A big part of the U.S. onion shipments originate from Idaho and Oregon.
Idaho harvest onion acreage in 2021 was reported at 10,900 acres, the same as 2020 but up from 8,400 acres in 2018.
Oregon’s harvested onion acreage in 2021 was reported at 21,800 acres by the USDA, up 7% from 20,300 acres in 2020 and up 13% from 19,300 acres in 2018.
In 2021, Idaho onions accounted for 15% of all U.S. onion shipments reported by the USDA, while Oregon commanded a 13% share of all U.S. shipments.
Idaho onion shipments were reported in all months during 2021, but the heaviest shipments were reported from September through April.
Domestic truck shipments of Idaho onions totaled 11.24 million 50-pound bag equivalents in 2021, with export truck shipments reported at 478,000 bags.
Idaho’a piggyback onion shipments were reported at 4,000 50-pound bags, while rail shipments of Idaho onions totaled 1.98 million 50-pound bags.
Oregon’s domestic truck shipments of onions totaled 9 million bags in 2021, while export truck shipments of Oregon onions were reported at 904,000 bags. As with Idaho, Oregon onion suppliers shipped during every month of 2021, with the heaviest volume from September through April.
Oregon’s piggyback shipments of onions in 2021 totaled 70,000 bags, while rail shipments of Oregon onions tallied 1.87 million bags, according to the USDA.
U.S. cranberry shipments are forecast to be 8.3 million (100-pound) barrels, up 4% from a year ago, according to The U.S. Cranberry Marketing Committee.
The U.S. Cranberry Marketing Committee, reports the majority of the cranberry crop is processed for juice concentrate and sweetened dried cranberries although the fresh and frozen category is growing.
“Cranberries have a very small window when fresh cranberries are available because they are so perishable. The fruit is harvested within a six-to-eight-week timeframe in September and October, depending on weather and fruit maturity.
Cranberries also are a unique product since it is only grown in the northern part of the U.S., unlike other specialty crops.
The 2022 crop experienced a variety of adverse weather across the country, beginning at the bloom stage in the Northwest and continuing with the extreme drought in the Northeast.
In addition, the upper Midwest experienced hail and other major weather events.
This is significant since Wisconsin produces the majority of cranberries in the U.S.
Shipments of fresh product are expected well into December, while whole frozen cranberries are typically available all year.
The increasing demand for fresh, frozen and sweetened dried cranberries has been notable in the past five years, in part to growing exports.
Wisconsin is the biggest cranberry-producing state, statistics show. In 2021, Wisconsin is projected to produce 5.2 million barrels of cranberries or about 63% of U.S. output.
The Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association, says the expanded crop in Wisconsin and the U.S. should have good demand, considering lighter harvests in 2020 and 2021.
Cranberries are grown on 21,000 acres across 20 counties in Wisconsin, according to the association. The sand and peat marshes in central and northern Wisconsin create ideal growing conditions for cranberries.
During the early 1890s, the center of the Wisconsin cranberry industry shifted to the Cranmoor area, just west of Wisconsin Rapids. Later developments occurred in the Black River Falls, Warrens and Tomah areas, followed by cranberry farms in northern Wisconsin, primarily around Manitowish Waters, Eagle River, Spooner and Hayward.
Other leading cranberry growing states, according to the U.S. Cranberry Marketing Committee’s 2022 forecast, include:
Massachusetts: 1.89 million barrels
New Jersey: 550,000 barrels
Oregon: 510,000 barrels
Washington: 160,000 barrels
Less than 5% of the cranberry crop is sold fresh. Fresh cranberry shipments have been stable in recent years, according to statistics from the U.S. Cranberry Marketing Committee. Fresh shipments in 2020 totaled 285,814 barrels, up a little more than 1% from 2019 and 2018.
Processed cranberry sales have shown stronger growth in the last five years. The U.S. Cranberry Marketing Committee reported processed cranberry sales in 2020 were 5.78 million barrels, little changed from 2019 but up 10% from 2018.
Ocean Spray reports it will have ample fresh cranberries this fall. It is an agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 cranberry farmers in the U.S., Canada and Chile.
The current 2022 crop forecast for Ocean Spray is over 7 million barrels, up from 6.6 million barrels of cranberries harvested in 2021.
North American cranberry harvest is active from mid-September through about mid-November; Ocean Spray also markets cranberries from Chile, which are harvested from March through May.
The co-op sources fresh cranberries from British Columbia, New Brunswick, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Washington.
Oppy and Ocean Spray became partners in 2003 to market fresh cranberries.
Since then, Ocean Spray’s presence has expanded significantly to include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, citrus and grapes through its partnership with Oppy.
Ocean Spray’s most popular fresh product is Ocean Spray Cranberries.
Americans typically consume about 80 million pounds of cranberries during Thanksgiving week alone.
The majority of Ocean Spray’s 12-ounce fresh cranberry bags ship in November.
The United States is by far the largest importer of fresh fruit and vegetables worldwide and imports continue to grow, according to this analysis by Fruit & Vegetable Facts. Including in the first half of this year. In 2021, the United States imported 21.5 million tons of fresh fruit and vegetables. Germany is the 2nd largest importer worldwide with a quantity of about 9 million tons. In the first half of this year, imports from the United States grew by 3%.
More than half of the imports come from neighboring Mexico. In the first half of this year, however, imports from this country lagged slightly behind those in the first half of last year. The top 3 of imports from Mexico consists of tomatoes, peppers and avocados.
Other important suppliers to the United States are Guatemala (especially bananas), Costa Rica (pineapples and bananas), Canada (cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers) and Ecuador (especially bananas).
Imports from Peru and Chile Peru and Chile are respectively the 5th and 7th suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables to the United States. Imports from Peru continue to grow. This year in the first half the amount was 18% more than last year and will exceed the 1 million ton mark on an annual basis.
Grapes and onions are the main products imported from Peru. Blueberries take third place. Last year, for the first time, they exceeded 100,000 tons. Asparagus, avocados, bananas and mandarins are the other main imports from Peru.
Imports from Chile seemed to have passed their peak, but in the first half of this year they still grew by more than 10%. Grapes are by far the most important product. Until a few years ago, some 20,000 tons of peppers were imported from the Netherlands, but last year that was only 1,400 tons. Onions (6,100 tons) and beetroot (5,300 tons) were more important last year.
Exports The United States is also a major exporter. Annually it exports about 6 million tons. Exports are decreasing with mainly the export of home grown products. The re-export was increasing, but stagnated in the first half of the year. The re-export mainly concerns bananas to Canada. Canada is also by far the most important customer for the export of home-grown products in the United States. Mexico is number two and far behind Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom follow. This mainly concerns sweet potatoes.
Although the San Luis Valley Colorado got off to a show start this season due to weather factors, overall shipments have been strong as the season built steam, in part because of an early season gap in the west between an early ending old crop and the start of a new one.
The San Luis Valley ships about 1.6 billion pounds of potatoes a year, 90% of which go to the fresh market. An average volume crop is seen this season.
Tater Traders of Golden, CO, who ships San Luis Valley potatoes, reports similar potato crops nationwide for the 2021-2022 was down a bit, noting the valley expects about 1.5 billion pounds this year. Despite last season’s tight crop, the doesn’t anticipate too much of a shipping gap between a fully depleted pipeline and the October harvest.
Even with the new crop nearing harvest, Colorado grower-shippers could be facing another year of tight potato supplies.
Similar a year ago, the 2022-23 crop is down. Water shortages remain and may be worse this time around.
Skyline Potato of Center, CO a reports a crop about 10 days later than normal. A similar situation exists with crops in New Mexico and Idaho.
Wada Farms has regional offices in Monte Vista, CO., agrees, and sees average yields this year.
A shortage in supplies of western potatoes, including Idaho has resulted in buyers looking more the Colorado so far this season. Some buyers also are taking shipments from Colorado to save on freight rates when it is closer to their markets.
Farm Fresh Direct of America in Monte Vista, CO ., anticipates a quality 2022-23 potato crop and notes the potatoes are rebounding well from a slow start due to springtime winds and cool temperatures.
MILWAUKIE, Ore. – With harvest underway throughout the four growing regions, Pear Bureau Northwest (PBNW) announces the first official estimate of the 2022-23 fresh pear crop for Washington and Oregon. The industry’s fresh pear estimate is 16.2 million standard box equivalents, which is on par with the five-year average.
Across all regions, harvest started in mid-August for summer varieties like Starkrimson and Bartletts, with growers beginning to pick Bosc, Green and Red Anjou in early- to mid- September. Specialty pears like Comice, Seckel, Forelle and Concorde pears will also be available in September, to provide an exceptional assortment of unique and flavorful pear choices for shoppers.
The organic pear estimate is expected to come in at 1,823,000 million standard boxes equivalents, or 11% of the total projected Northwest crop.
“Pear growers are in full harvest mode right now, hand picking a new crop of beautiful, tasty pears starting with Bartletts and Starkrimson,” stated Kevin Moffitt, president and CEO of PBNW. “There will be a full range of sizes available, including popular large-sized fruit as well as smaller sizes to fill the popular pouch bags as well as sizes to fulfill export market demand.”
Bob Catinella, PBNW Director of Merchandising added, “As we emerge from pandemic restrictions, the Pear Bureau has been successful with in-person planning meetings with retailers nationwide.”
ABOUT PEAR BUREAU NORTHWEST
Pear Bureau Northwest is a non-profit marketing organization established in 1931 to promote the fresh pears grown in Washington and Oregon , home to 84% of the US commercial fresh pear crop. The Bureau represents over 700 grower families and partners with outlets throughout the world in an effort to increase overall success with the pear category. The organization provides marketing and merchandising expertise that is customized specifically for each retail organization, using its pear consumer research findings as well as individual store analysis using an in-house data system that measures pear category performance nationwide and third-party research to show retailers how they perform versus their competition.
ATHENS, GA – With significantly reduced global warming potential (GWP), new-generation refrigerant R-452A will become the standard for new Carrier Transicold transport refrigeration units in North America beginning later this year, helping customers improve sustainability profiles and achieve regulatory compliance. “Carrier Transicold truck and trailer refrigeration units have been qualified for R‑452A since 2017, and it has been available as a customer-specified option for several years,” said Bill Maddox, Senior Manager, Product Management, Carrier Transicold. “R‑452A is already standard with some of our newer units, and we’re pleased to expand this standardization to the broader array of Carrier Transicold products, effectively halving the refrigerant GWP of our transport refrigeration offerings.”
Beginning in October, R-452A with a GWP of 2,140, will become the standard refrigerant for all Carrier Transicold models that currently use R-404A, which has a GWP of 3,922.
The timing of the transition will help California customers placing orders for 2023. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) this year approved a measure requiring all new transport refrigeration units placed into service in 2023 to use a refrigerant with a GWP of less than 2,200.
In 2025, Canada will require refrigerants with a GWP of less than 2,200 in new transport refrigeration units, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Kigali Agreement of the Montreal Protocol.
Previously, there was a significant cost differential between the new and traditional refrigerants, however over the last several years that has diminished with changing demand and refrigerant production trends, helping to encourage adoption of the more sustainable R-452A.
Maddox added some customers may consider switching refrigerants for units already in service, noting that with relative ease, Carrier Transicold customers can transition newer existing equipment from R-404A to R-452A. Unlike some competitive systems that require replacement of a thermal expansion valve when converting, late-model Carrier Transicold systems – those with an electronic expansion valve – simply require a software upgrade along with purging the R-404A and replacing it with R-452A. On Carrier Transicold truck units and older trailer units that use a mechanical expansion valve, the valve will require a manual adjustment or, in some cases, replacement based on the age of the model.
Standardizing on lower GWP refrigerants is part of Carrier’s commitment to reducing its customers’ carbon footprint by more than one gigaton, while also achieving carbon neutral operations by 2030, as outlined in its bold Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Goals.
Carrier Transicold helps improve transport and shipping of temperature-controlled cargoes with a complete line of equipment and services for refrigerated transport and cold chain visibility. For more than 50 years, Carrier Transicold has been an industry leader, providing customers around the world with advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable container refrigeration systems and generator sets, direct-drive and diesel truck units, and trailer refrigeration systems. Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier Global Corporation.
The fall onion season in Washington state and Utah has kicked off for Onions 52, based in Syracuse, Utah. With demand for new crop onions exceedingly high, it has been a busy start to the season.
Harvest is in full swing in Washington state, and the company began storing onions in early September for its robust storage season. Storage onions have a significantly lower water content than summer onions, making them easier to store in climate-controlled sheds from early fall until the following spring. It is not unlikely for September-harvested onions to ship to stores late into May and even early June, according to Onions 52 Director of Marketing, Falon Brawley.
“Onions 52 is a one-stop onion shop, with a plethora of options for retail packs, private labeling, foodservice offerings, and everything in between for all color onions,” reports Shawn Hartley, Owner/VP of Sales at Onions 52. Hartley continues, “We are encouraged with the crop in the Northwest, including Idaho/Eastern Oregon. It has been a crazy start to the growing season in all areas.”
Partner sheds in Eastern Oregon started harvesting in late August and early September, Tiffany Cruickshank reported from the newly established Vale, Oregon office. Cruickshank states, “The crop looks variable due to a dry, cold, and windy spring coupled with multiple heat waves during the growing season. Some fields have certainly fared better than others. We are hopeful the growing conditions will allow the onions to put on a bit more size before harvest takes off.”
The Onions 52 farms will supply customers across the country with top-quality red, yellow, white, sweet, USDA-certified organic onions, and tearless Sunions®, from late August through early June.
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Onions 52, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Syracuse, UT. They are a leading year-round grower-shipper of yellow, red, white, and sweet onions.
As inflation remains and fresh produce prices increase, consumer habits have been changing. In July 2022, fresh produce sales were up 4.2 percent, but volume sales were down 4.8 percent, compared to July 2021.
“Inflation, COVID and consumer mobility continue to change shopping and consumption patterns,” said Joe Watson, VP, Retail, Foodservice & Wholesale for IFPA, in a report by 210 analytics.
“The consumer reactions to the current environment combined with supply side volatility are keeping all of us on our toes to understand the latest trends and quickly pivot accordingly,” he added.
In July, inflation was up 15.3 percent for grocery and 12.6 percent for perishables, so on the whole, fresh produce prices were up from last year, at 8.5 percent level on a per-unit basis and 9.5 percent on a per-pound basis.
In addition, the price per unit across all foods and beverages in the IRI-measured multi-outlet stores accelerated further to an increase of 13.3 percent in the five weeks ending July 31st, 2022, versus a year ago.
Moreover, fresh produce sales reached $7.7 billion, surpassing the record set the prior year by 4.2 percent. Fresh fruit added $163 million in sales and vegetables added $147 million when compared to July 2021.
Gains were achieved in many different ways. Avocados, peaches, nectarines and plums had very high inflation, while pineapples and apples had below-average inflation, but robust demand pushed their performances into the top 10 in absolute dollar growth in July.
The fresh share of the produce business has continued to rise steadily and while summer is a top season for fresh produce sales, July 2022 shows that consumers are not switching out of fresh produce because of inflationary concerns.
However, overall, fresh produce pound sales trailed behind year ago levels all throughout 2021 and continue to do so thus far in 2022. In July, pound sales were down 4.8 percent year-on-year.
“Volume sales were a mix with increases for berries and pineapples but down results for all other top 10 sellers,” said Jonna Parker, Team Lead Fresh at IRI.
Berries continued to be the fruit category’s best seller in July. However, unlike in the month of May, where berry sales continued to be more than double that of melons, Parker said: “the gap with the number two, melons, was by far not as big as we’ve seen.”
“In part this has to do with below-average inflation, but we also saw cherries come on strong and mixed fruit moving back in the top 10 sellers due to the Fourth of July sales spike,” she added.
On the whole, compared to 2019, pre-pandemic, prices across all foods and beverages were up 25.2 percent. Dollars remained 17.7 percent ahead and pounds stayed just above 2019 levels by 0.7 percent. Therefore, despite experiencing some volume pressure in the early months of 2022, fruit pulled even with 2019 levels on much better prices in July.
Considering the outlook for fresh produce, Parker commented: “Back-to-school shopping is in full swing and that brings about many healthy produce snacking campaigns at retailers around the country in addition to the final weeks of grilling season.”
Michigan’s official crop estimate of 29.5 million bushels (1.239 billion pounds) was recently announced and the 2022 shipping estimate is well above average.
The Michigan Apple Committee reports ideal weather conditions in spring and summer and stored energy from 2021’s smaller crop has resulted in a large, high-quality apple.
Average annual shipments are approximately 24 million bushels. According to the USDA, Michigan harvested 15.6 million bushels of apples in 2021. There are more than 14.9 million apple trees in commercial production, covering 34,500 acres on 775 family-run farms in Michigan.
Many factors contribute to the size of an apple crop, including weather and the size of the previous year’s crop. To make the estimate, growers and other industry experts report on what they are seeing in various regions of the state, then come to a consensus on the crop size estimate.
Michigan apples are available nearly year-round and shipments in a good year are destined for 32 states and 18 countries worldwide.
The Michigan Apple Committee of Lansing, MI is a grower-funded nonprofit organization devoted to marketing, education and research activities to distinguish the Michigan apple and encourage its consumption in Michigan and around the world.
California fall fruit shipments are looking good as summer comes to a close.
Bari Produce in Fresno, CA, reports a fall set looking good across the board ranging from pomegranates to table grapes, persimmons and late yellow peaches.
While the company sees 2022 table grape volumes being similar to those of 2021, which were down slightly over the previous year, the grower/shipper expects an abundant crop for later-season varieties such as Autumn King, Crimson, Autumn Royal and Allison.
The table grape season is now in full swing for Homegrown Organics of Porterville, CA, and will hit peak production in October. By December 1, the operation will be in peak production for citrus, including oranges, lemons, Mandarins and grapefruit.
Following a short crop in 2021, Homegrown Organic’s fall citrus shipments should be closer to average. Following a poor crop last year, down around 35%, this year should more normal.
While the company notes yields for early varieties of Asian pear look a bit lighter than average, mid-season and later varieties should see a normal-size crop. Homegrown Organics will have average yields for both Hachiya and Fuyo persimmon varieties, and a light-to-normal kiwi crop.
Sunkist Growers of Valencia, CA will ship a variety of California citrus this fall ranging from lemons, to Valencia oranges and Marsh Ruby grapefruit through October. Navel oranges follow in November.
