Archive For The “News” Category
The market dynamics that have led to higher transportation costs were a long time coming and won’t quickly be solved.
Industry leaders discussed some strategies to deal with the problems during a recent United Fresh Reimagine webinar on the future of transportation.
“We project this is a multiyear problem, probably 48 months or longer,” said Todd Bernitt, Vice President – Managed Services for Robinson Fresh.
“The driver pool problem may take a decade or longer to play out,” he said about the driver shortage.
He said a normal load-to-truck ration should be 2.5 or 3 loads per truck. Now it’s about 8-1.
“We’ve seen peaks I’ve never seen before,” Bernitt said, citing 30-1 ratios from Florida this spring and 40-1 from Texas during the winter storms earlier this year.
“All of this is market based,” said Brian Kocher, President and CEO of Castellini Company LLC. “All of this fits together. Regional growing will change the strategy, as with urban, greenhouses and vertical farms. We’re building as much flexibility as we can and advise our partners to do that.”
One simple solution to improving driver retention is to treat drivers and transportation companies better, said Jeff Moore, Vice President of Sales for Tom Lange Company Inc.
“Treat carriers like your best supplier or your best customer,” Bernitt said.
Shipments of asparagus from Peru to PortMiami have continued to grow this year after last year’s record.
During the first three months of the year, the Florida port has processed a record number, over 14.1 million of pounds of asparagus.
“Miami-Dade County is a new gateway for asparagus from Peru to Florida, as well as for millions of consumers across the USA and Canada,” the port said in a release.
During 2020, PortMiami imported over 148.7 million pounds of
asparagus, shattering the previous year’s record of 112.9 pounds.
Over the years, the number of asparagus has increased exponentially, from just 26.2 million pounds in 2017.
So far this calendar year, PortMiami has imported 13 percent more than by the same time last year.
The significant increases in asparagus imports via ocean transportation to Miami demonstrate that importers consider PortMiami as their preferred gateway.
“The reason that Miami-Dade County attracts asparagus from Peru is due to the fact that we have an abundance of cold storage warehouses and some of the most experienced fumigation providers in the industry,” the press release said.
Peru contributes the largest share of asparagus that enters into PortMiami. The majority of asparagus varieties imported from Peru to PortMiami are Green Asparagus.
Demand for Imports from Peru have been substantial this year. A major factor for Peruvian growers is that the climate allows two full crops of asparagus a year, providing plenty of vegetables to Miami-Dade County.
According to Max Rodriguez, Director of Peru Trade Office, Miami. (PROMPERU), “Miami, despite the Covid19 crisis, asparagus exports continued to grow in 2020 and will continue to grow in 2021, consolidating Peru as the main supplier of asparagus in Florida and the second supplier in the United States.”
Recently Seaboard has added an express service between Peru and PortMiami that has helped create an exponential increase in asparagus imports, as the express route is only 9 days from Callao, 7 days from Paita and 6 days from Guayaquil.
Fresno, CA – Prima Wawona, the world’s leading grower and marketer of conventional and organic peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots recently announced that it is expanding its acreage by another 2600 acres devoted to growing Stone Fruit. The new acreage increases the company’s total to almost 15,000 acres, equating to 1.0 million additional Stone Fruit trees, and further establishes Prima Wawona as the leading Stone Fruit grower in the world.
“As industry leaders, this investment represents an ongoing commitment to the growth and development of the Stone Fruit category and will help us achieve our long-term objectives. It will allow Prima Wawona to expand its ability to grow, harvest, pack and ship the healthiest, most delicious, highest quality Stone Fruit” said Eric Beringause, Chief Executive Officer of Prima Wawona.
“We look forward to building our partner relationships with valued retail and wholesale customers across North America and around the world by providing additional product for their shoppers who acknowledge and appreciate Prima brands as the best Stone Fruit available” said Kevin J. Kollock, Chief Commercial Officer. “Additional Stone Fruit will also provide selling opportunities with new customers who may not have experience with our superior products”. Kollock added that “our expansion will put Prima Wawona acreage at a total approaching double the peach acreage of all of Georgia, a state known for peaches”.
Prima Wawona has been involved in breeding & growing Stone Fruit for generations. The company is known for its unrivaled quality and consistency across multiple varieties. Prima Wawona is committed to quality control, unwavering attention to food safety, and ongoing research and development. The 2,600-acre expansion is on top of approximately 1,000 acres that are redeveloped and replanted with new trees every year as older plantings age out of production and further reflects the company’s commitment and investment in Stone Fruit.
“This expansion is an exciting opportunity for our team, customers, and ultimately consumers” said Mark Murai, Senior Vice President of Agricultural Operations. “We are the best in the industry in understanding what it takes to deliver the finest Stone Fruit available. That commitment to excellence includes our extensive proprietary breeding program and development of new, innovative varieties in both conventional and organic fruit that this additional acreage will provide”. Murai added that “as a company we are focused on sustainable farming practices and will be utilizing cutting-edge water management technology on all of our new & redevelopment acreage”.
For more information, please email the Prima Wawona Team at info@prima.com.
About Prima® Wawona:
Prima® Wawona is the largest producer of stone fruit in the U.S. Based in the heart of California’s central San Joaquin Valley.
By Matt Sarko,Transportation Broker, ALC Cleveland
Since the beginning of last year, the increase in the cost of freight has not only impacted the transportation industry but the economy as a whole. Transportation costs are now at an all-time high as drivers and trucks are currently in short supply.
Food prices rose 3.9% in 2020 and the U.S. Department of Agriculture anticipates another 2% to 3% increase for costs in 2021. The increase in transportation prices is primarily due to the shortage in drivers causing trucking companies to increase wages to attract more employees.
Additionally, the market is experiencing a shortage in semi-conductors, which is keeping new trucks from coming on the market and has since exacerbated the issue. The increase in transportation costs only adds to the supply chain problems for growers, suppliers, and retailers as they are still experiencing the effects of congested ports as well as the winter storm, which both continue to have widespread impacts across the U.S.
Furthermore, the rise in the price of fuel is also a major contributor to the inflated freight costs. As a result of these supply chain complications, retailers have begun raising prices on a number of different goods in order to offset the shortages and transportation costs. “The rise in transportation prices affects everything from the farmer and the tractor, to the fertilizer and even the plastic hamper you put the product in.”
With the supply chain in disorder, we will continue to see a rise in the price of consumer goods. Moreover, the cost of transportation will ultimately affect the prices of publicly traded companies such as Bed Bath & Beyond and General Mills, considering they have alerted investors about these problems on their earnings call.
For transportation brokers like ourselves, taking advantage of the spot market whenever possible might be the best way to combat the losses taken on contractual year round rates as freight prices continue to rise, and to also keep important products, produce, and perishables moving across the country.
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Matt began working fulltime for the Allen Lund Company in August of 2020 as a transportation broker for the Cleveland office. He originally started working his summer breaks during college as a broker’s assistant for the office. Matt joined the company with a degree in Finance from John Carroll University.
Mexico is now the world’s leading strawberry exporter in 2020, having over taken Spain.
The Mexico News Daily reported for over 20 years Spain was led the pack with $646 million in sales in 2020, while Mexico reached over $851 million, an increase of 12.4 percent from 2019.
The U.S. ranks third with $477 million.
Mexican strawberries’ main export destination was the U.S., as it imported 99.3 percent of Mexico’s shipments. Spain mainly exports within Europe.
Mexico overcame difficulties prompted by the current pandemic such as shortage of labor and the collapse of foodservice demand, to which 15 percent of the fruit is sold.
On the other hand, the pandemic contributed to the purchase of foods perceived as healthy, such as berries, according to the USDA.
The Mexican strawberry market surpassed the Belgian market in 2012, the Dutch in 2016, and the U.S. market in 2019.
U.S. onion consumption has increased over the past two decades.
Though the gains have not been dramatic, USDA per capita availability numbers for onions have consistently risen since 2000.
The USDA’s per capita retail availability for fresh onions (edible weight) has increased from 14.4 pounds in 2000 to 16.2 pounds in 2019. Per capita retail availability of onions reached 19.8 pounds in 2017, according to USDA statistics, before falling to 16.2 pounds for both 2018 and 2019.
The import share of the total U.S. onion supply was 14% in 2019, up from 6% in 2000, according to the USDA.
Here is a comparison of onion truck shipments from U.S. sources in 2020, compared with 2015 and 2010.
- Arizona: 19.1 million pounds, compared with 29.1 million pounds in 2015 and 24.7 million pounds in 2010;
- Central California: 339.1 million pounds, compared with 304.8 million pounds in 2015 and 328.9 million pounds in 2010;
- California Imperial Valley: 144.9 million pounds in 2020, compared with 119.1 million pounds in 2015 and 91.6 million pounds in 2010;
- California South: 16.1 million pounds in 2020, compared with 110.5 million pounds in 2015 and 113.1 million pounds in 2010;
- Colorado: 106.4 million pounds in 2020, compared with 159.6 million pounds in 2015 and 248.2 million pounds in 2010;
- Georgia: 180.1 million pounds in 2020, compared with 166.8 million pounds in 2015 and 181.9 million pounds in 2010;
- Idaho: 690.2 million pounds in 2020, compared with 478.7 million pounds in 2015 and 368.4 million pounds in 2010;
- Michigan: 47.9 million pounds, compared with 67.4 million pounds in 2015 and 65.2 million pounds in 2010;
- New Mexico: 415.3 million pounds, compared with 379.9 million pounds in 2015 and 319.5 million pounds in 2010;
- New York: 154.8 million pounds in 2020, compared with 236.2 million pounds in 2015 and 180.5 million in 2010;
- Oregon: 526.3 million pounds in 2020, compared with 644 million pounds in 2015 and 502.5 million in 2010;
- Texas: 299.7 million pounds in 2020, compared with 65 million pounds in 2015 and 273.5 million pounds in 2010;
- Utah: 74.1 million pounds in 2020, compared with 74.9 million pounds in 2015 and 59.5 million pounds in 2010;
- Washington: 1.11 billion pounds in 2020, compared with 775.9 million pounds in 2015 and 645.4 million pounds in 2010; and
- Wisconsin: 57.6 million pounds in 2020, compared with 44 million pounds in 2015 and 41.3 million pounds in 2010.
Rouge River Farms of Gormley, ON has acquired of all assets and shares of Magnolia Packing of Americus, GA.
Magnolia is a green bean grower and packer with operations in Florida and Georgia.
Following the agreement with Rouge River Farms, Magnolia will continue to operate with their current management and sales staff to ensure a smooth transition to the new ownership.
The Magnolia green bean packing operation is expected to complement the corn program at Rouge River, and this year the company will be able to offer a year round green bean program with the opening of its new packinghouse in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
Magnolia has 5,000 acres of green beans planted.
About Rouge River Farms
Rouge River Farms is a premiere distributor of sweet corn to grocery chains throughout North America and has farmland and packinghouses in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, and Ontario, providing farm fresh sweet corn year round.
4th Of July:
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the evolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants; nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well-educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.
Also approximately 1/5th of the colonists fought against the British. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they paid.
It’s time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more MEANING to it than beer, fireworks, HOT DOGS, and picnics.
Dole pineapples and bananas to the United States will pass through Port Tampa Bay starting in late July, via a new shipper service according to the Tampa Bay newspaper.
In addition to fruit, the direct weekly route linking Tampa, Honduras and Guatemala will also deliver containerized shipping of cargo such as automobiles and other commodities. Two ships, the MV Dole Maya and MV Dole Aztec, will deliver all goods and materials from Central America to Tampa; Gulfport, Miss.; and Freeport, Texas.
One reason Tampa was picked was a 135,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse that opened in 2018, allowing the port to receive shipments of bananas, pineapples, limes, mangoes and other fruit from Central America.
“Our cold storage and port terminal operations facility is ideally positioned to serve the Tampa/Orlando I-4 corridor, which is Florida’s largest and fastest growing market, and reaching well beyond,” developer Richard Corbett of Port Logistics Refrigerated Services, which operates the warehouse, said in a statement.
John Trummel, vice president and general manager of Dole’s commercial cargo division, said in a statement the new Tampa route would enable the company and its non-agricultural clients new ways to reach their destinations “faster and more competitively.”
While Dole Food Company is the world’s leading commercial producer of pineapples and bananas. Port president and CEO Paul Anderson highlighted the opportunity to import all kinds of commodities.
“This marks a major milestone in our strategic efforts to continue to diversify our cargo mix and expand our container volume, which is now our fastest growing line of business,” Anderson said in a statement.
A nearly 20% decline in spending on eating out occasions contributed to a 5% decline in food spending in 2020, according to the USDA.
In a report on food expenditures, the USDA said 2020 U.S. spending on food totaled about $1.56 trillion, 5.3% lower than the $1.65 trillion spent on food in the U.S. in 2019. Last year was only the second time annual total food expenditures decreased over the last 25 years.
The only other time spending decreased, notes the USDA, was in 2009 during the Great Recession.
The 2020 decrease in total food spending was driven by an 18.3% drop in spending at restaurants, cafeterias, and other eating-out places.
Because of the additional cost of eating away from home, that decrease outweighed an 8.5% jump in food-at-home (FAH) spending.
For the past 25 years, U.S. food annual total expenditures and the share of food-away-from-home showed steady increases, with the highest share of food away from home spending occurring during the summer months.
The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic limited mobility of U.S. consumers and led to an economic recession for most of 2020, disrupting historical trends in food spending,” the USDA report said.
In April 2020, U.S. consumers spent about two-thirds of their food dollars at food at home retailers (grocery outlets), the highest value on record.
The last quarter of 2020 saw monthly increases in food at home spending, an expected outcome of colder weather and holiday meal preparation, which resulted in record-high food at home spending in December.
On the other hand, food away from home spending decreased in November by 10% and showed a slight increase in December but remained well below 2019 levels.
“While COVID-19 vaccine distribution for select groups began in the United States in December 2020, the post-pandemic landscape of the food economy remains unclear,” the USDA said.