a mixed bag this year and some areas 
are shipping more normal volumes, with other areas doing less.
Shipments of New Jersey blueberries, along with vegetables continue to be loaded in normal volumes. Jersey peach loadings are ramping up and should be in peak volume soon, continuing through July.
Further south in the Mid-Altantic area, sometimes referred to as the Eastern Shore, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia are shipping a variety of vegetables, with more coming into play as we enter July. This area, however, has struggled over the years, as it tries to provide shipments during a gap between states to the south of it, and New Jersey to the north, which in theory is supposed to begin shipments when Delaware, Maryland and Virgina are finishing.
However, it’s a gamble every year and if the southern states are late coming in, or Jersey is early, the the Mid-Atlantic states tend to face poor markets, and fewer loading opportunities for produce haulers. As a result this area does not have as many shippers as it used to.
Meanwhile, there are fewer Georgia vegetables, Vidalia onions and peaches this year due to weather factors, although the vegetables were easily hit the hardest of the three.
Vidalia, Georgia onions – grossing about $3200 to New York City.
New Jersey blueberries – about $1800 to Boston.
By the United Fresh Produce Association
The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) will host a webinar on produce transportation best practices on Wednesday, July 18 at 11:00 am PT/2:00 pm ET. The session will give an overview of the best practices and delve into the roles and responsibilities of the shipper, carrier and receiver in facilitating a seamless, safe, and sustainable global supply-chain. Speakers include industry veterans with varied perspectives: Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management, United Fresh; Doug Stoiber, vice president, L&M Transportation Services, Inc.; Jim Gordon, operations manager, Ippolito Fruit & Produce LTD.; and Doug Nelson, special services manager, Blue Book Services, Inc. A question and answer period will follow the presentation and the session will be posted on the website as a resource.
“As summer quickly approaches, the webinar will be especially valuable to anyone involved in the movement of perishables and refrigerated cargo via truck,” said Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management for United Fresh. “It’s vital that the entire industry be on the same page when dealing with the movement of fresh fruits and vegetables. We need to ensure the cold chain remains intact and to prevent complications in the distribution and delivery of our fresh and wholesome products.”
Registration is complimentary to all interested parties. Register now!
This is the first in a series of educational webinars the NAPTWG will hold. For more information, please visit the NAPTWG website, or contact Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management, at 425-629-6271.
The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) is comprised of more than 25 national and regional produce industry associations, transportation service providers, grower/shippers and perishable receivers. In cooperation with United Fresh Produce Association, NAPTWG works to provide best practice resources to those involved in the fresh produce supply chain.
Vegetable shipments out of Ontario province are gearing up. Sweet corn gets underway the first half of July, quickly followed by bell peppers, zucchini, cabbage, beets and tomatoes.
Ontario’s apple shipments will be pretty much non existent this season due a devastating April freeze. Nearly half of the asparagus also was wiped out.
Some of the major vegetables shippers are located around Windham Centre, Scotland, Bradford and Oakland Ontario. Many shipments to the USA are to mid-western markets.
In Quebec province, apples were hit by the same storm that visited Ontario, but losses were not as severe. The province is now shipping vegetables ranging from celery, to cauliflower and broccoli.
While a majority of the shipments remain regional in Canadian, there are loads moving to New England and as far south as New York. The Canadian vegetables are made even more attractive to some Northeastern USA receivers because of the savings over freight rates from the West Coast
By Larry Oscar
A great American from Fritch, Texas once said, “You can’t fix stupid.” Perhaps that has never been more true than in today’s global political arena. It’s hard to imagine more glaring examples of stupidity than we have witnessed in government leaders over the past few years. It was Forest Gump’s mother that said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
That too has been duly noted in the actions of such leaders as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. The stupidity of Saddam was astounding. He would still be alive and the leader in Iraq if he had just let the UN inspectors back into his country, thrown them a party, and let them inspect and visit anything in the country their heart desired. In fact, he should have invited George Bush and Bill Clinton over for a bunga-bunga party. Instead he had to act tough and thumb his nose at the world. The result was he ended up swinging from a rope Texas style.
Now we have that little runt with a huge nose from Iran threatening to “Wipe Israel off of the face of the Earth.” And at the same time celebrating his country’s march toward nuclear technology that will ultimately end in nuclear weapons. What a complete fool. What would you do if your neighbor down the street threatened to “wipe you off of the face of the Earth,” and then proceeded to build a bomb in his garage. Would you wait until his bomb was complete before taking action? Would you sit idly by like the Jews did in World War II and just let him exterminate you? Or would you learn from history and defend yourself while you still had the power to do so?
It’s hard to imagine what goes through these bozo’s little minds. There are many roads to Rome. And if you want to accomplish things in life you need to study the roads toward your goal with some thought and circumstance. Emotions will be your worst enemy. The emotional route will almost certainly be the most costly for you. For example, the best way for the Muslim countries to deal with Israel is through friendship and trade and not through religious emotionalism. Take a look at Europe for example. Germany fought WWII to conquer Europe and what was the result? Their own destruction. However, by working hard as capitalists and establishing free trade, they now own Europe. They have now accomplished through Capitalism what they were unable to accomplish through the forces of war.
We are now at another crossroads in the world. We still have leaders that do not understand the power of capitalism or how it works. They are still preaching the failed promises of Socialism-Marxism and ignoring the historical failures of this philosophy such as the Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Greece, and Cuba. The only conclusion you can come to is that they are blinded by their own stubborn stupidity. No system is perfect. And all systems of government will leave some people behind, but only Capitalism lets the people use their creative talents to the fullest, and that generates the greatest wealth for the greatest numbers.
Without Capitalism we would not have had Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, or Oprah Winfrey. We are now facing a critical election; one that will determine if we are to retain a Socialist-Marxist leaning President who thinks that we should all have equal amounts of “stuff,” and that the government should tell us what to eat and how to live our lives.
Or do we move forward and choose a new President that will remove the burdensome weight of this government from our backs, and let us live free creative lives according to our own abilities as the founding fathers of this country envisioned. There are always risks in life. None of us has a guarantee that we will even be alive tomorrow, but one thing is for sure, if we are not free to develop the talents that are given to us by God, then we will pay a price far greater than life itself.
This nation has the richest poor on the face of the Earth. We have the only poor people with big screen TVs, cell phones, cars, and air conditioned housing. We will always have the poor, and it is Capitalism that will keep them from living in mud huts like they do in other countries! The best way to redistribute wealth is with a paycheck, and not a welfare check. If you want tomatoes you have to grow healthy tomato plants. If you want jobs you must grow healthy corporations, and not a bloated overgrown government that is funded with borrowed money!
Normally we would see a bump in rates for hauling produce as the Fourth of July holiday approaches – when Independence Day falls on any day but Wednesday. This is not to say there will not be a increase in produce rates, but some observers are saying it may not be as high, or may not even occur this year for the holiday. Regardless, strong demand for refrigerated equipment will continue before and after the Fourth, and rates are expected to remain healthy in the coming weeks.
In Southeastern Arkansas, peak tomato shipments are continuing. While it has been an excellent growing season, triple digit temperatures have moved in. If the extreme heat continues the mid July conclusion to tomato shipments may happen even before that.
In Virginia, some are not aware the state ranks fourth nationally in tomato shipments, and 6th nationally in potato, apple and snap bean volume.
Moving to the Northwest, Washington state cherry shipments are in heavy volume. Loadings should continue until September and the state is on a course for record shipments.
In California, rates have had only minor fluctuations since early June. The Salinas Valley has lighter than usual volume with broccoli and cauliflower, plus lettuce shipments have been hampered as East Coast receivers took advantage of coastal shipping areas such as New Jersey, which started weeks earlier than normal. This put Eastern lettuce shipments on a collision coarse with West Coast lettuce shipments. Eastern receivers could save $7 to $8 per carton on lettuce, just on shipping costs, when they purchased eastern lettuce as opposed to that product from California.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $8500 to New York City
If you haul produce for the supermarket chain Safeway, you may have noticed fresh fruits and vegetable being hauled are loaded into your refrigerated trailer using reusable product containers (RPCs). The chain’s press release states it allows more product to be loaded into the trailer. It does not address the question of whether this adds more weight to the load, and if so, whether the truck is paid more for that additional weight (yeah, right!). Regardless RPCs are good for the envirnoment. Here’s the Safeway press release and you can decide for yourself.
**********
Safeway Inc. announced that it has transitioned to using reusable product containers rather than corrugated boxes to ship many types of produce from the farm fields, through the distribution channel and to final store destination. This transition eliminated the use of over 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes.
RPCs can be stacked higher and more densely than traditional boxes, allowing for more efficient shipping and requiring fewer trips to transport the same amount of product. This, in turn, decreases trucking emissions and traffic volume.
Safeway, which has introduced a broad range of successful sustainability practices across its operations, has used RPCs for decades on many of its consumer brand categories, including bread, milk and soda. The company began testing RPCs in its distribution system for fresh wet-pack produce — fruits and vegetables kept on ice until they reach the store — in early 2010.
Making the transition for produce was a more complicated process than for other products because, to make it effective and decrease cardboard usage, Safeway’s distributors and grower partners also had to commit to the switch. The transition continued throughout 2011.
Today, many types of produce travel from the field to the distributor to Safeway’s product distribution centers and to the final store location in RPCs. The company’s major supplier of RPCs, IFCO Systems, said that Safeway’s implementation of RPC usage to decrease waste was the fastest and most aggressive program rollout to date.
Safeway’s vice president of transportation, Tom Nartker, said that employing environmentally friendly methods of product distribution is part of Safeway’s overall commitment to sustainable business practices.
“This expansion into produce is a natural extension of best practices in logistics,” Mr. Nartker said in a press release. “Safeway will continue to look for opportunities to expand the usage of RPCs into additional categories to have an even greater positive environmental impact.”
The use of reusable, sustainable containers not only keeps non-recyclable shipping containers out of the supply chain, but it also has an even greater positive environmental impact.
According to Safeway, the positive environmental effects include eliminating the use of over 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes, avoiding the harvesting of approximately 114,000 trees and reduced emissions of 37,518 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the environment, equivalent to removing 6,872 passenger cars off the road.
While 90 percent of Michigan apple shipments for the upcoming season were lost to freeze, the state should have more loads of blueberries this summer, plus a near normal volume with vegetables. Blueberries should be up over 10 percent from last year (81 million pounds is forecast). However, cherry shipments are pegged at only 1 million pounds, down over 70 percent from a year ago.
Otherwise, volume with vegetables have been increasing during June and should hit peak shipments in July. Veggies, which avoided the freeze damage to apples, started in early June with radishes and turnips. Since then various types of leafy lettuces, zucchini, and cabbage have become available. There also are greens and cilantro. Warm weather is expected to bring on grape and roma tomatoes in mid-July, followed by sweet corn in early August, two weeks or more earlier than usual.
Refrigerated equipment is in tight supply in a number of areas around the country, but it could be much worse. Less than bumper sized crops in several areas is easing some of the pressure for trucks. California’s San Joaquin Valley stone fruit crop is down from a year ago. Central and southern Georgia fruits and vegetables were hit hard by inclement weather during the spring. Watermelons in Texas and some parts of the east coast were also victims of bad weather.
The new apple season will be launched in only a few weeks and crops were decimated in Michigan, Ontario and parts of New York state.
Thus, when folks complain about California rates hitting $6,000 to the Mid-west and $9,000 to the East Coast, with a little more favorable weather conditions in various parts of the USA and Canada, demand for refrigerated equipment could have been worse – resulting in even higher rates on produce hauls. Still, there comes a point when rates reach a certain point, that retail prices for fruits and vegetables rise, and at a certain there is consumer resistance to high the costs.
Whether talking availablity of equipment, volume of fruits and vegetables, as well as the quality of the product — and let’s not forget the availability of professional drivers – many factors can result in the final equasion for supply and demand….If and when this economy ever turns around, produce shipments will be receiving a lot more competition as many drivers will choose to haul other things, which is not as demanding and risky as loads of fresh produce.
Southern Californa citrus and fruit – grossing about $9000 to Boston, sometimes more.
Salinas Valley vegetables and berries – about $6200 to Chicago.
As California table grape shipments will soon be starting from the San Joaquin 
Valley, it is a good two-week swing from a year ago, when the vineyards were 10 to 14 days later than normal. This year, the product is being shipped a few days earlier than normal – and two weeks or more earlier than in 2011. Projections call for 101.6 million, 19-pound boxes of California grapes to be shipped, up 4.5 million cartons from a year ago.
Stone fruit shipments are coming out of the Southern San Joaquin Valley in light to moderate volume and will pick up in volume quickly as the harvest moves northward. The Bakersfield area is shipping potatoes and carrots.
California cherry shipments from the northern part of the valley are winding down, as Washington state will soon take center stage with loads of cherries.
There are still grapes from Mexico and California’s Coachella Valley being shipped in volume. Those areas will still be providing loads into mid July.
One word of caution. There are reports of some red grapes from Coachella having splits, cracks and being low in color. Make sure whoever is paying the freight is aware of this situation before you load — and of course check for quality yourself at the loading dock.
Demand for trucks remains heavy from the Salinas Valley as many vegetables are in peak production. There’s also good volume with strawberries from the nearby Watsonville district. The Santa Maria area has lighter, but consistent movement with vegetables.
San Joaquin Valley stone fruit and vegetables – grossing about $8300 to Baltimore.
Bakersfield area carrots and potatoes – about $6800 to Atlanta.
Looking for healthy food in your local supermarket produce department. Nuts are often cited for healthy reasons – and a new study on pistachios is favorable.
A Pennsylvania State University study published online this month in Hypertension, an American Heart Association Journal, reveals that including pistachios in a healthy diet may positively reduce the body’s response to the stresses of everyday life.
Adults with elevated cholesterol were enrolled in a randomized, controlled clinical trial comparing diets containing pistachios to a low fat diet. The results show that a healthy diet supplemented with pistachios helps decrease systolic blood pressure, peripheral vascular resistance and heart rate during acute stress. Cardiovascular responses were measured while participants engaged in a challenging mental arithmetic test and again as they immersed their foot in cold water.
The study conducted at Pennsylvania State University by Drs. Sheila G. West and Penny M. Kris-Etherton and colleagues examined how diets containing pistachios
(one-and-a-half and three ounces per day) versus a low-fat diet without pistachios, affect responses to stress on subjects with elevated LDL cholesterol, but normal blood pressure. This study is the first to show that including both salted and unsalted pistachios in a healthy diet helps reduce blood pressure and lessen the vascular load on the heart.
The people in the study were healthy, non-smoking men and women with elevated LDL cholesterol (commonly regarded as bad cholesterol) but normal blood pressure. All of the meals were provided and calorie levels were customized to maintain body weight. Pistachios were substituted for other foods in the diet to prevent weight gain. Participants followed three different diets – one low fat diet (25% fat ) without pistachios, and two with different levels of pistachios (approximately 1.5 oz or 10% of calories from pistachios and 3.0 oz or (20% of calories from pistachios). The pistachio diets contained higher amounts of potassium, healthy fats and protein. All diets were rich in fruit, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains, consistent with current food-based dietary recommendations. Participant demographics and the diet design have been published previously.2
“Daily events, such as work stress, a tight deadline, or public speaking can increase blood pressure, and we know that we can’t avoid all of the stressors in our lives. These results are significant because they show that physiological responses to stress are affected by the foods we eat,” stated Sheila West, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health and the study’s lead author. Dr. West continues, “These changes in blood pressure occurred even though self-reported mood, anxiety, and tension were not changed.”
The largest drop in blood pressure, – 4.8 mm Hg, was associated with eating about one-and-a-half ounces of pistachios a day versus a -1.8 mm Hg on the low-fat diet and, -2.4 mm Hg, three ounces of pistachios per day. The diet containing three ounces of pistachios resulted in a significant decrease in peripheral vascular resistance, a measure of artery stiffness and heart rate versus the control diet. Fifty percent of the pistachios were given salted as a snack and the other half were unsalted and incorporated into recipes. Interestingly, although high sodium intake is typically associated with high blood pressure, the largest drop in in blood pressure was not associated with the lowest sodium diet. Pistachios do provide potassium (8% Daily Value) and magnesium (8% Daily Value) which are important in maintaining a healthy blood pressure.
“In addition, these results are very exciting because they demonstrate further benefits of pistachios on another risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” added Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, and a lead researcher for the study. Dr. Kris-Etherton adds, “Our previous research suggests including pistachios in a healthy diet lowers LDL cholesterol in a dose-response fashion2 and increases antioxidants in the blood.”
“This research adds to the growing body of literature on the health benefits of pistachios,” added Constance J. Geiger, Ph.D., R.D. who serves as a nutrition research consultant with the American Pistachio Growers. Dr. Geiger continues, “Nuts, such as pistachios, are an important part of a healthy diet.”
For more information and to read the full study, go to hyper.ahajournals.org.1
About the Study
The research support was provided by the Western Pistachio Association, now known as the American Pistachio Growers, with partial support from the NIH-supported General Clinical Research Center at Pennsylvania State University. It was first reported on in 2007. It is relevant because lowering blood pressure may reduce the risk for stroke and heart disease.
Pistachios Pack Powerful Nutrition
In recent years the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognized that tree nuts, including pistachios, may help reduce the risk of heart disease when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Since then, the American Pistachio Growers have committed to learning more about the nutritional benefits of pistachios and the nuts’ impact on other health issues affecting Americans today.
Pistachio Facts
Pistachios are a naturally cholesterol-free and sodium-free snack that contains just 1.5 grams of saturated fat and 13 grams of fat per serving, the majority of which comes from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. A one-ounce serving of pistachios equals 49 nuts, which is more nuts per serving than any other snack nut. One serving has as much potassium (290mg, 8 percent) as an orange (250 mg, 7 percent) and 3 g of fiber making it a nutritious snack choice or ingredient to incorporate into daily diets.
About American Pistachio Growers
American Pistachio Growers (APG) is a voluntary trade association representing members who are pistachio growers, processors and industry partners in California, Arizona and New Mexico. These states represent 100% of the domestic commercial pistachio production. APG pistachios are the “Official Snack” of both USA men’s and women’s water polo teams and Miss California. For more information, visit http://www.AmericanPistachios.org.
___________________________________
¹West SG, Gebaurer SK, Kay CD, Bagshaw DM, Savastano DM, Diefenbach C, Kris-Etherton P. Diets Containing Pistachios Reduce Systolic Blood Pressure and Peripheral Vascular Responses to Stress in Adults with Dyslipidemia. Hypertension. 2012 Jun 4. [Epub ahead of print] doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.111.182147
2Gebauer SK, West SG, Kay CD, Alaupovic P, Bagshaw D, Kris-Etherton PM. “Effects of pistachios on cardiovascular disease risk factors and potential mechanisms of action: A dose-response study.” Amer J Clin Nutr. 2008;88:651–9.
3Kay CD, Gebauer SK, West SG, Kris-Etherton PM. “Pistachios increase serum antioxidants and lower serum oxidized-LDL in hypercholesterolemic adults.” J Nutr. 2010;140:1093-98.
Source: American Pistachio Growers
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Produce shipments on the East Coast are a mixed bag this year and some areas are shipping more normal volumes, with other areas doing less.
Shipments of New Jersey blueberries, along with vegetables continue to be loaded in normal volumes. Jersey peach loadings are ramping up and should be in peak volume soon, continuing through July.
Further south in the Mid-Altantic area, sometimes referred to as the Eastern Shore, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia are shipping a variety of vegetables, with more coming into play as we enter July. This area, however, has struggled over the years, as it tries to provide shipments during a gap between states to the south of it, and New Jersey to the north, which in theory is supposed to begin shipments when Delaware, Maryland and Virgina are finishing.
However, it’s a gamble every year and if the southern states are late coming in, or Jersey is early, the the Mid-Atlantic states tend to face poor markets, and fewer loading opportunities for produce haulers. As a result this area does not have as many shippers as it used to.
Meanwhile, there are fewer Georgia vegetables, Vidalia onions and peaches this year due to weather factors, although the vegetables were easily hit the hardest of the three.
Vidalia, Georgia onions – grossing about $3200 to New York City.
New Jersey blueberries – about $1800 to Boston.