Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Alsum Farms & Produce of Friesland, WI and grower partner, Trembling Prairie Farms Inc. of Markesan, WI is in full swing harvesting new crop Wisconsin Celery starting this week with the season expected to go through the first week of October. Located in the muck soils of Green Lake County, Trembling Prairie Farms is a family farm owned and operated by John and Connie Bobek along with their four children in Markesan. For the past decade the Bobek family has been growing and packing locally grown celery serving the Midwest retail and foodservice markets.
In 2012, Trembling Prairie Farms started with 3 acres of celery and today has expanded to over 45 acres. The farm starts with a celery variety that grows well in the Wisconsin climate. Peak freshness, a milder flavor and snappier crunch are all advantages of this locally grown celery variety.
The process of growing celery starts in local greenhouses in late February to early April and is then transplanted in 12 different plantings. Celery planting begins on May 1 with the goal of the last planting to be in the ground by July 1. Trembling Prairie Farms Wisconsin Grown Celery is available for distribution with ample volume of all sizes and packs available for the next 11 weeks, including:
- 24 count naked or sleeved
- 30 count naked or sleeved
- 36 count naked or sleeved
- 18 count celery hearts
“We’re happy to be able to bring our locally grown Wisconsin Celery to the market,” says John Bobek, farmer and owner of Trembling Prairie Farms. “Whether paired with peanut butter as a healthy kid-friendly snack, or chopped in a salad for an outdoor gathering, Wisconsin Celery offers a fresh taste for consumers looking for locally grown in the Midwest.”
Two medium stalks of celery offer many nutritional benefits including vitamin C, potassium and 2 grams of fiber all for only 20 calories. In the U.S., consumers eat on average six pounds of fresh celery annually. With its many nutritional benefits and versatility this crunchy, fiber-filling vegetable is delicious and good-for-you.
For more information on Trembling Prairies Farms Wisconsin Grown Celery, go to www.tremblingprairiefarms.com or www.alsum.com.
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Trembling Prairie Farms
Trembling Prairie Farms is a grower of Wisconsin red potatoes, yellow and red onions, and celery on 500 acres of rich muck soil in Green Lake County. Trembling Prairie Farms, a family owned and operated business, has grown to become a major supplier of Wisconsin-family farmer grown vegetables serving retail and foodservice markets.
About Alsum Farms & Produce
Alsum Farms & Produce Inc. is a leading fresh market grower, packer and shipper of Wisconsin grown potatoes, onions, and provider of fresh, quality produce. Established nearly five decades ago and headquartered in Friesland, Wis., Alsum Farms & Produce is a vertically integrated family-owned farm, packing facility and logistics company providing quality produce. Committed to sustainability and stewardship of the soil, Alsum Farms grows 3,000 acres of Wisconsin Healthy Grown® Certified Alsum Potatoes along with pumpkins.
Plenty of quality California strawberries remain for shipping to retail and foodservice companies entering the last half of summer.
Well-Pict Inc. Watsonville, CA came off seven weeks of peak loadings the second week of July when it was estimated to be picking over 100,000 packages a day. Needles too say, volume has been excellent.
The company will be shipping good supplies of strawberries from Watsonville into mid September, although production will be tapering between now and then.
Bobalu Berries of Oxnard, CA will have a fall strawberries in Oxnard for the first time this year.
Oxnard kicks in early September and will complement the Santa Maria crop. This means the company will more late-season fruit at a time strawberry volume tends to drop.
Strawberry taste, size and quality have been good this summer for Gem-Pack Berries LLC, of Irvine, CA. It has been shipping medium and large sized berries.
As of July 9, California growers had shipped nearly 128 million trays of strawberries this year, according to the Watsonville-based California Strawberry Commission. That’s an increase from 112.3 million trays at the same time last year and 121.8 million trays in 2020.
Last year’s total volume was 212.8 million trays, up from 210.2 million in 2020.
Wish Farms of Plant City, FL ships summer berries from Salinas, which includes conventional and organic strawberries.
The company reports good quality this season with high sweetness levels and good flavor and sizing.
It also reports the costs of trucks to deliver products alone has dropped a little but remains 30% higher or more than past seasons.
Loads which were shipping for $5,000 before now are shipping for $8,000.
Western New York vegetable shipments got off to a good start in spring and early summer, and expectation are for this to continue on through the rest of summer.
Hansen Farms of Stanley, NY is has 1,200 acres of cabbage it is shipping, up slightly from a year ago.
This northern cabbage stores well for long periods at the farm at 33 degrees Fahrenheit and can be available year-round.
Apples, cabbage, sweet corn, squash, snap beans and pumpkins are top specialty crops for this state, according to the USDA’s 2021 state agriculture overview, updated July 1.
About 10,800 acres of cabbage for all purposes was harvested in New York in 2021.
In contrast, apples for the fresh market came from 44,000 harvested acres where apples were grown for all purposes.
Other produce for the fresh market are listed below:
- Sweet corn from 23,600 harvested acres.
- Squash from 4,400 harvested acres.
- Pumpkins from 5,100 harvested acres.
- Snap beans from 23,700 harvested acres.
Turek Farm of King Ferry, NY began shipping vegetables for the fresh market around July 10, first with zucchini, summer squash, cabbage and English peas, followed by sweet corn.
After watching sluggish volume movement out of Florida and Georgia this winter, Turek decided to plant 15% to 20% fewer acres of sweet corn, cabbage and zucchini in New York. For crops with more set prices from contracts, such as pumpkins, he didn’t reduce acreage.
SM Jones, based in Belle Glade, FL has New York grown sweet corn through fall, and in between, pumpkin, winter squash, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
Matthews Ridgeview Farms of Wynne, AR in the northeast part of the state is that state’s largest grower/shipper of sweet potatoes, and the company is expanding acreage again this year.
New crop harvest usually starts in September with the predominately grown beauregard variety.
The grower/shipper has plans to continue increasing acreage and production in coming years. Shipments mostly go to retailers, wholesalers and some foodservice operations.
The company packs about 1 million cartons of sweet potatoes sourced from several thousand acres annually.
Matthews continues to ship the 2021 crop, and the 2022 crop looks favorable. The company offers organic sweet potatoes, which now account for less than 10% of the marketer’s total sweet potato volume.
Organics continue to increase as has been the case sine the operation began growing organics.
Peebles Organic of Augusta, AR., is a USDA-certified organic vegetable operation that farms about 2,000 acres of organic sweet potatoes, organic edamame (immature soybeans) and watermelons. The company ships to other produce shippers, processors and retail customers.
The Mexican berry industry expects to have a 12% increase in blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry exports for the 2022 season, with shipments – primarily to the neighboring U.S. market – already up to 386,894 tons.
The Mexican National Berry Export Association (Aneberries) reports growers in the country were expected to export more than 584,000 tons of soft fruit by the close of 2022, compared with 462,000 tons in 2021.
Aneberries notes the total exported by June 16 comprised 62,011 tons of blueberries, 50,900 tons of blackberries, 206,238 tons of strawberries and 67,744 tons of raspberries.
Some 95% of Mexican berry exports are destined for the U.S. market, with the remaining 5% divided between 37 countries, covering Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia.
According to Aneberries data, the current planted area in Mexico for berries totaled 34,595 acres.
The Mexican grape shipping season wrapped up in early July and the Arvin District (Bakersfield), started with light volume shortly after the Fourth of July.
For example the Markon Cooperative of Salinas, CA started shipping California-grown grapes when its Mexican supplies came to an end July 10.
California-grown green seedless supplies and red seedless grapes started with a few days of each other.
Volume had quickly ramped up by mid July with good quality.
The new fresh potato crop for Washington state is just getting under way and normal volume is seen for the 2022-23 season.
The Washington State Potato Commission of Moses Lake, WA reports the crop outlook is favorable.
Although the official acreage report has not been issued, Washington’s potato acreage is expected steady in a range from 165,000 to 170,000 acres.
Early varieties were slowed by a later season due to weather factors. Potato processors usually start shipping new crop potatoes around July 5, but even by mid July, early potato volume was more limited than usual.
Washington fresh potato grower-shippers were running out of potatoes in late May, as last year’s hot weather drove down yields about 10%.
Washington shippers do not expect a gap between old crop and new crop potatoes, although there has been an escalation in pricing to ration supply.
Processing accounts for at least 90% of the Washington potato crop and that percentage continues to climb because of the demand for processed potato products.
The USDA reported that Washington’s growers in 2020 planted 80% russet varieties, compared with 84% in 2019 and 2018. The percentage of yellow varieties planted in Washington state accounted for 4% of the planted acreage, up from 2% in 2019 and 2018. The percentage of red varieties planted in Washington state in 2020 accounted for 6% of the total, up from 4% in 2019 and 5% in 2018. The percentage of white potatoes planted in Washington state was 10% of the total in 2020, the same as 2019 and up from 9% in 2018.
Washington’s Skagit Valley is seeing a shift over time from red potato varieties to increased yellow-fleshed potato varieties.
The percentage of reds and yellows grown in the Skagit Valley now are roughly 50-50.
The growth in consumer demand for yellow-flesh potatoes has growers increasing acreage to meet demand.
Petite potatoes grown in eastern or central Washington were harvested starting in early July, followed by red and yellow potatoes later in July, followed by the first of the russet norkotah harvest by early August. Skagit Valley harvest will begin in September.
Northwest cherry shipments are expected to be off significantly this season – about 25 percent from a year ago.
Shipments are expected to total about 15 million cartons, compared to 20 million cartons last season.
If the estimate sticks, that would be nearly a quarter less than the 20.3 million boxes harvested a year ago and the smallest crop since 2013, when the region produced just 14.3 million boxes.
Northwest-grown cherries are harvested by more than 2,000 growers across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Montana who together make up almost all of the cherries you find in stores from midJune through early September. This year, a snowfall during cherry bloom significantly reduced and delayed the crop, but the remaining fruit is all the better for the reduced competition on the trees.
Fresh Northwest-grown sweet cherries are available now in produce sections from coast to coast. This delicious summertime superfruit is sweet, juicy and packed with nutrients that support better health. From keeping pain at bay with anti-inflammatory properties to helping reduce stress and improve sleep, sweet cherries are a healthy grab-and-go snack for consumers of all ages.
“It’s been a long spring for our growers, but harvest has finally arrived” said B.J. Thurlby, president of the Northwest Cherry Growers. “Fortunately, the long, cool spring gave our cherries ample time to plump up, resulting in large, dark, extra-sweet cherries that have that great light crunch as you bite into them.”
Sweet cherries are loaded with anthocyanins, a polyphenolic compound that gives the fruit their deep, dark color from skin to pit and has also been shown to reduce inflammation, which may be a contributing factor to diseases such as arthritis, cancer and diabetes. Northwest sweet cherries are also a low-glycemic snack for those watching their blood sugars at home or on the go. Studies indicate that sweet cherries release glucose slowly and evenly, allowing blood sugar levels to stay steady longer.
Chile’s Citrus Comite of Asoex has provided updated export estimate for this season in the wake of a late May freeze event, with all categories set to see a decline and mandarins bearing the brunt.
The organization expects mandarin shipments to be 21 percent lower than originally estimated, at 95,000 tons down from 120,000 tons.
Clementines are set to experience the second-biggest drop, with exports forecast 13 percent lower at 34,800 tons down from 40,000.
Exports of oranges and lemons are both expected to be 8 percent down, with the former falling to 82,500 tons from 90,000 tons, and the latter dropping to 78,000 from 85,000.
In total, Chilean citrus shipments during the 2022 season are now forecast 13 percent lower than originally estimated, according to the Citrus Committee, which represents about 75 percent of the country’s exporters.
“During this season there was a significant frost,” it said in a statement. “The low temperatures affected different growing areas, but the extent of the phenomenon was limited, affecting only some valleys and sectors within the affected orchards.”
The association has called on exports to implement the work plan established to deal with these situations to prevent the export of freeze-damaged fruit.
“The Chilean industry is prepared and has the technology and technical capacity to separate fruit that is damaged both in the field and in packing, thus avoiding packing and export. These measures have already been applied in previous seasons with very good results,” the Citrus Committee said.
Melon shipments from the Westside district of California’s San Joaquin Valley got underway right after Independence Day and volume this season is expected to be good, and similar to last year.
In 2021, California growers produced 14 million 40-pound cartons of cantaloupe, 5.9 million 30-pound cartons of honeydew melons and 2.7 million 30-pound cartons of mixed melons, which includes all other melons except watermelons, according to the California Melon Research Board, based in Dinuba.
The board estimated roughly the same volumes for the upcoming season at its January meeting.
Growers in the San Joaquin Valley produced nearly 215 million pounds of seedless watermelons in 2021, according to the USDA.
Classic Fruit Co. of Frenso reports the melon shipping season had started out very good with quality and volume for cantaloupe and honeydew. Westside Produce Inc., Firebaugh, Calif.
Westside Produce Inc., Firebaugh, CA expects to have similar volume as a year ago and described quality as “fantastic,” with high brix and high yields.
Couture Farms is located at Kettleman City near Huron, CA and notes specialty melons should be of good quality this season. The company grows hami, piel de sapo, canary, orange flesh, galia and golden dews melons that are primarily packed and marketed by Five Crowns Marketing, Brawley, CA.
Volume and acreage has declined in California, largely because of tight water supplies, the company reports.
Pacific Trellis Fruit of Los Angeles has several kinds of watermelons this summer ranging from conventional and organic mini seedless watermelons, SunnyGold yellow mini seedless watermelons and Sugar Daddy full-size seedless watermelons.
Growers in the San Joaquin Valley produced nearly 215 million pounds of seedless watermelons in 2021, according to the USDA.
Pacific Trellis Fruit also offers Summer Kiss and Sugar Kiss melons and Tuscan-style cantaloupe.
Growers are concerned about steadily rising costs. Water, fertilizer, cartons, pallets and even strapping for pallets were costing much more than last season.
The cost of fertilizer, which can account for 20% to 30% of a crop’s budget, has increased over 100%, pallet and carton costs are up 30% to 40% and fuel prices have doubled over last season.