Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
California is expected one of its larger grape season shipping season on record. Meanwhile, Washington state stone fruit shipments are gearing up.
San Joaquin Valley grape shipments get underway in the southern district of Arvin next week and will have a significant growth in several newer table grape varieties and an overall increase in volume compared to a year ago. It also is expected to be the second-largest California table grape shipping season in history.
The 2018 crop estimate statewide that also includes the Coachella Valley is estimated at 115 million boxes [19-pound equivalent], up from last year’s 109 million boxes. This increase will be coming from the San Joaquin Valley. The record is 117.5 million boxes for the 2013 crop.
Although most of the volume increase in 2018 will be in Kern and Tulare counties, there are also more plantings in the Arvin district , which is traditionally the earliest district in the valley.
By contrast, volume is down in the Coachella Valley in California’s southern desert, where the season is coming to an end. The 2018 estimate for the Coachella Valley is 4.5 million boxes, down from 5 million last year. The Coachella season precedes the San Joaquin Valley season and corresponds to the timing of the Sonora, Mexico, grape deal. Sonora and Coachella are often referred to, collectively, as desert grapes (although sometime, in the California context, the term is used in reference to Coachella only).
Sonora grape growers are estimating a harvest this year of 16 million boxes, down from 21 million last year. A smooth transition from the Sonora and Coachella seasons into the early San Joaquin deal is expected. Coachella and Sonora are roughly about 20 percent less than what they were last year.
Washington Stone Fruit Shipments
Early season stone fruit shipments start in July and will peak in volume from mid-August to late September. About one-half Washington state stone fruit acreage in now planted organic and by the end of 2018 it will be over two-thirds organic.
Washington peaches, nectarines, apricots and Italian prunes are expected to be similar in volume to 2017.
In 2017, Washington’s 400 stone fruit growers harvested 8,400 tons of peaches, which is an average size crop. Nectarines had 7,000 tons, while apricots came in with 6,600 tons, trending upward from previous years.
Peach and nectarine shipments start in July and peaking in August and September. Apricots started in June and go through July, with some extending into August. Prune shipments occur during July and August.
Higher freight rates, particularly from western shipping states, are making Michigan summer produce more attractive to buyers and receivers. The result is boosting Michigan produce demand and truck rates, because of the freight advantage of being closer to markets in the eastern half of the U.S.
The electronic logging device (ELD)mandate also is created with making trucking cost significantly more expensive.
For example, E. Miedema & Sons of Byron Center, MI will be shipping more summer vegetables to markets closer to home. Michigan sweet corn shippers have a significant freight advantage over Florida corn to midwestern markets. Sometimes Florida corn may cost as much in freight as the f.o.b. Additionally, shipping to closer markets means the corn is that much fresher. Sweet corn will not start for a few more weeks.
Superior Sales of Hudsonville, MI is another shipper noticing higher freight rates determining where receivers source their product.
Van Solkema Produce of Byron Center, MI is another shipper finding more interest in their Michigan grown produce in part due to the lower transportation costs.
As a result over the past five years the shipper has started handling items beyond the traditional staple produce items such as brussel sprouts and green onions.
Naturipe Farms of Estero, FL also handles Michigan blueberries. They ship Michigan “blues” to practically every major midwestern retail chain.
Michigan asparagus shipments also has experienced changes in the last few years. Michigan “grass” used to be known as a local product with distribution mainly limited to in-state receivers. It eventually widened its appeal and extended to markets on the east coast. This season a significant amount of Michigan asparagus is being shipped to destinations west of the Mississippi River. There are now even a couple of West Coast companies that are marketing asparagus for Michigan shippers. The asparagus season in Michigan is just wrapping up.
Close-up on woman’s mouth with cherry
By BC Tree Fruits Cooperative
KELOWNA, BC – With the sunshine in the Okanagan Valley and summer on the horizon, the excitement is growing as the summer fruits from the orchards of BC Tree Fruits Cooperative (BC Tree Fruits) growers’ are near. A combination of ideal weather conditions through bloom and the post-bloom periods as well as new production coming on has resulted in an estimated 12 million pound cherry crop this season.
Consumers will start seeing Okanagan cherries from the orchards of BC Tree Fruits in stores starting the end of June and with the anticipated record crop over the warm summer months.
The 12 million pounds of BC Tree Fruits cherries estimated for this season matches the estimate from last season – although the crop in 2017 came in short of the initial estimate at 10.1 million pounds due to weather challenges across the region. In addition to cherries, BC Tree Fruits is anticipating a very good peach, nectarine, prune, plum and table grape crop with volumes either slightly up or similar to last year.
“Mother nature served our growing regions with ideal weather conditions through bloom into the post-bloom period, which has resulted in a lot of fruit on the trees,” says BC Tree Fruits Marketing Manager Chris Pollock. “Our growers are excited and prepared for great summer fruits crop this year with harvest starting end of June for cherries in the South, with the fruit hitting retail shelves very soon after.”
The primary market for BC Tree Fruits summer fruits remains Western Canada. BC Tree Fruits also continues to export increased volumes of cherries to the United States and key export markets.
About BC Tree Fruits Cooperative:
BC Tree Fruits Cooperative is comprised of over 430 local grower families who grow a variety of tree fruit commodities including apples, cherries, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, prunes, plums and grapes. BC Tree Fruits head office is located in Kelowna, BC.
by NJ Peach Promotion Council
Glassboro NJ — After a warmer than normal February and a cool March, New Jersey peach growers had a full bloom in mid-April and New Jersey peach shipments will be getting underway by the Fourth of July.
Leonard Grasso, owner of Angelo Grasso and Son Farms with his father Angelo, grows peaches south of Mullica Hill, in Gloucester County, NJ. “We are in good shape with all of our trees pruned, new trees planted, and anticipate a full crop of flowers,” stated Grasso. “We also grow a variety of vegetable crops, which gives us a hedge against financial loss in case we get some flower injury from lower temperatures, or other adverse weather that might reduce our peach crop. The Grassos expect to be marketing peaches from early July into September under the Top Crop label through the marketer Donio Inc in Hammonton. New Jersey.
“We continue to expand our peach and nectarine plantings and are optimistic about a full crop of peaches and nectarines,” said Lewis DeEugenio, owner of Summit City Farms and Winery near Glassboro and president of Jersey Fruit Marketing Cooperative in Glassboro. “We have a planting of the best new yellow-fleshed peaches and nectarines on our new farm on Rte 538 near Monroeville, NJ, which will produce its first big crop this year. We are always looking at new ways to market our Jersey Fruit label and this year have put in a new specialty pack line at Eastern Pro Pak in Glassboro that packs for us and other growers under the Jersey Fruit Brand.”
Recent statistics published by the National Peach Council estimate that NJ growers are producing about 5500 acres of peaches and nectarines and should harvest between 55, and 60 million pounds of fruit in 2018. “We are always optimistic at this time of year,” said Maccherone.
The San Joaquin Valley’s Westside District appears on the verge of having good melon shipments this season for with improved water availability and favorable weather. A significant increase in volume is expected over last year.
For example, Turlock Fruit Co. Inc. of Turlock, CA begins it initial harvest of honeydew and cantaloupe this week. The past several years there has been a lot of fallow ground in the area, but there will be less unused farm land this year.
Melon shipments continue from the deserts of California and Arizona and will be the primary supplier leading up to the Fourth of July, when volume will rapidly decline. The transition between the desert and the Westside districts is expected to be smoother than a year ago, with no gap in supply anticipated.
Westside Produce Inc. of Firebaugh, CA is just getting started, with volume expected to increase after Independence Day.
Last year California conventional cantaloupe shipments from the San Joaquin Valley totaled 14.82 million pound cartons, compared with 2.55 million cartons from the California’s Imperial Valley and 407,000 cartons from California’s Palo Verde Valley.
Those figures were off from 2016, when the USDA reported conventional shipments of California cantaloupe at 18.74 million cartons from the San Joaquin Valley, 4.09 million from California’s Imperial Valley, and 431,750 cartons from California’s Palo Verde Valley.
According to the USDA, conventional shipments of cantaloupe from the San Joaquin Valley in 2017 were 21 percent below 2016 levels and combined conventional cantaloupe shipments from all districts of 17.77 million cartons were off 24 percent from 23.26 million cartons in 2016.
By contrast, organic cantaloupe shipments showed mixed results in 2017, with San Joaquin Valley organic volume up in 2017 and Imperial Valley organic cantaloupe shipments down compared with 2016.
The USDA reported 2017 California organic cantaloupe shipments at 406,000 cartons from San Joaquin Valley, compared with 205,000 cartons from Imperial Valley.
Organic shipments in 2016 from San Joaquin Valley were rated at 396,500 cartons, compared with 337,500 cartons from Imperial Valley.
One should know summertime has arrived when Michigan vegetable shipments are moving into good, normal volume…..Some Washington apple shipments grossing a $1000 more than others.
Following a chilly spring, weather has warmed and crops have really been coming on. Buurma Farms of Gregory, MI started with light volume the last week of May with radishes, which soon were followed by cilantro, parsley, beets and celery.
Van Solkema Produce of Byron Center, MI is just getting underway with squash and cabbage, with initial loadings of celery coming just after the Fourth of July. Soon to follow will be sweet corn and cucumbers. Next will be brussel sprouts sometime during the last half of August.
Superior Sales of Hudsonville, MI handles grown green cabbage which begins any day now. By the last week of June there will be beets, bok choy, napa cabbage, zucchini and yellow squash. Sweet corn program shipments should start the third week of July.
Leitz Farms of Sodus, MI is now starting cucumbers, with blueberries getting underway next week, while grape tomatoes kick off around July 15 and romas and round tomatoes around July 25.
Naturipe Berry Growers, based in Salinas, CA, should begin shipments of Michigan blueberries before the Fourth of July.
Riveridge Produce Marketing of Sparta, MI launches its sweet cherry the first week of July, prune plums beginning August 10th, and early varieties apples in August.
Washington Apple Shipments
by Stemilt Growers
WENATCHEE, Wash. – The sweetest apple around is stepping into the spotlight thanks to Stemilt Growers’ new summertime promotion. The company is marketing its Sweet Summer Fuji Fest now through August with its finest and sweetest Fuji apples of the season.
Apples remain a key category in the produce department during the summer months. A Stemilt Fruit Tracker™ analysis of Nielsen scan data from June through August 2017 found apples to contribute 4.4 percent of total produce sales on average in the U.S. Fuji was the second top selling apple during the summer season in 2017. It accounted for 16.7 percent of apple category volume and 15.8 percent of category sales.
******
Washington apple, pear and cherry shipments are grossing about $7200 to New York City, with a few loads being reported as much as $1000 more.
Thanks to Hurricane Irma there will be a significant drop in Florida avocado shipments this season. As much as 60 percent of the volume may have been lost.
Most shipments will be get underway during the first half of June. Caution is recommended to Florida avocado haulers to be aware of possible wind scarring of the fruit and make sure their receivers are aware of it. However, most shippers are contending fruit quality overall is good.
Brooks Tropicals of Homestead, FL points out avocado trees have shallow roots and were hit hard by the storm.
J&C Tropicals of Miami, FL expects volume to be slashed by roughly 50 percent because of the September storm that ravaged agriculture across the state.
Unity Groves Corp. of Homestead, FL may have lost 50 to 60 percent of its normal crop, with about 25 percent of its avocado trees were toppled by the winds/ The tree will be out of circulation for 2 to 3 years. The company started shipping at the beginning of June and has increased its avocado acreage about 15 percent.
New Limeco of Princeton, FL is just starting to ship with the crop about two weeks behind last season. Apparently demand is so high in South Florida for the first pickings of avocados, that few rarely get out of the county. By mid- to late June there are higher volumes with much wider distribution.
About 10 percent of Florida avocado acreage has been lost to laurel wilt since 2012, with diseased trees being removed and adjacent trees being taken out as well to try and slow the spread of the disease. The vector is the ambrosia beetle. Hurricane Irma likely exacerbated the effects of laurel wilt.
The electronic logging device (ELD) mandate also continues to affect produce companies across the country as some shippers say the requirements have made transportation more complicated and more costly.
During the past 10 years there has been a resurgence of California garlic shipments. This means production levels not seen in decades.
Christopher Ranch of Gilroy, CA expects to ship about 100 million pounds of garlic this year, the most in years. Harvest got underway in early June.
The company was started in 1956 by Don Christopher with 10 acres of garlic.
Christopher Ranch harvested 5 million pounds of organic garlic in 2017 and expects to harvest 10 million pounds of organic garlic this year, easily the biggest organic crop for the grower/shipper.
For the first time, the company expects to ship 100 percent California organic garlic in 2018-19. It was forced to import some Argentina organic garlic the previous season.
A decline in California garlic started in the late 1990s, when the Chinese started dumping big supplies of garlic in the U.S. market. This forced Christopher Ranch to cut back from 100 to 90 to 80 million pounds and in 2008 volume had plummeted to about 45 million pounds of garlic, a historical low over the last two decades.
Fresh whole garlic represents about 45 percent of the company’s sales, with peeled garlic accounting for 45 percent and roasted garlic in jars accounting for the remainder.
Early garlic shipments start in June and continues for a couple of weeks and these inventories will last for about five months.
Late garlic will begin harvest in July and represents about 80 percent of total garlic volume.
While most of the company’s garlic used to be grown in the Gilroy area, a disease called white rot hit area fields in the 1990s and made it impossible to grow in those fields. Although the company still has about 500 acres in the greater Gilroy area, most of the company’s 5,500 acres are in the Central San Joaquin Valley of near Fresno and Firebaugh, with fields also near Salinas and the northern part of the San Joaquin Valley.
Although new crop harvest started a couple of weeks ago, the firm was still packing 2017 garlic from controlled atmosphere storage until new crop volume begins.
The 40th anniversary Gilroy Garlic Festival will be held July 27-29.
While most reports on Ontario vegetable shipments seem to focus on greenhouse-grown products, Canadian government statistics show the province has plenty of field-grown produce.
There were double digit increases in 2017 over 2016 with Ontario-grown beets, Brussels sprouts, green onions, radishes, parsnips and celery.
Additionally, Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Rural Affairs reported double digit acreage declines for carrots, cauliflower, sweet corn, field-grown tomatoes, squash and zucchini, field-grown cucumbers, pumpkins and squash, bell peppers, and lettuce.
The Holland Marsh muck region, located about 30 miles north of Toronto, grows about 75 percent of vegetables produced in Ontario and 65 percent of vegetables grown in Canada.
The region produces nearly four pounds of carrots for every Canadian per year.
Shipments begin in May with lettuce, and carrots follow in June and while vegetables will continue through November. Root vegetables from the region are marketed year-round.
Located on about 7,000 acres, the muck soil of the region grows 66 commodities and is the second largest carrot producing region in North America region. Onions, celery, herbs, lettuce, cauliflower and cabbage also are among the top crops. In addition to the muck soil, there are about 6,000 vegetable acres in the surrounding highlands.
The region has about 126 growers and 10 packing facilities.
The region was settled by the Dutch and still includes many family businesses and small companies. Asian vegetables have found traction in recent years.
The government reported the top acreage crop for Ontario vegetables in 2017 was sweet corn, with 19,003 acres reported. That was down 15 percent from 2016 acreage and off 18 percent from 2015, according to government statistics.
Ranking second among commercial vegetables for Ontario in 2017 was green peas, with 14,450 acres harvested, 7 percent lower than last year and 13 percent less than 2015.
Ranking first in sales among field-grown crops, field-grown tomatoes were No. 3 in acreage among Ontario vegetable crops in 2017.
Tomato acreage last year was 13,408 acres, down 13 percent from 2016 and off 2 percent from 2015.
*******
THIS PAST WEEK A FEW CALIFORNIA PRODUCE LOADS TO THE EAST COAST WERE GROSSING $10,000 AND MORE!
Examples: Desert vegetables to Baltimore – $9700 – $10,000; Kern District and Ventura County vegetables to Boston – $9400 – $10000; Salinas Valley vegetables to Boston – $9700 to $10200; and Santa Maria vegetables to Philadelphia – $9200 to $10000.
By Black Gold Farms
Grand Forks, ND – Black Gold Farms will be harvesting fresh red potatoes in the boot heel of Missouri starting the middle of June. With ideal planting and growing conditions and plenty of moisture, this year’s crop looks to be one of the best yet.
Black Gold Farms will be harvesting, packing and shipping their own red potatoes out of Arbyrd, MO farm and packing facility until the middle of July. Yellow potatoes are also available to ensure a full product offering.
“We’ve been growing red potatoes nestled in the bootheel of Missouri in the Mississippi River Delta for over 10 years, and every year we see the quality get better. This year is no different.” commented John Halverson, COO of Black Gold Farms. “We’ve been able to learn a lot about growing potatoes in the summertime heat from over 30 years of chip potato experience in warmer climates. We’ve been able to transfer those leanings to the fresh market. While there are many differences, the principles are the same: use the right variety, get the timing correct, push them through the wash line and into the cooler as quickly as possible, and then, ship to our customers while they are still at their freshest” Halverson concluded.
Keith Groven, Fresh Sales Manager of Black Gold Farms states, “Our customers really find value pulling fresh reds out of Arbyrd, MO as the quality is consistent and we are geographically central to many of the major cities which provides locally grown opportunities that only we can offer. Customers recognize that Black Gold Farms is the red potato expert, especially this time of year, in this particular geography.”
Black Gold Farms’ Indiana red potato crop will be ready at the end of July for a smooth transition and keeping customers supplied with the freshest red potatoes available. This allows for Black Gold Farms-grown product to be supplied to customers year-round. “Each of our farms has their own unique characteristics, but what’s really valuable is that our customers know that the red potatoes they’re getting and the service they’ve come to expect is all Black Gold Farms” remarked Groven.