Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
by Branch: A Family Of Farms
South Bay, Fla. – Branch: A Family of Farms, the country’s largest distributor of sweet corn, is in the midst of a promising season of leafy green production out of their Belle Glade and South Bay, Fla. farms.
The region and its crops were spared by Hurricane Michael in early October which allowed Branch to ship its full offering of leafy greens without interruption.
“We are very lucky that we can meet demand of leaf lettuce from our Florida farms,” says Brett Bergmann, president of Branch. “We look forward to providing our customers with fresh, quality product this holiday season.”
Branch’s farmers grow a full assortment of leaf items including green and red leaf, Boston, romaine, endive, escarole, parsley, dill, cilantro and Chinese cabbage. This year’s forecasted cool winter provides ideal growing conditions for Florida leafy greens.
Branch growers invest in trialing new varieties each new season to provide the best items available. This year’s new offerings include a new green leaf variety and three romaine varieties which were bred specifically for the Florida environment. These varieties have good head size and weight and are excellent for romaine hearts. Additionally, a new endive was introduced that grows in a more upright and conical manner. This helps reduce shrink through minimizing rib breakage as well as making it easier to pack.
“Our primary goal from our research and development process is to continuously improve upon the eating experience for the consumer and of course improve upon how existing varieties perform in the Southern climates,” said Bergmann. “We thrive from having collaborative conversations around product innovation with customers. More so than ever before, it’s imperative to be continuously innovating and planning out varieties and supply needs well in advance.”
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About Branch
Since 1957, our founding principles still drive us at Branch: integrity, quality, service – a commitment to our industry and the sustainability of our environment. As a family owned and operated business, we are a premier grower, packer, shipper of sweet corn in the United States also offering our customers green beans, leafy greens, radishes and celery.
Mexican produce shipments crossing the border at Nogales, AZ typically has its heaviest volume the first three months of each New Year and this time around looks no different.
West Mexico vegetables, most of which goes through Nogales for distribution around North American, is expected to be mostly normal.
The Fresh Produce Association of the Americans, based in Nogales, reported tropical storms during the growing season may slow the start of the season for some crops, but in total volumes are expected to be on track with previous years. Most years Nogales grows 1 to 3 percent in total volume.
Chamberlain Distributing Inc. of Nogales point to excessive rains that brought challenges with some crops in Sonora and Sinaloa, with some produce being affected more than others. Some seasons may even end sooner than usual, especially in Sonora, with items ranging from cucumbers to bell peppers and squash.
MAS Melons & Grapes of Rio Rico, AZ expresses optimism and notes most crops are looking good. The company is now winding down vegetables harvests from Caborca and Hermosillo. Harvest is not moving on to Colima, and will continue until about March. This means continuous shipments of watermelons, honeydews and mini watermelons lasting until mid-July.
Vamdervoet & Associates Inc. of Nogales has been shipping good volumes of honeydew, although Sonora production may end sooner than normal this season. The company report as many as 100 loads of watermelon a day has been crossing the border at Nogales.
Bernardi & Associates Inc. of Nogales admits quality hasn’t been the greatest on some Mexican vegetables since the season started last fall, but see that improving as the harvest moves along.
Del Campo Supreme Inc. of Nogales reports its tomato and pepper crops are looking good, despite delays in plantings due to rain. Still, the company expects to have normal volume this season. It expects to be shipping Mexican vegetables from mid December into May.
Coast-to-coast there have been weather and natural disasters which have greatly reduced shipments of collard greens in the holiday season.
There have been hurricanes in the southeast and wildfires and Santa winds in California, as well as rain in Texas.
WP Rawl of Pelion, S.C., is a grower, processor and shipper of leafy greens and notes hurricanes Florence and Michael had the indirect effect of heavy rains and winds during a three-week period in the east and southeast. This resulted in trying growing season and stunted crops, including collard greens.
Growers in different regions of the country harvested fields earlier than usual because of the weather and high demand for Thanksgiving, leading to a lack of shipments for the holiday season.
“After the Thanksgiving holiday and unseasonable weather, our crops did not recover to the level we had in years prior,” Ashley Rawl, vice president of sales, marketing and product development, said in a press release. “Our team made a collective decision to delay harvesting for a few weeks to allow our crops the opportunity to grow.”
San Miguel Produce of Oxnard, CA., reported this is only the second time in two decades that the greens industry has seen such a national shortage.
“Most times shortages are regional and there are options to work with colleagues around the country to help fill gaps,” Jan Berk, owner and chief operations officer of San Miguel Produce, said in a news release. “Unfortunately, we have called other growers the past few weeks hoping someone might have extra or recovered sooner than expected … only to hear they are short too and looking to source collards.”
Growers have been pushing crops with additional fertilizer to spur growth for Christmas demand, according to San Miguel Produce, but there is still concern about availability to meet demand. It is peak season for the dark leafy greens category, according to the release, and many growers have invested in crops for many months to prepare for the season’s harvest.
Collards are sometimes associated with comfort and prosperity, according to the release, making them high in demand around the holidays. As a result some growers and shippers are promoting other greens in the place of collards.
“We consider this a great opportunity to encourage consumers to try other types of leafy greens,” Rawl said in the release. “With similar nutritional profiles, kale, mustard greens, and turnip greens are just as good for you and have similar tastes.”
By California Giant Berry Farms
WATSONVILLE, CA – It’s been a year full of development and expansion at California Giant Berry Farms.
Not only has the berry company turned into a year-round powerhouse supplier of berries, but they also kicked off their newly implemented winter cross-docking collaboration in November with Mann Packing in Yuma, Arizona.
“We launched this cross-docking consolidation collaboration to provide customers with a one-stop-shop,” explains California Giant Director of Foodservice, Tom Smith. “The duration of the Yuma season typically runs from late November through mid-March – during this timeframe we can approximate cross-docking 15,000-20,000 cartons of fruit per week, resulting in a much more efficient consolidation process. Customers can reduce the number of stops on their trucks, therefore reducing time on the road and adding shelf life to the berries when they arrive to the consumer. We plan to return to the Salinas Valley in Spring 2019 to further this partnership as we continue to service our customers.”
In addition to their one-stop-shop approach – they are essentially bringing the ‘shop’ to their partners so they can also load their vegetable orders while in the desert. The continuation of collaborating with vegetable shippers is certainly on their radar as they explore freight-forwarding opportunities in the future.
As much needed rainfall swept California a couple of weeks ago and brought the Salinas-Watsonville season to an end, berry volume remains strong and steady for California Giant as Mexico, Florida and South America contribute to the fall-winter months with an abundance of fresh, quality berries.
This year, the berry company has expanded their raspberry program, providing year-round availability of the crop, while adding consistency to their 4-berry program. The key word for California Giant is consistency: in quality, consumer messaging, and production – they are now able to supply their partners and consumers with all their berry needs, all the time.
The company’s evolving and rapidly expanding Mexico raspberry program has grown 10-fold within the last year alone. The program has already resulted in well-received feedback from their partners – not to mention the impressive growing methods and techniques behind the Mexico winter crop. In addition to this, the incredible raspberry variety – the Adelita – bred from Planasa, can arguably stand up to any other variety or label on the market.
“This expanding raspberry program has been pivotal for us,” says California Giant Director of Retail Sales, Nick Chappell, who recently visited their Central Mexico operations covering over 1,300 miles of terrain and met with multiple growers and field personnel. “Our raspberry operations in Mexico are both advanced and progressive, and ultimately, the gap we once had in the winter months where our raspberry supply had fallen short has now been filled. We look forward to offering year-round availability of all four berries and offering a smooth transition from our Mexico season all the way through the start of our California season.”
Volume with imports of Chilean fruit are becoming a little more in focus as forecast evaluations from a big hail storm last November are being summarized.
Export volume of Chilean cherries for the 2018-19 season are projected to be 10.5 percent lower than last season and off 7.1 percent from the initial estimate this year. Cherry exports are estimated at 33.44 million boxes, down from 37.38 million boxes a year ago. Peak export shipments of Chile cherries are expected the last week of December and the first week of January, with the season wrapping up by late February.
Most Chilean cherries are exported to China, but the U.S. also receives volume.
Through November 24th, the USDA reported season-to-date-shipments of Chilean cherries to the U.S. totaled 200,000 pounds, down from 2 million pounds for the same period last year.
Fewer Blueberries
Chilean blueberries apparently had less damage with the hard-hit O’Higgins region representing about 7 percent of the total planted area. However, hail also was reported in some growing areaser area of blueberries in the Maule Region. From the metropolitan region of Santiago to the south, over 4,900 acres of blueberries could have some damage from hail storms.
Chilean blueberry exports for 2018-19 are now projected at 100,800 metric tons, 4 percent lower than the 105,000 metric tons initially forecast. Reduction in volume will be felt in early and mid-season exports.
Through mid-November, about 1,905 metric tons had been exported from Chile, mostly bound for North America. Peak blueberry shipments are expected from December through February, with shipments continuing into March.
Through November 24th, the USDA reported season-to-date imports of Chilean blueberries totaled 2.4 million pounds, down from 3.7 million pounds the same time last year.
Chilean Grapes
The first Chilean grape imports on the East Coast are expected a few days prior to Christmas. While some Chilean grape advocates have said North America grape buyers are not interested in older varieties like California’s flames and red globes, the California grape trade is saying it will be shipping domestic grapes through most of January.
North America is Chile’s biggest grape market, taking 45 percent (39 million boxes) of Chilean grape export volume during the 2017-18 season.
When shipping any produce across borders whether from the USA to Mexico or Canada or the other way around, it is always good to consider the topic of international payments. While this may appear as a miniscule and rather technical area, it is in fact can get very expensive when paying or being paid through foreign currency.
Why can cross-border payments take a bite into a business’ bottom line? The reason for that is the exchange rate you’re getting for your foreign currency. Let’s take the Canadian Dollar to USA rate as an example. For December 13, 2018, the interbank official exchange rate stands at 0.748. If you are due for a payment of US $10,000, it means you should be charging $13,361.85 Canadian. In practice, U.S banks will never exchange foreign currency for the official exchange rate – they offer a much lesser rate than that. So, if your bank currently offers a rate of 0.723 (which is within range for what most U.S banks offer) you would trade that 13,361.85 Canadian to $9,660 US – netting a loss of $340 US against your original goal of $10,000 just because you were willing to accept foreign currency payments.
There’s a better way to deal with inbound and outbound international money transfers, though. The fact some banks may be overly expensive or demonstrate abusive behavior should not deter you from international business. Of course, it is preferable that whomever you engage in business will pay you in US Dollars but in some cases that may just not be possible. There are third party providers who are able to transfer and receive money from abroad in foreign currency and exchange it to dollar for much better rates.
These companies are named money transfer companies or FX providers. There aren’t particularly known or popular in North America, but as many as 50% of the internationally trading small businesses in the UK and Australia use them. In spite of the fact that these companies have limited success to date in the North American markets in comparison with the rest of the world, they maintain a strong presence. Take OFX for example, one of the top rated for online transfers – they have offices in San Francisco with a large staff, while their headquarters are in Sydney, Australia. The firm employees more than 700 employees worldwide and is traded in the Australian stock exchange so you know that not only you are going to get better rates, your money is safe too.
While excessive heat and untimely rains during the growing season, After a lighter-than-normal start in late October, Florida’s tomato shipments started accelerating in mid-November.
Florida tomato shipments are now shifting from Central to Southern Florida and will continue into the winter. Peak volume from Sinaloa, Mexico and South Florida is coming as volume ramps up volume in December.
Last year, there was 25.9 million 25-pound equivalent containers of round tomatoes shipped.
This represents a 21 percent decrease compared to the previous season and the smallest crop on record since 1976-77, when a freeze knocked out Florida’s winter crop.
The significant volume reduction in 2017-18 was mainly due to the result to the fall crop caused by Hurricane Irma.
Citrus Shipments
Florida orange shipments have been downgraded to 77 million boxes, off 3 percent from October in a new estimate.
The USDA adjusted estimate also includes other citrus. Early, midseason and navel varieties are forecast at 32 million boxes, down 6 percent from last month, according the USDA crop report released November 8th. Valencias are forecast at 45 million boxes, unchanged from last month’s estimate.
The grapefruit crop forecast decreased by 300,000 to 6.4 million.
While some of the projections have been lowered, the numbers still represent a very significant improvement on the 2017-18 season, when the crop was devastated by Hurricane Irma in September.
Other Oranges
California is estimated to ship 49 million boxes of oranges, up from 45.4 million last year. The state is expected to have 40 million boxes of early, midseason and navel varieties, up from 35.9 million last year.
Texas is forecast to ship 1.8 million boxes of early, midseason and navel varieties and 600,000 boxes of valencia oranges.
Grapefruit
The USDA projected 3.9 million boxes of grapefruit from California, down slightly from last season. Florida is expected to produce 6.4 million boxes, including 5.3 million of red grapefruit and 1.1 million of white grapefruit. Texas is forecast to have 6.2 million boxes of grapefruit this season, up from 4.8 million in 2017-18.
Other Citrus
California is expected to increase mandarin and tangerine production from 19.2 million boxes to 23 million boxes, and Florida’s volume is forecast to grow from 750,000 boxes to 1.2 million boxes.
Arizona is projected to produce 1.4 million boxes of lemons, up from 1 million last year. California’s production is expected to dip slightly from 21.2 million to 20 million.
Initial Florida strawberry shipments got underway with the arrival of December and a good, quality crop is being reported.
Well-Pict Inc. of Watsonville, CA, also grows strawberries in Wimauma, south of Tampa, and will continue to ship strawberries from there until mid- to late March.
The Florida Strawberry Growers Association Inc. in Dover, FL predicts the state will have about 10,000 acres of strawberries this season.
Astin Strawberry Exchange of Plant City, FL has increased its organic berries this season, and similar to conventional berries, should have good volume the first half of December, peak shipments taking place from late January until mid-March. Heaviest volume for the company occurs during February. Astin’s organic production is up 40 percent, while conventional volume has increased by 10 percent. The company expects to ship 6 million flats this season.
Grape Shipments
California grape shipments and how long they will last has importers in a quandry.
Vanguard International USA, Inc. of Issaquah, WA reports if the quality of California table grapes hold up, the harvest could last until the end of the year, with shipments lasting into January. At the same time Vanguard points out Peru’s global grape shipments were up 40 percent year-on-year to 3.4 million boxes as of October 31st. But U.S. buyers will stick with California grapes as long as the quality is there.
Meanwhile, the California industry set a new 5-year record shipping 23 million boxes worldwide between September 8th and October 12th.
Pandol Bros. Inc. of Delano, CA believes the total California crop might even be 10 million more boxes than 2017. Pandol noted in 2017, late season grape shipments were disappointing because there were so many cold storages full of aging grapes. There are some concerns this year over a repeat of last season.
Pandol reports most retailers are planning to transition to Peruvian grapes later this season, which would be in January, instead of the second half of December. The company also observed retailers know the ports can be problematic around the Christmas and New Year holidays and the logistics of trucking from California are more reliable.
Chile’s table grapes have been hit by a recent hail storm, but the extent of damage is yet to be assessed. It is expected that the bad weather has slashed the walnut crop in half, while the cherry crop could have up to $100 million in losses.
Potato shipments should be strong during the holidays and well into 2019, despite bad weather in some growing regions and an overall reduction in production.
Potatoes USA of Denver is the marketing organization for the 2,500 commercial potato growers operating in the United States. It reports overall shipments may be slightly below last year, which was the period July 2017 to July 2018.
It believes shipments to foodservice and retail chains will continue to grow this year.
Potandon Produce of Idaho Falls, Idaho reports excessive rain hit many potato growers, particularly in Wisconsin, and Michigan, while there has been an early snow season in North Dakota. Meanwhile, Colorado, Texas, Idaho and Washington were experiencing good-sized crops.
The Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association of Antigo reports the state’s potato shipments may be down 10 to 15 percent, which would mean a total production of just over 2.3 billion pounds — down from about 2.6 billion last year.
In Grand Forks, N.D., Black Gold Farms reduced its acreage slightly this year because the company had too many potatoes last year.
Black Gold Farms grows and ships norland and dark norland potatoes for the early season, red potatoes for mid-season and the sangre variety for late season.
The company is now shipping a few more yellow potatoes.
Mountain King Potato of Monte Vista, CO., is reporting excellent quality and average yields.
Mack Farms of Lake Wales, FL has planted mostly red potatoes and some gold and white varieties. It will begin harvesting in early February, and is the first Florida operation to ship new potatoes to market. The company does not ship potatoes out of storage.
Most South Florida potato growers are expected to have about the same acreage as last year.
Russet potatoes continue to be the variety most widely shipped, but they continue to decline each year with the increasing popularity of red and gold potatoes.
A devastating storm described as the worst in 15 years has hit a number of growing areas in Chile. The severe hailstorm is expected to affect at least $200 million in crops.
The Federation of Fruit Producers (Fedefruta) reports Chilean fruit production has been hit across Chile’s central and southern regions, with cherries among the most affected. The large sized hail lasted an amazing 20 to 30 minutes. The worst affected areas in the central O’Higgins region represents 26.5 percent of the Chile’s fruit production. Crops hit hardest include cherries, table and wine grapes, kiwifruit, nectarines, almonds, walnuts, among many others.
The area accounts for 40 percent of the region’s fruit-producing land, or 74, 100 acres, and almost 10 percent of the national total. Cherries and table grapes have received the most damage, followed by stone fruit.
Further south in the country, in the Maule Norte and Ñuble region, which has about 24,700 acres of blueberries, there appears to be significant damage not only from hail, but from heavy rainfall.
Prior to the adverse weather Oppenheimer Group of Vancouver, Canada was expecting normal imports with Chilean peaches, plums and nectarines.
While shipments were going to be limited in December, volume was to ramp up in January and continue in volume into March.
Jac Vandenberg Inc. of Yonkers, NY was giving a similar report.
In calendar year 2017, the USDA reported Chile shipped 66.2 million pounds of peaches, 96.5 million pounds of plums and 97.7 million pounds of nectarines to the U.S.
Those numbers were off compared with calendar year 2016, when Chile sent 80.9 million pounds of peaches, 124.3 million pounds of plums and 119.1 million pounds of nectarines to the U.S.
Acreage of stone fruit has declined in Chile in recent years, with peach and nectarine acreage falling from about 47,400 acres in 2013 to 41,600 acres in 2016.
Peach and nectarine production in Chile declined from 369,000 metric tons in 2014 to 337,000 metric tons in 2016, according to the United National Food and Agriculture Organization.
Plum acreage has dropped from 46,000 acres in 2013, to about 43,000 acres in 2016, according to the FAO. Plum production dipped from 312,000 metric tons in 2013 to 295,000 metric tons in 2016.
Apple outlook
No reports have been issued on how Chile’s apple and pear shipments to the U.S. may be affected, perhaps because its season is later, mainly arriving in the U.S. from March through July.
Prior to the weather event, The USDA projected that Chile will export about 720,000 metric tons of apples in 2018-19 season, down 4 percent from 750,000 metric tons exported in 2017-18.
The U.S. is the top market for Chilean apples.
Chile’s total apple planted area decreased from 92,775 acres in 2013 to about 85,000 acres in 2017. The decline is because apple exports have not been as profitable as other crops such as cherries, walnuts and hazelnuts.
Chilean pear production in 2018-19 totaled 250,000 metric tons after a 3.8 percent decrease in planted area. Chile’s pear exports in 2018-19 were projected to decrease to 127,000 metric tons, a 2.3 percent decrease due to lower than expected production.