Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Delbert Bland learned exciting news about Bland Farms’ Vidalia Sweet Onions upon his recent return from Peru. This year, Vidalia Sweet Onions will be shipped until early October, several weeks longer than usual.
“We have a rather unique opportunity this year because we had a bumper crop,” said Bland, owner of Bland Farms of Glennville, GA. “We put a lot more onions in the storage. Typically, we supply Vidalia Sweet Onions until about the end of August, but this year, we will have a supply until the first part of October.”
This is excellent news for Vidalia Sweet Onion lovers who enjoy the mild, sweet flavor that can only be found in these Georgia-grown gems. Bland attributes this year’s exceptional crop to great weather conditions during the growing season. “The winter didn’t get cold enough to hurt the crop, and we had a great spring,” said Bland.
Typically, Bland Farms, among the largest growers, packers and shipper of Vidalia Sweet Onions, transitions from its Vidalia Sweet Onions to Premium Sweet Onions from Peru in early to mid-August, but with this year’s bumper crop, the company will be exporting the first part of its Peru crop internationally.
“We have to plant in Peru in May before knowing how long the Vidalias will run,” said Bland. “Now we have onions starting to come off in Peru that we don’t need because we have so many Vidalias in storage. So, we’ll export the first part of the crop to Europe and Chile. The onions we have coming off the rest of this month, and next month, we will ship to other locations outside of the U.S. We definitely want to sell Vidalias and keep those on the shelf as long as possible. So, it’s a good problem to have.”
Putting roots down in Peru was the brainchild of Bland, who took the once seasonal operation and expanded in Peru and Mexico nearly 28 years ago in order to supply sweet onions year-round.
“We started with just a handful — one or two containers,” he said. “Now, we have about 1,400 containers in Peru. We used to work with small growers we contracted with, but we shifted away from that over the years and started doing things ourselves.”
Bland’s son, Troy Bland, CEO of Bland Farms, wouldn’t have it any other way. For him it’s this hands-on involvement that sets the family-owned and operated farm apart. “It’s our boots on the ground in Peru and Mexico. This allows us to maintain the highest standards and ensure a consistent supply of Premium Sweet Onions,” Troy Bland said.
Peru’s unique dry and mild climate provides optimal growing conditions for sweet onions. Controlled drip irrigation minimizes water-related risks, unlike the unpredictable rainfall in Georgia which was a big factor for Bland when securing growing areas outside of the U.S.
As October rolls around, Bland Farms will seamlessly transition from Vidalia Sweet Onions to its Premium Sweet Onion from Peru.
“We’ll start importing our Premium Sweet Onions from Peru by the end of September,” said Bland. “It’s a smooth transition for the consumer because the taste and flavors of our Premium Sweet Onions from Peru are almost identical to our Vidalia Sweet Onions. They’re very comparable. We’re excited to continue our year-round production, and we’ve been very blessed to have produced great-quality onions in both places.”
Friesland, WI — Wisconsin red, yellow russet potato harvest is underway at Alsum Farms in Adams, WI with the first potato loads being washed, graded, and packed for fresh market shipments to distribution centers and retail grocers.
“The first harvest of yellow potatoes at Alsum Farm looks promising,” says Larry Alsum, President & CEO of Alsum Farms & Produce in Friesland, WI.
Alsum Farms russet potato harvest began on August 20th with the Russet Caribou and Goldrush varieties. Both early season varieties will be the first of new crop russets to be harvested off the field and freshly washed, packed and shipped to retail grocers in the Midwest and beyond. In addition, new crop Wisconsin organic russet, red and yellow potatoes were available for shipping beginning August 5th.
Alsum offers a wide variety of pack options from 12 ounces up to 50-pound packs; and in poly, mesh, paper or cartons.
Alsum Farms & Produce, Inc. packs potatoes and onions under the Alsum Farms & Produce brand. Organic potatoes are packed under the Alsum Organics and Rainbow Organics labels. Alsum also packs unclassified potatoes under our Family Favorite brand.
For more than 50 years, Alsum Farms & Produce has been a leading grower and shipper of locally grown potatoes and onions and provider of fresh, quality produce.
Alsum Farms grows 3,000 acres of Wisconsin Healthy Grown® Certified Alsum Potatoes along with pumpkins.
Volume is expected to be a little lower than 2023 for Michigan apple shipments.
The Wolverine State, produced nearly 32 million bushels — or 1.34 billion pounds — of apples in 2023, according to the USDA.
The official crop estimate for this year will be announced at the USApple Outlook conference in Chicago on Aug. 16, however, Diane Smith, executive director of the Lansing-based Michigan Apple Committee, said it looks like the state’s growers will have another good-sized crop, “but it likely won’t reach 30 million bushels.”
BelleHarvest Sales Inc. of Belding, MI launched its season about 10 days ahead of last year with early varieties paula reds and golden delicious. Picking started the first week of August, and shipping got underway the following week.
BelleHarvest expects to have a slightly larger crop than last year on most of its 15 varieties.
The harvest at North Bay Produce of Traverse City, MI, started two weeks earlier than usual because of warm weather and more rain than normal.
North Bay ships 18 varieties of apples with gala, Honeycrisp, red delicious, fuji and mcintosh, among the most popular. EverCrisp, the last variety to be picked, is an up-and-coming variety.
The company notes harvest usually continues into mid-October, but likely will finish around the first of the month because of the earlier start.
This season’s apple harvest at Riveridge Produce Marketing Inc., Sparta, MI got underway August 9 and volume should be about the same as last year.
Riveridge is reporting good quality with a normal range of sizes on its Honeycrisp, gala, fuji and other varieties.
Imports of Aspargus from Peru has had steady, consistent volume, but more volume will be arriving soon.
The USDA reported Peruvian asparagus accounted for 37% of the total supply in the U.S. during the week of July 7-13. Other suppliers to the U.S. market in mid-July included Mexico, which accounted for 48% of the total supply, and Canada, which accounted for 4% of the total supply.
Crystal Valley Foods of Miami, FL notes there has been less volume this time of the year due to weather factors. To make up for lower volume from Peru, the company has been sourcing product from Mexico.
Although asparagus is imported from Peru 52 weeks a year, peak supply is typically from about mid-September through November.
Crystal Valley Foods receives most of its Peruvian asparagus imports at Miami International Airport (when asparagus is flown in), as well as the port of Miami.
Its primary asparagus customers are in foodservice and retail chains.
Another shipping season of quality red, white and yellow potatoes from growers in Washington and Oregon is expected.
The 2024 harvest started in late July for some growers, but will not get underway until early September for others, which is typical.
USDA estimates that Washington produced 99.7 million hundredweight of potatoes in 2023, about 10% of which was destined for fresh market.
Total potato production this year will be down due to a reduction in acres planted, according to the Washington Potato Commission of Moses Lake, WA.
About 16,000 fewer acres were planted this year. With excellent weather during the growing season yields per acres are expected to increase.
An overall 8% decline in Washington’s potato production is expected by the commission compared to last year.
Total potato acreage in Washington is projected to be down 10% to 12%.
Growers in the state have planted an estimated 144,000 acres of potatoes, of which about 16,000 acres are for fresh market.
Oregon’s growers produced about 27.4 million hundredweight of potatoes in 2023, according to USDA.
The Oregon Potato Commission of Portland predicts about 10% of that volume is for fresh market.
Oregon grows about 43,000 acres of potatoes.
Double-N Potatoes of Burlington, WA ships red, yellow, white potatoes and purple potatos.
Harvest gets underway the first or second week of September, volume expected to be similar to last year.
Double-N Potatoes ships from September until the end of April.
Valley Pride Sales LLC, also based in Burlington, will start its 2024 harvest in early September.
The company, which ships potatoes year-round, has white, red and yellow potatoes and some small potatoes for consumer packs.
Eagle Eye Produce of Iona, ID ships potatoes the year-round potato out of Mattawa, WA. It’s 2024 harvest has just got started.
The company’s acreage will be down this year because of crop rotations and an industrywide oversupply with grower returns below the cost of production.
Potandon Produce of Pasco, WA, expects to have a higher-quality crop of russet potatoes this year as last season had its ups and downs. A more consistent crop is seen this year.
Potandon’s harvest started in late July. The company ships out of Washington the year around.
Ontario may be known for its bustling greenhouse industry, but growers of field-grown vegetables in the Canadian provience have made their own mark and are providing good volume this summer.
Ontario Potato Distributors Inc. of Alliston, Ontario launched its 2024 season with yellow potatoes the week of July 15, which were soon followed by white potatoes.
Ontario Potato ships year-round mostly to retailers but also has some foodservice and wholesale customers.
Procyk Farms (1994) Ltd. of Wilsonville, Ontario began harvesting in early June, a little earlier than usual because of warmer-than-normal weather.
The firm’s product line includes tomatoes, roma tomatoes, sauce tomatoes, red and savoy cabbage, sweet corn, zucchini and red, yellow and green bell peppers. All commodities were shipping by the second week of July.
Procyk Farms will ship until the first fall frost, which usually occurs by the Canadian Thanksgiving, which will be October 14 this year. Volume will be similar to last year.
Sweet corn is the major crop grown by Rouge River Farms in Gormley, Ontario. The company, which started in Ontario with a few acres in the late 1980s, now may be the largest fresh-market sweet corn grower on the East Coast.
Rouge River also has 8,000 acres of green beans, making it one of the largest growers of green beans on the East Coast. This will be the first year the company is growing green beans in Ontario.
The firm also has sweet corn and green bean programs in Florida, Georgia and Virginia.
Exeter Produce of Exeter, Ontario will have an extensive line of field vegetables this summer. Some of the items include broccoli, sweet corn, hard squash, garlic, rutabagas, green beans, cabbage, wrapped cabbage and wrapped broccoli as well as its new napa cabbage product and several new kinds of chili peppers.
The company grows on about 6,000 acres. Most of the local summer items from Exeter Produce will finish by early October, then the company will turn to squash, cabbage, rutabagas and heartier items until Christmas.
The fourth-generation grower ships most of its product to retailers and foodservice operators, 60% of which are in Canada with the remainder in the U.S.
Scotlynn Group of Vittoria, Ontario kicked off its sweet corn season the second week of July.
The company will ship pumpkins from Labor Day weekend through the end of October.
Sweet corn shipments should continue until mid-September.
The company grows 15,000 acres of vegetables in Ontario, Florida and Georgia and ships to retailers on the East Coast and West Coast of Canada and mostly to customers east of the Mississippi in the U.S.
The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said its latest almond forecast is a 2.8 billion meat pounds, which is 13% higher than last year’s crop of 2.47 billion meat pounds but down 7% from its May forecast.
The USDA said the forecast is based on reporting from 1.38 million bearing acres.
The forecast for nonpareil, which is 39% of the state’s total almond production, is 1.1 billion meat pounds; that is 17% higher than last year’s 941 million meat pounds.
USDA said these figures are due to favorable weather conditions during bloom, which began the second week in February and finished by the middle of March. USDA also reports bee hours to be higher than last year.
California’s fig shipments got an early start this year thanks to hot summer temperatures.
The California Fresh Fig Growers Association reports the main harvest started a couple of weeks earlier than usual, on July 15, and the organization expects the fruit to be “beautiful and plentiful well into the fall.”
The organization notes California Fresh Figs are already available to be shipped to retailers and that shipping numbers are finally returning to pre-pandemic status. The first crop delivered the first Mission figs of the season in May-June. Mission figs have purplish-black skin and a deep earthy flavor.
The main crop, now underway, is delivering other varieties such as Brown Turkeys, Missions, and Sierras. Additional varieties will continue to become available through November. The organization expects that nearly 10 million pounds of figs will be harvested this year, but won’t know the final numbers until November.
CEO of the California Fresh Fig Growers Association, Karla Stockli, says they expect a bountiful harvest after years of drought and fires. “The orchards are very healthy which align with the increase in demand,” she added. “The quality of California Fresh Figs this season is fantastic. They are plump, juicy and delicious.”
Fig growers are also investing in acquiring more hectares to increase the level of production.
California Fresh Figs are only available seasonally, but California Dried
Figs are a year-round staple, offering the same nutrition and taste benefits.
In the 2023 season peach and nectarine shipments in the United States fell to its lowest level since the early ’80s, with colder temperatures delaying bloom and later freezes damaging the fruit.
The USDA reports the downward trend started in 2011-12, when production fell below a million tons in 2013-14 for the first time in decades, where it has since remained. U.S. output declined 30% between 2013-14 and 2022-23, with volumes dropping 300,000 tons to 650,000.
Higher temperatures in Georgia and South Carolina could improve yields for those states. However, IMP News reports in southern Illinois, some orchards continue struggling.
Rendleman Orchards in Alto Pass and Flamm Orchards, southeast of St. Louis, are seeing better volume.
Flamm Orchard’s reports is pleased is with the crop’s current condition, adding they are seeing good production levels.
However, Eckert’s Inc. in Belleville, had another off year, with about 50% production. The area saw subzero temperatures in mid-January, leading to a dip in production.
September and October account for about 50% of the annual Peruvina blueberry exports, according to ProArándanos, the Association of Blueberry Producers and Exporters of Peru.
Peru’s fresh blueberry exports have increased over the past decade. However, after years of steady growth, there a drop in production last year, declining from 286,000 tons to 224,000 tons, due to weather factors.
ProArandanos reports last season, almost 56% of the total volume was shipped to the United States. Europe was the second-largest market, accounting for 30%, with the Netherlands alone making up about 20%.
Next is China, where last season organic blueberries accounted for 12%, while the remaining 5% is distributed among more than 20 countries including South America, Central America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
While exports primarily occur in September, October, and November, Peruvian grapes are actually shipped the year around.
In 2016 Peru had less than 2,000 hectares planted, 90% was in La Libertad, and at the close of last year the total hectares certified for export were over 18,000 hectares.
La Libertad is still the main region in terms of number of hectares, but its share dropped by half, at 45%, due to the growth of other regions such as Lambayeque and Ica.