Archive For The “News” Category
Since the opening of the Mexican superhighway that basically connects the Pacific Ocean produce growing areas with the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, refrigerated truck traffic has gradually increased and more fruits and vegetables are crossing the border into the U.S. at Pharr/McAllen than at Nogales, AZ.
Both truck and auto traffic from central and western Mexico can reach the Pharr International Bridge and enter the U.S. five to seven hours faster than prior to the super highway being completed. lt took 15 years to construct the Mazatlan-Durango highway that has 115 bridges and 61 tunnels.
South Texans love to brag about how the new highway has allowed them to compete with Nogales and point out that within the past year more fresh produce is crossing the border at Pharr/McAllen than at Nogales. South Texas is now the number one point of entry for fresh produce entering the U.S., accounting for 60 percent of the imports. Leading the crossings are avocados followed by tomatoes.
This apparently is just the beginning as some observers are predicting in the next three to five years, produce volume from Mexico crossing the border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley will increase 40 to 45 percent. Besides saving time on shipments originating in Mexico, substantial savings on diesel fuel is cited for shipments destined from markets in the eastern half of the United States.
To accommodate the increasing traffic at the Pharr/McAllen border crossing, new warehousing is being constructed, as well as an expedited lane to the estimated 2,200 trucks crossing the border daily. Truckers pay a toll at the point of entry amounting to up to $23, depending upon the number of axles. Within a few years, truck traffic is predicted to hit 3,000 per day.
Mexican fruits and vegetables crossing the border into South Texas – grossing about $2400 to Chicago; $3800 to New York City.
Price inflation has slowed to a crawl in 2015 for retail fresh produce.
Little or no inflation this year is expected for retail fresh fruit prices, while the top end of retail fresh vegetable price inflation is just 1.5%.
The USDA’s Economic Research Service reported in late July that the agency’s updated forecast for retail price inflation for fruit is now in a range 0% to 1% for 2015, rising to 2.5% to 3.5% next year. For fresh vegetables, the USDA predicts retail prices will increase from 0.5% to 1.5% and rising 2% to 3% next year.
Retail price inflation for fresh fruits in 2014 was 4.8%, while fresh vegetable retail prices were off 1.3% compared with 2013. The 20-year average inflation rate for retail fresh fruits is 3% and 3.2% for vegetables.
Fresh produce prices will increase at a lower rate than the overall food price index. The agency predicts overall supermarket food prices will increase 1.75% to 2.75% this year, with higher inflation for beef and eggs. In 2016, the USDA predicts retail food prices will increase from 2% to 3%, in line with the 20-year average of 2.6%.
Though the California drought has not caused fresh produce inflation this year, the USDA said it could play a role in food prices next year.
“The ongoing drought in California could have large and lasting effects on fruit, vegetable, dairy, and egg prices,” the USDA said in the forecast. On the other hand, the agency said lower trending oil prices could cause lower production and transportation costs to be passed on to consumers.
The USDA said farm-level prices for growers are down compared with a year ago. The agency predicts farm level prices for vegetables will decline 4% to 5% this year, while farm-level fruit prices will sink between 5% and 6%. For 2016, the USDA predicts grower prices for fresh fruits will rise 1.5% to 2.5%, while grower prices for fresh vegetables will increase 1% to 2%.
by Organics Unlimited
Organics Unlimited is pleased to announce the 10th anniversary of its nonprofit program, GROW. Throughout the month of September, Organics Unlimited will execute a special GROW Month campaign in order to raise awareness of the social responsibility program and inspire more distributors, retailers and consumers to become involved.
Since 2005, GROW has raised nearly $2 million to advance the rural Mexican and Ecuadorian communities surrounding its organic banana farms. With each box of GROW organic bananas sold to retailers and distributors, a portion of the proceeds go to the GROW fund. These donations are managed and distributed by the International Community Foundation and are used for youth educational scholarships in Mexico, clean water programs in Ecuador, dental and vision care in Mexico, micro-loans for small businesses and more.
Mayra Velazquez de Leon
“In celebration of the 10th anniversary of GROW organic bananas, we have released a new GROW banana label that features the special hashtag #GROWTURNS10,” said Organics Unlimited President and CEO Mayra Velazquez de Leon. “We hope this limited-time GROW label will inspire consumers to become more involved with the social responsibility campaign and share how their GROW purchases are making a difference in the lives of others.”
Consumers can join in GROW Month throughout September and help raise awareness of the humanitarian work of GROW by purchasing GROW organic bananas and sharing the hashtag on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Tips for how to share the #GROWTURNS10 message – such as organic banana recipes, inspirational stories of GROW scholars, crafts for children and more – are available at GROWbananas.org.
A new survey reveals young adults eat nearly a half a serving more in daily vegetable consumption compared with the overall U.S. average.
The survey released by Subway Restaurants, Milford, Conn., studies vegetable consumption compiled with the responses of 2,000 Americans from an online poll by Harris from June 4 to June.
Called the Subway National Eat Your Vegetables Day Survey, the data indicated 84% of Americans aren’t meeting the USDA’s daily minimum number of vegetable servings.
47% of consumers said nothing prevents them from eating more vegetables. While nearly half said there was no excuse for not eating more vegetables, 14% said vegetables were too expensive, 11% didn’t like the way vegetables taste and 10% said veggies take too long to prepare.
However, millennial consumers (born between 1980 and 2000) average 2.7 servings per day, compared to the overall U.S. average of 2.3 servings per day, according to the release. And 22% of millennials eat the recommended four servings of vegetables a day, which is the best of any age group.
Reasons behind the higher consumption by young adults may be related to a desire to eat well to look their best compared with older adults, according to the release. Fifty-six percent of millennials eat vegetables to lose weight, compared with 39% for those older than 35 years old.
“The American diet has traditionally lagged in prioritizing vegetables as a staple of their diet; however, it is encouraging that the youngest generation is slowly bucking the trend,” Lanette Kovachi, global dietitian for Subway, said in the release.
“The millennial generation is more self-aware than previous generations due to their social, photo driven culture, so “looking better” is a natural motivator,” she said in the release. “But the truth is nutrient-rich vegetable consumption truly does have positive physiological effects, including a healthier-looking complexion, assisting in weight control, enhancing the immune system and prevention of chronic disease.”
The Subway study draws attention to the need for consumers to add vegetables to their diet, Kristen Stevens, chief operating officer for Hockessin, Del.-based Produce for Better Health Foundation, said in the release. “The first step in changing behaviors is creating awareness and driving discussion to help educate consumers on the various health benefits of eating more vegetables and how to eat more of them.”
Other study findings:
- Men (12%) are more likely than women (7%) to cite preparation time as a reason they don’t eat more vegetables;
- America’s most loved vegetables are lettuce and tomato (65%), followed by carrots (62%$), cucumbers (56%), onions (53%), spinach (51%), peppers (47%) and avocados (44%).
Remember only a few summers ago when produce trucking rates from California to the East Coast were hitting $10,000? It hasn’t even come close to that in 2015 – and there appears to be a number of factors why.
As we head towards the Labor Day weekend final shipments to receivers for the holiday are now underway, if not already delivered. Don’t expect major rate increases.
East bound coast to coast rates in the summer of 2014 that were in the $8000 range are closer to $6500 this summer.
Here’s my take on why produce trucking rates are off.
***Less California Produce Volume. The 5-year California drought is beginning to take its toll on agriculture and it’s going to get a lot worse unless the El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean changes things this winter.
The San Joaquin Valley is being hit relatively hard by the drought and it is adversely affecting volume on many crops ranging from cantaloupe and honeydew and other melons to stone fruit, tomatoes and citrus. In the Salinas Valley, which has not suffered from the drought as much as in the San Joaquin Valley, all types of lettuce volumes have been like a roller coaster this summer.
The highest rates from California to the East Coast this year have been in the $8,000 range, and those were only for a limited amount of time.
***Rail Competition. While the railroads provide only limited competition, it still has an affect of produce trucking rates. After all, the rail rates are based trucking rates and often offer 10 to 15 percent less to haul. Still, we’ve seen a couple of rail related companies go out of business this year. The railroads have a history of dropping produce related services for other, less perishable products.
***Rules and Regulations. The insanity of excessive rules and regulations from both the federal and state levels continues, and it is having disasterous effects on owner operators. Rates are not keeping up with increasing costs of operations, although lower fuel prices have helped. Still, when you have the California Air Resources Board and their emission standards and other business killing rules, plus the feds pushing to implement Electronic on-board Recorders, not to mention many others, it all adds up.
***Qualified Drivers
The lack of qualified drivers continues to be a problem, although it could become a lot worse when the economy turns around. Attracting young people into the trucking industry continues to be a challenge. It’s a hard life and there’s certainly easier ways to make a living.
***Mexico. Over the past 20 years more and more produce is being grown in Mexico, and much of it is being driven by investments from American farming operations. Mexico has cheaper labor and less government interference in their operations. At the same time there is less produce being grown in California — Bill Martin.
Wendy’s International plans to buy almost 10% of the blackberry crop for a new seasonal salad the restaurant chain is scheduled to launch in summer 2016, based on federal numbers for domestic shipments.
California Giant Berry Farm is one of the suppliers for the 2 million pound deal, which has been in the works since 2014.
Statistics from the USDA show wholesale channels shipped almost 21.2 million pounds of U.S. blackberries in 2014. California shipped about 18 million pounds through wholesale channels in 2014.
California Giant has since started ramping up its blackberry production with many of its growers ripping out raspberries and planting blackberries. Other growers are using different pruning techniques to maximize production from existing plants.
California Giant also plans to source blackberries from the Southeast U.S., including Georgia, to meet Wendy’s demand.
The timing of the Wendy’s 2016 blackberry salad is expected to come just as the Mexican deal winds down and U.S. growers begin shipping. Supplies from California usually begin peaking in late July and continue with good volumes through the end of October.
Ultimately Wendy’s officials decided to go with California Giant and one other supplier for the blackberries. For most fresh produce commodities the chain uses two to five companies to supply its 22 distribution centers across the U.S.
Wendy’s has about 6,700 locations in North America and has introduced seven new salads in the past two years. One of those, the strawberry fields chicken salad, proved so popular in 2014 that the company brought it back this year.
The company plans to continue developing fresh produce menu items, saying consumer trends are being driven partly by celebrity chefs and cooking shows that promote healthy eating including fresh fruits and vegetables.
Baldor Specialty Foods has closed on a lease amendment that will expand its facility in the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx, NY, by 100,000 square feet. The lease, signed with the New York City Economic Development Corp., will allow the fresh produce and specialty food distributor to strengthen the area’s robust food and beverage distribution network.
The Hunts Point Food Distribution Center is one of the largest in the world and includes the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market, the Hunts Point Cooperative Meat Market, the New Fulton Fish Market, and parcels leased to companies, including Baldor and Krasdale Foods.
The nearly $20 million expansion, funded entirely by Baldor, will create 350 new quality jobs in addition to 400 jobs the company has created since moving to the Food Distribution Center in 2007. The expansion will allow Baldor to grow its fresh cuts manufacturing operation and increase its distribution to customers across the city and metropolitan region, including restaurants, hotels, retail food stores, corporate kitchens, nursing homes, hospitals and schools. The project will also serve to promote regional food distribution, adding capacity to Baldor’s current operation that already serves over 50 local farms and partners by distributing 40,000 cases of local product into the regional food system each week during peak season.
“This expansion solidifies our Bronx location as the headquarters of Baldor Specialty Foods,” TJ Murphy, owner and chief executive officer of Baldor Specialty Foods, said in a press release. “We are proud to make this investment in the Bronx, to strengthen our commitment to Hunts Point, and to continue to be a strong supporter of the area’s overall economic development.”
Currently, Baldor occupies a 193,000-square-foot warehouse distribution facility with over 1,000 employees located on 13 acres in the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, which it leases from the city. The lease amendment will allow Baldor to expand its facility and relocate its parking spaces to the adjacent Halleck Industrial Development site. Baldor was selected through a public Request for Proposals issued in 2013. The project is consistent with the goals of the Hunts Point Vision Plan to catalyze food-related industrial uses and create local jobs.
Together, approximately half of the food in New York City stores and restaurants passes through the NYCEDC-managed Hunts Point Food Distribution Center. The cluster of wholesale markets sits on 329 acres and support 115 private wholesalers that employ more than 8,000 people. In March 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the City will invest $150 million over 12 years to enhance the capacity of the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, strengthen existing businesses, and attract new entrepreneurs, generating nearly 900 construction jobs and approximately 500 permanent jobs.
Fresh online food purchases are often a disappointment to consumers, according to a new survey of more than 1,100 online grocery shoppers.
Consumers were polled who have shopped online for groceries at least once in the previous 12 months . The survey was conducted by organic online grocery service Door to Door Organics.
23 percent said they don’t buy fresh grocery products (produce, meat, fish and dairy ) online. For those who do buy fresh produce and other fresh food online, 57 percent said they have been disappointed in the quality or freshness of those items at least once in the last year.
58 percent of consumers would feel better about the quality of the fresh foods they buy online if they knew the products were recently picked or packaged. Just over half of consumers said they would be more comfortable if the fresh products were sourced from a local farm, and 25 percent said they would feel more secure about the quality of fresh grocery products if they were purchasing from a specialty online grocer.
“Easing concerns about the quality and freshness of produce and other fresh grocery items has always been a top priority for online grocers, especially those like us who specialize in local and organic produce,” Chad Arnold, CEO of Door to Door Organics, said in the release. “Selecting produce, for example, can be a very sensory-oriented experience — consumers like to touch, feel, smell and even taste their selections before purchasing. Online grocery shopping limits that initial sensory experience, so we do everything we can to ensure they experience that same satisfaction each time they open their Door to Door Organics delivery box.”
The survey found that online shopping is increasing, with 54 percent of consumers responding they had increased online shopping in the past year, with less than 4 percent indicating the amount of online shopping has decreased. 42 percent reported their online food shopping remained about the same in the past year.
Survey respondents said they valued their time at $56 per hour and reported it takes them an average of 69 minutes each week to shop for groceries, according to the release.
“It’s becoming increasingly harder for consumers to find a ‘one-stop-shop’ that meets all their grocery shopping needs,” Arnold said in release. “Today’s grocery shopper appreciates variety, wants to have easy access to all kinds of produce and products, but also values convenience based on being busier than ever. This is one of the primary reasons why consumers are making online grocery shopping a more regular part of their week, and I don’t expect that trend to turn downward anytime soon.”
by Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. — Wisconsin’s cranberry industry is projected to produce more cranberries than any other state this fall, with a crop of 5 million barrels of fruit, according to crop projections announced today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistical Services (NASS). The projected bountiful crop, part of the more than 8.4 million barrels of cranberries expected in 2015 nationwide, would continue to challenge the industry with an oversupply of fruit.
“Our growers do a great job and we have much pride in our crop, but today’s news is bittersweet as our industry continues to work its way out of an oversupply,” said Tom Lochner, executive director of the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association (WSCGA).
According to Lochner, the combined increase in supply and flat demand in the juice category is creating the market imbalance. He said the use of the latest science and technology by Wisconsin’s cranberry growers is resulting in stronger, healthier crops. That coupled with new U.S. and Canadian cranberry acreage that is now producing fruit and a very kind Mother Nature in recent years, has resulted in the large yields. He added that the industry’s focus now is to grow more and broader interest and demand from the international market.
In 2014, Wisconsin growers had a crop of 4.9 million barrels. The NASS projections, if realized, would result in the 2015 cranberry crop being 2 percent larger than last year’s crop. That projection is dependent on continued good growing weather, no damaging hail storms or major temperature drops leading up to the fall harvest, added Lochner.
Wisconsin will begin harvesting its cranberry crop in late September and continue through much of October to support fresh fruit needs for the early Canadian Thanksgiving (October 12th) and the U.S. holiday season. Other cranberries are frozen and stored for longer-term sales as frozen berries, sweetened dried and dried cranberries, juices, sauces and more. The U.S. Thanksgiving is November 26th.
“The oversupply is quite a challenge for all states that grow cranberries but especially here in Wisconsin where more than half of the world’s supply is grown,” said Lochner.
NASS, which bases its crop estimates on grower surveys nationwide, also made crop projections for other top cranberry producing states. Those projections are: Massachusetts at 2.1 million barrels, New Jersey at 585,000 barrels, Oregon at 504,000 barrels and Washington at 181,000 barrels. The nationwide forecast is expected to be nearly identical to 2014’s production.
by United Fresh Produce Association
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United Fresh Produce Association announces the release of the Broker/Shipper Transportation Agreement template. Crafted by members of the United Fresh Supply Chain Logistics Council in partnership with the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), the template is designed for members’ use when entering into the specific business relationship between shipping companies and third party transportation providers.
“This broker:shipper contract is the first of its kind to serve the produce industry,” said Ken Lund, Vice President, Support Operations, Allen Lund Company, Inc., “This template will save those Association members who use it many hours. It was put together by experts who worked hard to create a fair document to allow the parties to do more business together. I am very proud of the United Fresh Produce Association as they continue to provide tools for membership to help them be more effective and profitable.”
“In today’s age, transportation contracts are a necessity,” said James Lee, Vice President, Legal Affairs, Chop Tank Transport. “As produce is an exempt commodity, and produce transportation is unregulated per se, the importance of United Fresh Produce Association and TIA coming together to create a fair and ethical model contract to be used by both shippers and logistics providers cannot be stressed enough. I am proud to be even a small part of the membership from both organizations who contributed their time, energy, and expertise in order to make this happen.”
The Broker/Shipper Transportation Agreement template is a free resource for United Fresh members and can be downloaded at http://www.unitedfresh.org/resources. For more information or questions about the template, contact Dan Vaché, Vice President, Supply Chain Management and staff liaison to the United Fresh Supply Chain Logistics Council at dvache@unitedfresh.org or 425.629.6271.