Archive For The “News” Category
Yakima, WA: Superfresh Growers® will expand its sweet cherry production by 30% this summer, thanks to the addition of a state-of-the-art packing line.
Domex Superfresh Growers plans to have the facility integrated and running well ahead of the arrival of the 2023 Pacific Northwest cherry crop, which is typically late May. The state-of-the-art optical sorter line will handle dark sweet and Rainier cherries.
“Freshness and speed to consumers is the key to success in the cherry category,” said Robert Kershaw, CEO of Superfresh Growers. He continued, “It is magical when an investment improves the experience of all stakeholders in the supply chain. Freshness is the intersection that growers, retailers, and consumers all want. Everyone wants cherries fresh off the tree.”
Superfresh Growers was the largest and latest US cherry grower and packer during the 2022 season. Their last shipments, from high-altitude orchards, extended beyond the Labor Day holiday into September.
“We expect a big year on cherries in 2023. Our bounce-back volume from 2022 should be fantastic. Our season will be longer than ever, again extending through August. We are excited for the quality this new line will provide, and for the additional capacity we will deliver to the market,” states Conner O’Malley, President of Sales.
About Superfresh Growers
Superfresh Growers is a sixth-generation family-owned grower and shipper of apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, and kiwi berries from the Pacific Northwest, including organics in all varieties. Superfresh Growers is the largest packer of fresh cherries in the United States. Learn more at www.superfreshgrowers.com.
ATHENS, GA – Boasting high refrigeration capacities, demonstrated fuel savings of 20 to 25% and reduced emissions for greater sustainability and regulatory compliance, Carrier Transicold’s new X4™ 7700 trailer refrigeration unit is now available through the company’s North America dealer network.
“In full production at our world-class manufacturing facility in Athens, Georgia, the new premium performance X4 7700 single-temperature unit builds on the X4 platform’s decade-long reputation for high capacity and rugged, dependable service,” said Bill Maddox, Senior Manager of Product Management, Truck Trailer Americas, Carrier Transicold. “Continuing the tradition of reliable design and simply smarter engineering, the X4 7700 unit offers a 96% reduction in particulate emissions and double-digit gains in fuel efficiency compared to standard X4 models.”
The new unit employs an advanced version of the smart engine used throughout Carrier Transicold’s existing trailer platforms. Benefits of the new unit include:
• Enhanced compliance – Under current regulations, the X4 7700 provides lifetime compliance with the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) stricter rules for trailer refrigeration systems.
• Significantly better fuel economy – The advanced engine features commonrail fuel injection for optimized fuel delivery that reduces fuel consumption by 5 to 10%. The new third speed, called “eco speed,” automatically decreases engine RPMs during intervals where conditions permit, significantly improving operating efficiency compared to normal low-speed operation for even more fuel savings. Combined, these performance enhancements demonstrated 20 to 25% average fuel savings, relative to standard X4 units, for premium performance X4 7700 units tested by over-the-road fleets under a variety of operating conditions during the summer of 2022.
• Greater sustainability – The unit uses R-452A refrigerant with a global warming potential 45% lower than that of the traditional transport refrigeration unit refrigerant, R-404A. The efficient common rail fuel system and a diesel oxidation catalyst push particulate, hydrocarbon and NOx emissions to new lows, and the unit is the most environmentally responsible choice in the X4 Series for fleets seeking sustainable options.
• Lighter weight – At 1,690 pounds, the X4 7700 weighs about 10% less than its competition.
• Highest capacity – As with its predecessor in the X4 Series, the X4 7700 achieves the high industry benchmark of 68,000 BTU/h at a setpoint of 35 degrees Fahrenheit under certification conditions of the Air-Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute.
“The X4 7700 provides more BTUs of cooling per engine RPM than competitive units, meaning competitive units must run harder than an X4 unit to achieve similar results,” Maddox said.
All X4 7700 units are equipped with Carrier Transicold’s industry-leading LynxTM Fleet telematics solution for remote monitoring of temperatures, location, movement and system operating performance. To help maintain the charge of the battery supporting the unit and its telematics system, Carrier Transicold now also offers its TRU-Mount solar panel as a factory-installed option.
Carrier Transicold’s CARB-compliant TRUs help fleets significantly reduce their environmental impact, supporting Carrier’s 2030 Environmental, Social and Governance Goal of reducing its customers’ carbon footprint by one gigaton.
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, directdrive and diesel truck units, and trailer refrigeration systems. Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier Global Corporation, the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions. For more information, visit Carrier Transicold. Follow Carrier on Twitter: @SmartColdChain, on Facebook at Carrier Transicold Truck/Trailer U.S. & Canada and on LinkedIn at Carrier Transicold Truck Trailer Refrigeration.
Walmart Press Release
Springtime festivities are right around the corner. But, despite the excitement this time of year brings, we know our customers are managing household budgets more tightly and are being choiceful in their purchases. In fact, 65% reported they expect inflation will have an impact on their Easter celebration.
At Walmart, our purpose is to help customers save money and live better. We’re committed to keeping prices low, so families can spend less time worrying about the cost of coming together and more time celebrating with their loved ones. To ensure our customers can do just that, we’re continuing to invest in the moments that matter this year by offering a Walmart-curated Easter meal and Easter basket at last year’s price.*
An Entire Easter Meal and Basket for Less than $100
Last year, we made significant investments on top of our everyday low prices to offer an entire basket of holiday mealtime essentials at the same price as 2021. It was a first for us at Walmart, and both new and existing Walmart customers responded enthusiastically when saving money was a top priority.
We know that continues to be true for many of our customers, so we’ve decided to do it again, this time for the Easter meal and basket. We’re offering both for less than $100 total, so our customers can celebrate Easter without compromise.
Even with some food costs stabilizing, they remain high overall, especially for Easter essentials like eggs. That’s why we’ve worked hard to offset the higher cost of eggs by lowering the cost on other Easter essentials and offering an entire Easter meal at the same price as last year.
Our meal features the popular staples and customer favorites, from ham and green beans to pie and many of the fixings in between. Whether your family celebrates with a big brunch or an intimate dinner, you’ll find everything you need to create an incredible meal at an affordable price at Walmart.
And of course, what’s Easter without a wow-worthy basket of goodies? This year, we’ve also invested in an entire assortment of must-haves for customers to create a traditional Easter basket at last year’s price. With the savings, you can easily assemble an Easter basket packed to the brim with decorative grass, a Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bunny, Reese’s Eggs, toys and more, perfect for the little ones.
These low prices are available now, and customers can shop for both the meal and Easter basket online and in stores until April 15 by visiting www.walmart.com/EasterSavings.
It’s Not Only About Saving Money – But Also Time
We’re proud to not only save customers money, but precious time as well. We know our customers are busy, especially during holidays, so we make shopping for all the Easter essentials fast and convenient for our customers no matter when, where or how they prefer to shop Walmart, whether that’s in store or online and both offerings are available for curbside pickup and delivery.
We’re proud to continue showing up for our customers in the ways that matter most to them. We’re committed to keeping prices low and making the shopping experience easier and more convenient, from the important celebrations to the little moments in between.
*Comparison based on the average price charged for the featured items from Feb. 15 – April 15, 2022, vs. our national or highest regional price to be charged for the same items from Feb. 15 – April 15, 2023. Prices at your local Walmart may be lower.
U.S. citrus growers will struggle to grow output in the next 10 years, the USDA predicts in its annual outlook report.
In fact, the USDA predicts U.S. citrus output will decline from 11.2 billion pounds in 2022 to 9.8 billion pounds in 2032. That loss in citrus production will be offset by gains in noncitrus fruit and tree nut output, the report said.
Citrus production will decline “largely due to further attrition of bearing acreage in Florida’s orange and grapefruit industries.” Citrus production in California — the top producing state of fresh market oranges, lemons and tangerines — is projected to remain steady.
Total value of citrus production in the U.S. is projected to remain steady because of higher prices due to smaller domestic supply, the report said.
The USDA report said total combined farm value of fruit, tree nuts, vegetable and pulse crop (dry beans, dry peas, lentils and chickpeas) production is projected to reach $59 billion by calendar year 2032, up from $49 billion in 2021.
Over the next 10 years, vegetable and pulse crop production is expected to grow more slowly than in the previous decade, rising by 4% between 2023 and 2032.
“This primarily reflects technical measurement challenges associated with documenting the growth of protected culture [crops], which displaces field-grown area, and to rising import competition,” the report said. “Imports are expected to continue to rise as U.S. consumers demand a more diverse, competitively priced, year-round vegetable supply.”
The USDA said its challenges with documenting the growth of protected culture largely center on the rapid growth of the protected culture subsector (mostly greenhouses and urban vertical farms) that is slowly replacing field-grown production for several major fresh vegetables.
“With some exceptions, this [protected culture] sector is still not well represented in traditional USDA data collection programs that have recorded declining field-grown area and production for some crops,” the USDA said.
In recent years, there has been a rapid rise of import volume across many fresh and processed vegetables, including imports of organic foods produced in the Southern Hemisphere, the USDA said. USDA projections assume imports will continue to rise.
Despite expanding production of higher-priced vegetables such as broccoli and organic vegetables, the value of fresh-market vegetable production, excluding melons, is projected to increase by less than 1% between 2021-23 and 2030-32 as price pressure continues from strong import growth, the report said.
In terms of production, the report said key fresh-market vegetables over the next 10 years include lettuce, onions, carrots and sweet potatoes.
“Within the lettuce subsector, growth is projected in romaine while field-grown leaf production and iceberg output decline,” the USDA said. Field-grown leaf lettuce share is expected to be limited by rising protected culture output, the report said.
Projected U.S. potato production will grow 9% as value rises 10% over the 2022-32 baseline period, the USDA said.
“While planted acres are forecast to increase in 2023, total planted acres in the top 13 potato producing states are forecast to remain flat through the remainder of the baseline period,” the USDA said.
Commercial domestic mushroom production is forecast to decline slightly in the early part of the projection period, followed by steady production.
Mushroom farm value is projected to reach about $1.2 billion by 2032, a 15% increase over the 10-year period, the USDA said.
A recent detailed 18-page National Berry Report by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service details volumes of berries placed in the market since Jan. 1, 2023. It offers information on strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries from the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.
Peruvian Blueberries
Peru produces about 68 percent of the blueberries in the market so far this year.
The market has received a total of 112.3 million flats of blueberries, up from 101.2 million a year ago so far this year. Peru has shipped 76.1 million flats of blueberries in 2023. For the same dates in 2022, Peru provided 60.3 million flats.
Running a distant second this year is Chilean blueberry volume, which still accounts for a strong 17.2 million flats. This is up from 14.5 million a year ago.
Mexico’s volume to the market is slightly down this year, to 11.4 million blueberry flats, about a million below the 2022 figure.
The state of Georgia dropped way off this winter, from 11.5 million flats early in 2022 to 6.7 million thus far in 2023. Also, Argentina’s blueberry volume to the U.S. this year is significantly down by 1.2 million, to less than 700,000 flats so far in 2023.
Colombia and Uruguay are both slightly down as blueberry sources, collectively accounting for less than 200,000 flats.
Mexican Strawberries
Since the first of the year, strawberry volume from Mexico, totaling 26.7 million flats, almost equals the combined total from California and Florida.
California has shipped 13.7 million flats so far in 2023. Oxnard provided 13.5 million of those total California flats. With Florida providing 14.1 million, the two states in 2023 have combined to ship 27.3 million flats of strawberries.
Florida’s 2023 volume is down year-on-year, from 16.0 million year-on-year. California’s strawberry volume has dropped from 16.7 million a year ago.
Mexico’s volume is up three million flats to date over 2022. A year ago, Mexico’s total strawberry exports to the U.S. totaled 23.6 million flats.
Pharr, TX, is significantly increasing its lead as the strongest Mexican strawberry crossing point. To date in 2023, Pharr’s strawberry volume is 17.6 million flats, up from 14.3 million a year ago. Laredo, TX, rose to 6.0 million flats, up from 4.2 million flats of strawberries in the first six weeks of 2022. The other significant crossing point for Mexican strawberries this year is Otay Mesa (San Diego, CA) which is down two million flats to 3.0 million.
Raspberries and Blackberries
USDA figures show very consistent volumes for both raspberries and blackberries entering the market this year, compared to the same period in 2022. The 2023 blackberry volume is 27.9 million flats, versus 27.3 million in 2022. Raspberry volume for 2023 is 29.9 million flats, up slightly from 28.5 million a year ago.
Mexico is the overwhelming raspberry source, providing all but 300,000 flats for the U.S. market so far. California’s raspberry volume plummeted from a half-million flats in early 2022 to a quarter-million so far this year. So far this year, Canada and Guatemala combine for 38,000 flats of raspberries.
Mexico has supplied about 62 percent of the blackberries for the U.S. market so far this year. Mexico’s blackberry volume this year is up around 1.5 million flats to 17.3 million. All other sources of blackberries account for 10.2 million flats, with California shipping 9.3 million flats into the early 2023 market.
Georgia’s blackberry volume is down about 300,000 flats to 784,238 total in 2023.
Guatemala has shipped about a half-million flats of blackberries in the early weeks of each of the last two years.
Mexico exported just over one million tons of avocado to the U.S. in 2020. With this, the combined annual commercial value totaled $3.1 billion dollars, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The federal agency reports the success of exported Mexican avocados has been based on its quality, safety measures and a larger area devoted to cultivation, with a total 248,456 hectares.
Along with this extensive growing area, the country’s sustainable practices and an efficient and effective use of water resources have allowed the industry to secure surplus volumes in order to set annual records in the international market.
Of total exports, 95% corresponded to fresh whole avocados, 4% to guacamole and 2% to pulp.
Data from the USDA shows from January to November last year, 82% of the total fresh avocado imported came from Mexico, with a value of $2.7 billion dollars.
According to data from the Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera (SIAP), in 2022 the sale of guacamole showed a year-on-year increase of 8%, going from 35,809 tons to 38,723 tons, while avocado pulp was marketed in quantities averaging 338 tons per week.
The origin of the fruit was exclusively from Michoacan fields certified by Mexican and U.S. health authorities.
However, in the second half of 2022, the USDA approved imports from Jalisco, expanding the scope of the Mexican industry in the U.S.
In the case of guacamole, which is a sauce that combines avocado pulp, garlic, onion, chile, tomato, lime juice and salt, 2,975 tons were destined for the U.S. market in the three weeks prior to the Super Bowl, while in the same period last year, pulp exports averaged 371 tons per week.
Depending on ripeness, bananas range in color from shades of almost hunter green flecked with whispers of yellow, all the way to deep canary yellow speckled with pinpricks of brown. Where a banana falls on this green-to-yellow range holds the key to where this banana will travel next on its circuitous journey from farm to produce aisle.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture publishes a numbered color index that conveys quick-glance standardization to help produce buyers make decisions. Depending on whether the case of bananas in question looks like a No. 2 or a No. 5 will determine the exact amount of time the bananas will spend in a ripening room, benefiting from specific temperature controls and piped-in ethylene gas that helps ripening progress smoothly.
After close monitoring in the ripening room confirms that the fruit is the perfect golden yellow color, the fruit is transported to the store. At the store, the bananas are tucked into merchandising displays. Only now can the produce team sit back and wait to discover if the bananas pass the final, most difficult desirability test: Will the ripe fruit catch a shopper’s eye?
IRI retail scan data shows that retail organic strawberry sales in 2021 totaled $447.6 million, up a whopping 22% from 2020.
Organic strawberries accounted for 12.2% of total retail strawberry sales in 2021, IRI data shows. Organic strawberries also represented nearly 6% of total organic produce sales in 2021, according to IRI.
Retailers in 2021 moved 98.5 million pounds of organic strawberries at an average retail price of $4.55 per pound, retail scan data reveals.
A significant share of northbound produce shipments from Mexico is coming through the Laredo port district of Texas, a new USDA report reveals.
Called the “U.S.-Mexico Agricultural Trade Logistics Review,” the report indicated that, excluding avocados, about 38% of Mexico’s fresh fruit and vegetable exports flow through Laredo crossings, 30% through Nogales and 17% through San Diego.
Much like fresh produce southbound from the U.S., Mexico’s exports of fresh fruits and vegetables are shipped almost exclusively by truck, the report said.
In value terms, the U.S. held a 64% market share of all agricultural and related exports to Mexico in 2021. During the same year, 81% of Mexico’s total agricultural exports went to the U.S.
While U.S. exports of fresh produce to Mexico often flow through the Western land ports such as Nogales, Ariz., and San Diego, the report said northbound shipments are more heavily oriented towards eastern commercial crossings in Texas.
“Some exceptions exist for products whose production zones in Mexico are in closer proximity to the Nogales/San Diego commercial crossings such as table grapes and watermelon,” the report said. “However, existing infrastructure, inspection capacity, and more direct access to the largest U.S. markets dictate more eastbound trade flows.”
In fact, U.S. imports of avocados from Mexico, totaling more than 1 million metric tons in 2021, are largely shipped through the Laredo district in Texas, the report said.
“Fresh tomatoes represent another product that is shipped at volume through the Laredo district throughout the year (especially through the McAllen port of entry),” the report said. However, the report said there are also seasonal increases through Nogales in the first half of the year with a less-pronounced increase through San Diego mid- to late year.
The report said a notable feature of Mexican fresh fruit and vegetable trade through the Laredo district is the extent to which certain products flow through certain port of entries.
“For example, a large majority of fresh fruit and vegetables transit through the Reynosa/McAllen port of entry as opposed to the Laredo/Colombia port of entries,” the report said.
Based on the geography of production zones for several fresh products in Mexico, the report said the Nogales port of entry is also a seasonally important conduit particularly of table grapes, watermelon and several vegetable varieties.
In 2021 and 2022, northbound agricultural trade from Mexico to the U.S. has been characterized by record values due in part to the current high-price environment for food and agricultural products, the report said.
“Strong consumer demand in the U.S. continues to contribute to record volumes of food and agricultural imports,” the report said.
Another feature of cross-border trade during COVID-19 was an increasing imbalance between north and southbound freight shipped via truck, with far more freight heading northbound than southbound, the report said.
“This imbalance is not new and for several years predating COVID, food and agricultural trade via truck was more heavily northbound-oriented. However, the imbalance sharpened in 2020 and 2021. A north-south imbalance that was traditionally 3-to-1 reached as high as 8-to-1 in late 2020. Also complicating the commercial truck area of the supply chain are driver shortages on both sides of the border.”
The report said the national trucking association in Mexico (CANACAR) estimated that Mexico has a shortage of up to 50,000 truckers.
Retail per capita availability of fresh tangerines/tangelos and mandarins has increased 187% since 2000, USDA statistics show. This has been helped by a doubling of domestic production and a quadrupling of imports.
Retail 2020 per capita consumption of tangerines/tangelos/mandarins was 6.3 pounds, up from 2.7 pounds in 2000.
The total U.S. supply of soft citrus varieties was 2.3 billion pounds in 2020, with 1.42 billion pounds supplied by domestic production and 862 million pounds from imports.
That compares with 870 million pounds of total supply in 2000, when 657 million pounds were grown in the U.S. and 220 million pounds were imported.
The share of supply provided by imports rose from 24% in 2000 to 37% in 2020, according to the USDA.