Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
California pomegranates for the most part apparently dodged the bullet when Hurricane Hilary hit the West Coast several weeks ago.
Trinity Fruit of Fresno, CA reports this season’s fruit quality looks better than in previous years, with a little better size and yields.
The San Joaquin Valley experienced heavy rain and wind in August. Fortunately, Hilary was downgraded to a tropical storm before arriving in the central valley. Thus, the effects to the 2023 pomegranate crop appear to be minimal.
Trinity Fruit Co. of Fresno, CA began shipping in its proprietary Sweetheart varieties in early September, with Wonderful to follow in October and November.
Pom Wonderful of Los Angeles points out Hilary’s effects have been negligible thus far for the Wonderful variety. The grower, shipper will begin harvesting in early to mid-October. At John Vena Inc. in Philadelphia, the wholesale distributor will carry Wonderful pomegranates when peak season begins in October or early November.
Once the California pomegranate season finishes in December, the company will transition to counter-season fruit from Israel. In March, when the Israeli season typically ends, Vena will offer Wonderful pomegranates from Peru, where the season runs into June.
Vena notes the year-round availability of pomegranate is fueled by arils, as well as the country’s changing demographics.
Over 50% of the population has never had a pomegranate, so the growth potential is there, the company believes.
According to Circana Integrated Fresh multi-outlet data for the 52 weeks ending July 2, 2023, dollar sales for fresh pomegranates reached more than $160 million — a 16% increase over the previous year and 27.5% higher than two years prior. Unit sales grew more than 11%, and by volume increased more than 13% over the previous year.
The nation’s leading apple shipper, Washington state, has a 2023 crop estimated at nearly 160 million bushels and valued at more than $2 billion — 9% higher than last year, according to USApple, of Falls Church, VA. The nonprofit industry association reports Washington accounts for 63.8% of U.S. apple production and 67.5% of the value.
Due to favorable weather, Washington expects to ship nearly 130 million cartons of apples this year, according to the Washington Tree Fruit Association. This compares to nearly 100 million cases shipped last season.
The Skagit Valley Food Co-op in Mt. Vernon, WA., ships about a dozen varieties of Washington apples in the fall, with four varieties available year-round.
Washington’s fuji apple has the largest volume year-round due to its price, which is often $1.49 per pound and sometimes as low as 99 cents per pound. This compares with $3.49 to $3.99 for other varieties. The apples are all organic.
Washington is home to more than 30 varieties of apples — some of them year-round mainstays, some more experimental new varieties, and others that fall somewhere in between. Of these apples, 72% go to the fresh market, according to USApple.
The state’s most popular apples are gala, Honeycrisp, red delicious and fuji.
Sage Fruit Co., Yakima, moves it biggest volume with Honeycrisp, gala, fuji, granny smith and Pink Lady. The fruit shipper handles sales and marketing for five grower-packer-shippers in the Pacific Northwest.
Harvesting of sweet potatoes is underway in the South and although fewer acres are planted, good volume and quality shipments are expected.
Nash Produce LLC of Nashville, NC began digging its crop in early September and will continue through early November which is normal. The company reports overall sweet potato acreage will be down,
In 2022, U.S. sweet potato acreage was 132,200, down from 153,200 in 2021, according to USDA statistics.
Nash Produce has four kinds of sweet potatoes — covington, organic covington, murasaki and bonita.
Garber Farms, Iota, LA, has just started its sweet potato harvest. Then the curing process will take place, and shipments should begin in early October.
The growing, packing and shipping operation hopes for at least an average-size crop after last year’s smaller-than-normal harvest. It grows beauregard and orleans sweet potato varieties, with a goal of having year around loadings.
Matthews Ridgeview Farms, Wynne, ARK., has been harvesting a few weeks and expects finish in mid-October.
The company is looking for a good-quality crop this year on its beauregard and orleans sweet potatoes as well as on its organic product.
Although an official forecast is yet to be released, the Northwest Pear Bureau is optimistic volume this season will meet the previous four-year average.
The NWPB reports the 2023 Northwest fresh pear crop could be in the 15.5 million carton range.
The 2022 crop was initially forecast in September last year at just over 16 million cartons but ended up at just over 14 million cartons, Moffitt said. Snow during pollination hurt yields and led to some fruit drop in 2022, resulting in one of the smallest crops in 20 years.
This year the harvest began for summer varieties like starkrimson and bartletts in early August, with growers starting to pick bosc, green and red anjou in early- to mid-September. This was soon followed by specialty pears like comice, seckel, forelle and concorde pears.
California walnut volume is predicted to 790,000 tons, up 5% from 2022, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service .
The forecast is based on 385,000 bearing acres, down 4% from 2022’s estimated bearing acreage of 400,000, according to a news release.
“The California walnut industry has increased its focus on providing handlers and growers the most accurate crop information by accelerating the collection of various data points,” Robert Verloop, CEO and executive director for the California Walnut Commission and Board.
While official final shipment, inventory and closeout figures for the 2022 crop year will be released in couple of weeks, preliminary figures indicate last year’s crop is virtually sold out, the release said.
“Last year, we were facing a completely different scenario with 130,000 tons in inventory brought on by the lingering effects of the COVID-impacted global marketplace and a record heat wave last September that negatively impacted the entire crop, which led to lethargic sales and record-low grower returns,” Verloop said.
“With minimal carryover from the previous crop year and favorable weather throughout the growing season, we’re optimistic about the new crop year,” Tim Sabado, CEO of Prima Noce, based in Linden, CA., said in the release. “The upcoming crop promises a return to the exceptional quality that defines California walnuts globally.”
Harvest begins in September and may extend into November due to the early season cooler temperatures, Sabado said.
The first table grapes of the 2023-2024 Peruvian season should start in September, when the campaign normally starts in October, according to Agraria. This will be an earlier started compared to a year ago.
Cyclone Yaku in March resulted a lot of rainfall. which generated the proliferation of fungi in the vine plants on the northern Peruvian coast, which would cause a lower production of fruit in that area of the country.
A different situation can be seen in the Ica region, where the heat caused the bud to improve and advances the vegetative development of the fruit, so earlier grapes and higher production are also expected.
As Ica is the main producing region of table grapes in Peru and a higher production is projected, it is expected that the production (and export) of table grapes by Peru in the 2023-2024 campaign will be higher than the previous campaign.
There will be fewer table grapes in the North.
From January to mid-July of this year, table grape exports from Peru grew in volume 16 percent (close to 45,000 more tons) compared to the same period in 2022.
Homegrown Organic Farms and HBF International are set to launch a short but sweet season of U.S.-grown kiwi berries, with first shipments anticipated to go out this week, according to a news release.
The upcoming domestic kiwi berry season will include a new West Coast program in 2023, as part of the merger between the San Joaquin Valley, Calif.-based Homegrown Organic Farms and Oregon-based HBF International.
“Kiwi berries are one of the most exciting new fruits to come into the produce market in years,” Homegrown Organic Farms CEO Scott Mabs said in the release. “We are excited to share this unique berry that merges innovation, taste, and nutrition with our valued partners.”
One of the key attributes of kiwi berries is their hassle-free casing, earning with the tagline “no fuzz, no fuss.”About the size of a plump grape with edible skin, kiwi berries pack a punch of flavor and are ripest when the berry is soft to the touch, according to the release.
“The arrival of kiwi berry season is an event that stirs unparalleled excitement among fruit enthusiasts. Its distinctive taste and remarkable versatility make it a must-try for all,” Stephen Paul, HGO’s category director, said in the release.
Beyond their juicy flavor, kiwi berries offer many health benefits. Packed with nutrients, they are rich in vitamin C, high in fiber, potassium, vitamin E and magnesium.
“The collaboration from our merger has allowed us to bring this exceptional fruit to a wider audience. We are ready to support continued growth in the category with varietal innovations and development as popularity and demand increase,” Doug Perkins, HBF business development manager for berries, said in the release.
The berries are freshly packed into 4.4-ounce, 6-ounce and 16-ounce clamshell pack-style options that can be loaded from facilities in Sheridan, Ore., or Kingsburg, Calif., the release said.
New Zealand kiwifruit production could crash by 35 million-plus trays in 2023 due to weather factors and poor pollination.
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers reports that despite an estimate of 160 million trays, there may well be under 140 million trays. In 2022 the country had 175 million trays.
Besides poor pollination, New Zealand had been hit with wind, flooding, hail, and cyclones.
In 2020, global production of kiwi was 4 million tons, led by China with slightly more than half of the world total. New Zealand, Italy, Greece, Iran and Chile were other significant producers.
Peruvian blueberry exports for 2023-24 have been disappointing thus far this season.
Peru has exported 10,000 tons of blueberries through July, which represents a 25 percent decrease compared to the same period in the previous campaign, according to infoMercado, using figures from Proarandanos.
Proarandanos reported this drop was due to a lower production of blueberries because of the El Niño phenomenon, which causes high temperatures.
It had been projected that during the 2023-2024 campaign, which began in May and ends in April 2024, the amount of exports would show a drop, especially in its key period.
Proarandanos noted in early August it projected volume could fall in this season between 10 percent and 15 percent. But this figure needs to be updated.
In addition, one of the most affected varieties is Ventura, which is planted on 14, 826 acres. This represents about 35 percent of blueberry exports in Peru. The Ventura and the Biloxi variety have 60 percent of the planted area in the country.
Ventura is the most planted variety in Peru. So by coming late in its production, an impact on the export volume is evident.
The USDA has forecast U.S. apple total production for 2023 at 9.91 billion pounds, up 1% from 2022.
In Washington state, better growing conditions are leading to an expected 9% increase in production from the previous year, according to the USDA’s August production report. Washington’s apple output is estimated at 6.7 billion pounds, up from 6.14 billion pounds last season.
In New York state, a mild winter that weakened the cold hardiness of the apple crop followed by a very warm spring has caused the expected production to be the lowest since 2012, according to the USDA. New York apple production is estimated at 1.1 billion pounds, down 19% from 1.355 billion pounds a year ago.
In Michigan, there were no widespread spring frost damage events, and July precipitation enhanced fruit sizing, according to the USDA. Michigan apple production is estimated by the USDA at 1.15 billion pounds, 15% less than 1.36 billion pounds in 2022.
Early-season variety harvesting has begun in southern Michigan, according to the report.