ELTOPIA, Wash.–From the first spears poking up, to picking and packing, Washington State’s 2023 asparagus season is underway. Consumers can expect the harvest in stores starting this week, carrying into mid-to late-June.
Last year brought a shorter season of approximately 15 million pounds of Washington asparagus, with an economic impact of $27 million. These numbers reflect a tougher year that saw continued pressure from imports, a delayed harvest start, an unusually cool growing season, and increased domestic labor costs. Looking to the 2023 season, however, industry experts remain positive.
“Our growers are optimistic and off to a strong start. The organic asparagus production continues to tick up, currently at about eight percent, and newer asparagus varieties are naturally more resistant to soil disease,” said Washington Asparagus Commission Executive Director Alan Schreiber.
The local asparagus industry faces competition from year-round imports, especially from Peru and Mexico.
Washington fresh asparagus exceeds USDA U.S. Number One standards with Extra Fancy-designated stalks, evident in more tightly and evenly packed bundles. Washington asparagus also means a far smaller carbon footprint with quicker farm-to-market transit times, and more freshness, flavor, juiciness and quality over imported counterparts.
Asparagus also packs in the nutrients. It naturally contains a built-in detoxifier, an amino acid called aspargine, vitamins A, C, K, E, folate, fiber, and glutathione (an anti-carcinogen and antioxidant). It can aid in protection from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease and is fat-free and cholesterol-free.
When shopping, choose odorless, green (or purple) firm asparagus stalks with dry, compact or barely-opened tips. Wrap the bases of the stalks in a wet paper towel, placed inside a plastic bag, then refrigerate. Before eating, rinse the spears under cool water and snap off or cut the lighter stalk base. Find tips and recipes at waasparagus.com/recipes.
Washington Asparagus Commission – Established in 1991, The Washington Asparagus Commission promotes Washington asparagus domestically, monitors and addresses trade issues, and advances environmentally sound production practices through research. The Washington Asparagus Commission represents the growers’ interest in areas and issues relating to the asparagus industry. Learn more waasparagus.com.
The Biden administration recently allowed California to have the legal authority to require half of all heavy duty trucks sold in the state to be electric by 2035.
The rule would apply to tractor trailers, garbage trucks, cement mixers and other heavy commercial vehicles. It comes soon after California passed regulations requiring all passenger vehicles sold there to be electric by the same timeline.
It’s all part of an effort by California to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
According to The New York Times, the legal waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency allows California to step ahead of new federal standards on climate warming truck pollution, which the Biden administration plans to release later this year. In December, the EPA announced a federal rule to cut nitrogen oxide from heavy vehicles, the first time in two decades that it has tightened tailpipe emissions from trucks.
“This is a moment to mark because it’s a preview of the order of magnitude of the change in the industry,” Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, said in an interview with The Times. “There’s a power in these waivers and that power is emulation. We adopt through these waivers the principles and policies that lead to innovation and investment.”
Right now, less than 2 percent of all heavy trucks sold in the U.S. are electric, so the new rule will put stress on the transportation industry if it remains in place.
“A lot of the California truck rules that have been adopted and enacted recently are starting to push truck drivers out of the state,” said Jay Grimes, director of federal affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents truckers, in The Times story. “Drivers don’t want to work in California anymore. They’re skeptical of the rapid timeline on this transition to electric trucks. Can a trucker get a charge that will take them on a highway for two or three days? Is the technology ready for prime time?”
The Times reports that a legal fight is already underway against the rule.
“Republican attorneys general from 17 states are challenging California’s ability to enact state pollution standards that are tougher than federal standards,” the Times writes. “That case, Ohio vs. EPA, is set to be heard in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in May. Regardless of the decision in that case, it is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.”
Heavy volumes with avocados are being predicted for the U.S. market this summer.
Mexican avocados shipments are forecast to be big through May when Peru will start to ship some of its fruit. At this time both countries will be joined by the California crop, providing a strong supply of the fruit all throughout summer.
Peru has been experiencing rapid growth in volumes being exported to the U.S., and should peak around June.
USDA statistics show in 2022, 269.65 million pounds of avocados from Peru were shipped to the U.S. The Peruvian Association of Hass Avocado Producers reports in 2023, Peru expects to increase this volume further by 13%.
McDaniel & Chirico Worldwide of Fallbrook, CA reports Mexico and Peru have very large crops, which will compete with the California avocado starting later this year due to the heavy rains.
Mexico continues to expand its avocado production with Jalisco now becoming a new producing region of exported avocados to the U.S.
According to the Association of Avocado Producers of Jalisco, they expect to export, by July 2023, between 80,000 to 100,000 tons of Jalisco avocados to the U.S.
A very rainy winter in California has been especially good for California growers this year.
McDaniel & Chirico Worldwide notes it costs a lot of money to irrigate avocados, but growers’ costs for water were greatly reduced this year because of all the rainfall. Also, high amounts of rain help the trees leach out the salt from the soil and roots, which keeps trees healthier.
These factors have taken the pressure off of growers to pick fruit quickly to pay for their water costs. This means that they are able to hang the fruit for longer, allowing it to size up, which is why the season will start later, as there is no hurry to harvest avocados at this point of the year.
McDaniel & Chirico report they were already 30 million pounds into the crop at this point last season, and this year they are only at around five million.
The California crop will likely run until August this year.
We’ve all felt the urge to buy a nice juicy fruit for healthy snacking when browsing through supermarket aisles or food stands. However, impulse buys can often lead to a lot of wasted produce.
Methods such as drying and pickling are among the most used by consumers to try to extend shelf life. However, if you want to consume them fresh and uncooked, picking good quality, unbruised fruit and storing them correctly are key.
Here are some tips and tricks to keep your fruit fresh to enjoy for longer.
Bananas
When stocking up on these potassium-charged fruit, storing them correctly is crucial.
Produce behemoth Dole advises to keep them refrigerated at around 53°F (12°C) to avoid browning.
Always make sure your bananas are already ripe before putting them in, as cold temperatures will keep them from maturing.
During colder months, they can be stored in a cupboard to keep them out of the light
Strawberries & blueberries
To make strawberries last for up to two weeks, Berries.com says to put them in a mixture of 1 ½ cups of water and ¼ cup of vinegar for about five minutes.
Then, rinse them with cold water and pat dry. Add a paper towel to your container before putting your strawberries in to keep them even fresher.
For blueberries, freezing them is the best way to go. Simply wash and dry them, and put them in an air-tigh container to avoid freezer burn, which will affect the flavor.
Grapes
To make sure your grapes last for up to three weeks, fruit genetics company Sun World advises first removing any shriveled ones. Make sure to check for any signs of mold or poor stem attachment and get rid of those first before storing them in the fridge.
Avoid washing them before putting them in cold storage and keep the original bag, as the packaging usually has good ventilation and coverage for them.
Temperatures of around 39°F (4°C) work best to preserve grapes for longer.
Apples
While apples can easily last up to three weeks in the pantry, putting them in the refrigerator can extend their shelf life to up to six weeks.
To make them last even longer, you can use a syrup to store them in slices, although this works better for uncooked desserts.
The University of Illinois recommends a mixture of 2-2 ½ cups of sugar, 4 cups of water and half a teaspoon of ascorbic acid to help preserve three pounds of apples with this method.
Watermelon
An undisputed summer staple, watermelons can last up to 10 days while uncut.
Once it’s been cut, you can freeze it in cubes using a zipper bag or similar to avoid freezer burn.
Make sure your watermelon has been left at room temperature until it’s ripe before trying this method, Watermelon.org warns.
Oranges
Wether is to make an energizing breakfast beverage or to enjoy in slices, the University of California recommends to store them at 38° to 48°F (3° to 9°C) to preserve them for up to eight weeks.
When picking them at a store, the publication recommends going for firm, heavy for their size with fine-textured skin oranges and with no bruises.
Naturipe Farms is kicking off the blueberry season from its Southeast growing region.
The company began shipping “blues” from Florida in mid-April and is transitioning to Georgia.
Following two years of unfavorable weather events like hurricanes and frost, Naturipe is reporting good volumes of high-quality blueberries for Florida and Georgia of conventional and organic fruit.
Naturipe has a year-round availability of its conventional and organic blueberries through its Globally Local program. The company is among the first to market with Florida blueberries, fulfilling East Coast needs and allowing for a smooth transition from Chile to Florida to Georgia.
Little Bear Produce of Edinburg, TX reports hot south Texas weather – which already had been in the 90s and even reached triple digits – has been good for melon vines. The company is just starting to ship watermelons, honeydew, and specialty melons. The season will last until around mid-June.
Little Bear started shipping sweet Texas 1015 onions in early March as well as Honeysweet onions. The season has been good, with good markets, yields and quality. The firm’s Texas onions loadings are now winding down, with the focus now shifting to Georgia’s Vidalia onions.
While early spring heat has been good for Little Bear’s melon crops, it has taken a toll on the company’s greens and vegetable crops. This harvest started last November and is now coming to an end.
Q&A Interview with Kyle Reinhard, Transportation Manager. The Peach Truck
While preparing for the upcoming season, I reached out to Kyle Reinhard, Transportation Manager at The Peach Truck, for his perspective on the market and their unique business model.
They operate over 60 booths across Nashville, TN, and run a 25-state tour of pop-up markets, plus a mail order delivery service to get you the tastiest peaches you’ll ever have drip down your chin. The peaches are picked in the morning, processed and packed in the early afternoon, and on a truck by early evening. For the past five years, we’ve managed the truckloads from the farm to a designated cross dock location. The pallets are immediately transferred to a branded ‘show truck’ and sent to the pop-up sales locations. We asked Kyle to dig into The Peach Truck’s promise of delivering fresh-picked peaches direct to the consumer.
What are the biggest challenges to this system?
The unknown – from forecasting sales projections to the natural unpredictability that is fresh produce harvest. Building out what our season will look like with so many unknown variables presents a wide range of potential scenarios, and that can certainly be challenging. Our biggest hurdle will potentially be something that is totally out of our control – supply.
When looking for a logistics partner, what are your top three requirements?
1. Price – Cheap doesn’t necessarily equate to good. And, on the contrary, neither does expensive. Ideally, finding that happy medium is where you want to be when identifying quality transportation partners.
2. Performance – How a carrier provider consistently performs is a good indicator of the overall health of their operation. How they react to and resolve these inevitable incidents, then work to prepare themselves to avoid any such incidents moving forward, really shows me how dedicated they are to their performance.
3. Communication – Consistent and reliable communication is key. When it’s really running well, it can be a beautiful thing to witness and partake in – all parties working towards a common, mutually beneficial goal.
ALC’s team is proud to be a dedicated extension of The Peach Truck. The Peach Truck prides itself on delivering high-quality peaches to the customer, and ALC strives to provide the same, quality service to their customers. The key to our success is our partnership with the customer- including carriers as a customer. While we cannot control Mother Nature and how the crops yield, we can ensure that the peaches are delivered fresh and on time. Communication, flexibility, and assessing customers needs keeps it “fresh”, and keeps the relationship growing.
Sarah Stone graduated from Appalachian State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Marketing). She started working at the Allen Lund Company in December 2010 after several years in the international air and ocean freight industry. sarah.stone@allenlund.com
Refrigerated spot truckload rates dropped to a two-and-half-year low in March, according to DAT Freight & Analytics of Beaverton, OR.
While the DAT Truckload Volume Index increased for all three equipment types (van, flatbed and refrigerated) for the first time since July 2022, national average spot van and refrigerated (“reefer”) rates plunged to in March, DAT Freight & Analytics reported in a news release.
According to the report, the refrigerated truckload volume index climbed 8% higher than in February. Despite higher freight volumes, low rates in March capped a challenging first quarter of 2023 for most truckload carriers and freight brokers, according to the release.
“While shippers are taking advantage of the current situation to stabilize their carrier base and bring their contract rates back in line, the spread between spot and contract rates was historically large—59 cents a mile for van freight, 57 cents for reefers and 66 cents for flatbed freight,” Ken Adamo, DAT chief of analytics, said in the release. “We expect spot rates to remain at ‘touch-bottom’ levels until retailers start replenishing inventory for the end-of-the-year holidays.”
The report said national average spot van and reefer rates fell to their lowest points since July 2020.
The spot reefer rate fell 9 cents to $2.50 a mile, the release said. That’s 95 cents less than in March 2022. Meanwhile, DAT reported the contract rate averaged $3.07 a mile, a 9-cent decline month over month.
Load-to-truck ratios reflect supply and demand on the spot market and the pricing environment for truckload freight, and DAT reported that the statistic showed demand softened for refrigerated trucks compared with a year ago.
The national average load-to-truck ratio for refrigerated trucks averaged 3.0, meaning there were three loads for every van posted to the DAT One marketplace. That compares with 3.8 in February and 8.4 in March 2022, the release said.
The national average price of on-highway diesel in March was down 11 cents compared to February, the release said. Surcharge amounts fell by 4 cents to 49 cents a mile for van freight, 54 cents for reefers and 59 cents for flatbeds.
A shopper surveys the produce at Pacifica Farmers Market in Pacifica, Calif., in 2011.
A Mediterranean diet, rich in plant-based foods and seafood, may reduce the risk of dementia by 0.55%, according to a study from the UK Biobank published in the journal BMC Medicine.
The research, which tracked 60,298 people for more than nine years between the ages of 40 and 69 years, showed that people who stuck close to this diet had up to 23% lower risk of developing dementia than those who did not.
Dementia is a group of conditions characterized by impairment of at least two brain functions, such as memory loss and judgment.
Symptoms include forgetfulness, limited social skills, and thinking abilities impaired to the point that it interferes with daily functioning.
The Mediterranean diet consists mainly of fruits and vegetables for every meal, as well as whole grains, beans, and seeds, along with a few nuts.
This is the type of food that experts have been recommending for a long time as the healthiest diet. A balanced diet helps reduce the risk of cognitive decline, as well as diabetes and helps the heart.
Research has consistently shown that the Mediterranean diet is effective in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and overall mortality.
According to information published by Harvard University, research supports the use of the Mediterranean diet as a healthy eating pattern for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, increasing lifespan, and healthy aging. When used in conjunction with caloric restriction, the diet may also support healthy weight loss.
No matter how you look at it, 2022-23 is a down year for the U.S. fresh apple shipments.
The USAppleTracker report, released on April 10 by USApple, indicates the total fresh crop and current product remaining in storage is down from the five-year average and recent years. U.S. fresh apple exports are also substantially off. U.S. fresh apple imports, which are always a relatively small industry factor, are also down.
As of April 2023, U.S. fresh apples in storage stood at 50.2 million 42-pound bushels. This is down from 53.3 million in April 2022, and down from the five-year average, which is 54.4 million bushels for April. The five-year average for total seasonal movement before April is 67.3 million bushels. For the 2022-23 season, 52.3 million bushels have been shipped from holdings.
Processed apple holdings for this season are slightly down. As of April 2023, 21.1 million bushels were in storage. The five-year average as of April 2023 is 22.5 million bushels.
Monthly U.S. fresh apple export volumes have all been well below the five-year average. Except for matching the three million bushels exported in December of 2022 and 2021, export volumes for 2022-23 have slightly trailed the previous year, which was also a down year for volumes.
Since July 2022, U.S. fresh apple exports have ranged between about 1.8 million and the three million bushels exported in December.
In July 2022, the U.S. imported about 1 million bushels of fresh apples. There is a rapid monthly decline in import volumes, with very little apple import volume indicated from November through February.
To date for this season, total fresh apple exports are about 14 million bushels. Total imports are about two million bushels. Both these numbers are the lowest of the last five years.
As of April 2023, controlled atmosphere (CA) storage dominated storage techniques, with national fresh holdings in CA totaling 40.3 million bushels. Washington State apples accounted for 34.2 million CA apples. Refrigerated storage in April only totaled 9.9 million bushels.
