Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
By Wish Farms
Plant City, FL – International grower and year-round marketer of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, Wish Farms, is adding acreage to its Florida strawberry farm operation.
The purchase adds just over 800 acres of land, around 600 of which will be designated for farming. The remainder is natural wetlands, which will be left undisturbed for biodiversity and environmental sustainability.
While the farm is over 90% of the popular and successful Sweet Sensation variety, the company is always on the hunt for the next best tasting strawberry. Several rows are dedicated to 100 new variety and seedling trials. Nearly seven acres have been planted with the highly anticipated white strawberry. Wish Farms has branded them Pink-A-Boo Pineberries.
“I believe there will be strong demand for Pink-A-Boos in the coming years, and this land will allow us to expand that program without having to reduce our red strawberry acreage,” said Owner Gary Wishnatzki.
Wish Farms is farming 55 acres of it this coming season, with a gradual ramp up of usage in each season following.
About Wish Farms:
Founded in 1922, Wish Farms is a fourth-generation, family operated company. As a year-round supplier of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, it grows both conventional and organic varieties.
Florida tomato shipments are increasing with improved weather, although a slow start to the season was due to Hurricane Eta.
Planted acreage and the mix of varieties should be similar to 2019. Round slicer or beefsteak tomatoes account for almost 70 percent of the crop, with plum/romas, grape and cherry tomatoes comprising most of the rest.
Florida has about 50 commercial tomato growers, all together creating a nine-month season. The tomato season in Northern Florida begins in early October, as the harvest works its way down the peninsula throughout the fall and winter.
The harvest then heads back up the peninsula to central Florida in the spring and to northern Florida in the early summer, usually ending by the Fourth of July.
West Coast Tomato, Palmetto, Fla., reports it began harvesting in late October.
The company has a packing house in Palmetto, with farms in Manatee County in central Florida and Immokalee in southwest Florida.
The USDA reports the value of Florida’s tomato production was $425.9 million in 2019 compared to $344.1 million in 2018.
That’s an $81.8 million increae while at the same time, farmers planted 2,000 fewer acres of tomatoes, from 29,000 acres in 2018 to 27,000 acres in 2019.
However, Category 5 Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle in October 2018, destroying tomatoes about to be harvested.
Farmers yielded 280,000 pounds of tomatoes per acre in 2018, compared to 300,000 pounds per acre in 2019.
Looking at the 2020 calendar year’s winter, spring and early fall harvesting seasons, the state shipped 35 million pounds of tomatoes through November 18, compared to 68.7 million pounds during the same time frame in 2019.
Texas produce and Mexican produce shipments will be gaining steam in the weeks ahead.
The Texas International Produce Association of Mission, TX reports Lone Star State citrus is starting; plus Texas herbs are being harvested and Texas cabbage will be available soon.
Onions are in the ground and Mexican imports of tomatoes, berries, tropical fruit, squash, bell peppers and more will be increasing.
Texas green and red cabbage started within the past week and Grow Farms Texas of Donna, TX will have Texas-grown onions for shipping in April and May.
The company has planted more Texas cabbage and is looking to expand its Texas onion volume. Grow Farms Texas has Italian sweet red onions planted for harvest in late April and May, depending on the weather.
Little Bear Produce of Edinburg, TX has leafy green, herbs and cabbage beginning in November.
Mexican Produce Imports
Mexican infrastructure has been off the charts allowing Texas as an additional port of entry option to Nogales.
Central Mexico is closer to the U.S. East Coast allowing the firm more a year-round option for many items.
“This upcoming season Grow Farms Texas will be increasing its Mexico winter vegetables.
The company will have good supplies of cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapeños, serranos, anaheims and poblanos. Cucumbers started the first week of November, while bell peppers are starting in mid-December. Hot peppers are available year-round from Mexico and has provided big growth.
Beating both Pharr, Texas, and Nogales, Ariz., the port of Laredo, Texas, was the top entry point for Mexican tomatoes from October 2019 to September.
With 13,238 truckloads, Laredo beat Pharr’s total of 9,760 (40,000-pound) truckloads and the 9,726 truckloads crossings through Nogales, according to the USDA.
Other important crossing points for Mexican tomatoes during the period were Otay Mesa, CA (1,798 truckloads); and Roma, Texas (1,498 truckloads).
Avocado export volumes from Mexico were up by five percent from January to October of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.
Volumes topped one million metric tons (MT), according to the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture. The value of exports, however, fell by seven percent for the same 10-month period with amounts registering at about $2.5 billion. For the entire 2019 year, Mexican avocado exports worldwide amounted to $3.1 billion dollars.
In past years, avocado consumption has risen consistently from 1.1 billion pounds 2008 to 2.6 billion in 2018, an annual increase of nine percent.
Hass avocados, dominate the U.S imports representing about 95 percent of the avocados consumed in the United States and 80 percent worldwide. The U.S. Hass avocado industry, in particular, had a value of $6.5 billion in 2019, according to the USDA.
The Hass Avocado Board of Mission Viejo, CA notes in 2017, nearly half of U.S. households bought avocados. However, most of the avocados sold in the US are imported from other countries.
In 2018, for example, 76 percent of the America’s total consumption was imported from Mexico The total export amount of Mexican avocados bound for the United States in 2019 tallied to approximately $2.4 million.
Peruvian lime exports are being threatened because of a drought in the northern part of the country, just a few weeks before the beginning of the peak summer shipping season.
The Association of Citrus Producers of Peru (ProCitrus) reports a possible shortage of the fruit and if the rains continue to be insufficient for the next two months.
A drought will lead to a plunge in production, either due to smaller sizes or because each acre yields fewer tons. It all depends on whether the drought continues. It is expected in the coming weeks the rains will begin to normalize, but if the drought continues, there could be a shortage.
The rains have been well below normal. Because of this, access to reservoir water has been restricted. Among citrus products, lime has the heaviest production in northern Peru.
In particular, it is found around Piura, the city that produced more than half of the national lime production in 2016.
Following in production are the cities Lambayeque, Tumbes, and the region Loreto, all in northern Peru. In the region of Piura, there are 45,351 acres designated for lime crops, distributed among the main producing valleys: San Lorenzo has 26,430 acres, while Chira has 10,991 acres and Chulucanas follows with 3,590 acres.
Limes are harvested the year around, but the months leading up to summer are considered the most important period of the year.
The lime varieties produced in Peru are Sutil and Tahiti. The former stays within the domestic market, while the latter is increasingly grown for export purposes. In 2019, 9,000 metric tons (MT) of Tahiti limes were exported, which represented a 55 percent increase from 2018.
Remaining U.S. fresh apples remaining to be shipped on November 1 were 12 percent less than the same time last year, according to the first storage report of the season from the U.S. Apple Association of Falls Church, VA.
Fresh apple remaining in storage for shipping on November 1 were 117.5 million (42-pound) cartons, 12 percent less than the inventories the same time a year ago.
Processing holdings were 45 million cartons, 6 percent less than the same time last year. Total apples in storage on November 1 were 162.5 million cartons, 10 percent less than a year ago and 4 percent below the 5-year average for that date.
The U.S. Apple fresh inventories on November 1, with percent change compared with a year ago:
- Gala: 24.2 million cartons, down 15 percent ; and
- Red delicious: 21.17 million cartons, down 24 percent;
- Honeycrisp: 15.34 million cartons, up 3.6 percent;
- Granny smith: 13.37 million cartons, down 15 percent;
- Golden delicious: 5.01 million cartons, down 38 percent.
- Cosmic Crisp: 1.631 million cartons, up 533 percent.
Lower Florida orange and grapefruit are expected this season compared to a year ago.
The USDA’s prediction of 57 million boxes of Florida oranges and 4.5 million boxes of Florida grapefruit means a 15 percent decrease in Florida orange production and 7 percent decrease in Florida grapefruit shipments compared to the 2019-20 season,
However, specialty citrus volumes is expected to be up slightly this season over last with 1.1 million boxes forecasted.
Much of the production drop is expect to be from for juice, rather than the fresh market, according to Florida growers.
DLF International of Fort Pierce, FL, expects to ship 1.6 million cartons of citrus for the fresh market, which is about 15 percent more than the previous season.
DLF produces about 90 percent oranges, but is looking to increase its grapefruit program, to possibly 30 percent of its product line.
Shipping got underway September 20 and is expected to finish in July, although grapefruit should wrap up in April because it doesn’t use cold storage.
Valencias do well in cold storage for part of June and July with barely 1 percent discards once pulled out and resorted
Duda Farm Fresh Fresh Foods of Oveido, FL., reports company’s navel crop is expected to show larger sizes and bigger volume than last season.
The company’s grapefruit crop should be very similar to last year, with the potential for greater packouts and potentially slightly more volume.
The firm’s juice orange crop is expected to be very similar to last season, with potentially lighter overall volume. One bright spot is specialty citrus.
The company began shipping grapefruit, specialties and oranges The third week of October, and navels began Nov. 2.
Grapefruit shipments will peak in January and February and continue through March. Specialties began their peak before Thanksgiving and will continue with peak volume through Christmas.
Florida Classic Growers of Dundee, FL., started packing its first Florida citrus in October with Florida hamlin juice oranges, fallglo and early pride tangerines, as well as navel oranges.
By mid-November, tango tangerines were in full force.
New in 2020 is a partnership with Riverfront Packing Co., the Packers of Indian River and Quality Fruit Packers Inc. Good volumes of grapefruit are expected through mid-March.
After the first of the year, Florida Classic will transition from early season orange varieties to its valencia orange crop, which should be in good supply and available to the end of May.
The honey tangerine crop will start then too, running through early March.
Seald Sweet LL of Vero Beach, FL., expects similar volume of Florida volume compared with last season. The company began packing in late October and was in peak volume by mid-November.
Near perfect growing conditions have been going on in the desert areas of California and Arizona. The Yuma, AZ forecast has highs in the low to mid 70s going well into December. If this continues there should be good, steady lettuce shipments with nice quality.
Coastline Family Farms of Salinas, CA launched its iceberg lettuce season in Yuma the first week of November, but other commodities, including broccoli, cauliflower, mixed leaf, romaine, green leaf and red leaf did not in Salinas until the last few days. The company gets started in the Brawley, CA the week of November 30th.
Boskovich Farms Inc. of Oxnard, CA will ship lettuce out of Yuma, as well as Oxnard this winter, but just about all of its other winter commodities will continue to be shipped exclusively from Oxnard.
The shipper grows green onions, radishes, leeks, beets, kales and Brussels sprouts in Mexico starting in November but will ship them from Oxnard.
Organic greens such as chards, kale and celery are grown in San Luis, Mexico, just south of Yuma.
The company’s Yuma iceberg lettuce program will kicked off the week of November 16 and continues through March.
Boskovich Farms will grow and ship celery, cabbages, romaine lettuce, napa, bok choy, parsleys, cilantro and spinach in Oxnard.
The company reports there will be a bit of a gap in November when Salinas is ending and before the desert gets fully geared.
the week of Oct. 18, which will run th
Peter Rabbit Farms of Coachella, CA, started its bell pepper and leaf lettuce in October and will continue through Christmas. The operation reports a few more green and red bell peppers this season. This will be the first year for its lettuce crop, so supplies are expected to be tight.
North Shore Greenhouses Inc., Thermal, CA is at it busiest time of year with its Roasting Mix which is a blend of rosemary, sage and thyme.
Prime Time International of Coachella, CA started harvest of green bell peppers, eggplant and chili peppers in the desert in October, while beans got underway the first week of November, followed by red bell peppers a couple of weeks later.
The company also started its hothouse production of red, yellow and orange bell peppers in Jalisco, Mexico, and began harvesting elongated red, yellow and orange bell peppers in Vizcaino in Baja California.
Forever Fresh of Wilimington, DL reports anticipating good volumes of Chilean cherries and stone fruit as well as Peruvian grapes this season.
The importer notes its first two Chilean fruits this season are cherries and stone fruit and are looking “pretty good.” The Chilean cherry season is underway, and Chile’s total exports are expected to increase. The stone fruit season has just started.
Chile-based Garcés fruit – an owner of Forever Fresh is one of the world’s largest cherry exporters. It has been shipping steady volumes into the U.S. over at least a decade. The company may see a gradual increase in shipments to the U.S. as Garcés’ new plantings come into production, but there may not be a rise in total volumes from Chile despite an expected production increase of up to 15 percent. This is because the volumes out of Chile to the U.S. have been decreasing every year, with the volumes increasing in Chile.
The additional volume probably will be exported to Asia rather than coming to the U.S.
The stone fruit harvest started in mid-November, with the first arrivals in the U.S. set for early December. Additionally, there will be larger volumes of newer varieties – especially of plums and nectarines – from trees planted in Chile over the past five to six years.
The Peruvian grape season is underway, with expectations of a significant increase in volume over last year. There will be an increase in total production in Peru, although it will vary between different areas, but in general expectations are for around a 20 percent increase.
Forever Fresh’s first containers of Peruvian grapes arrived in mid-November, with the peak season set to begin in December.
Peruvian table grape exports should increase 2 percent for the 2021 season compared to a year ago, according to a projection by the USDA. This would place exports at 412,000 metric tons (MT).
This is a contrast to estimates from the Peruvian table grape association Provid in October forecasting exports would rise by 16 percent to 56 million box equivalents to 8.2 kilos, which would be 426,000MT.
The USDA reports the U.S. was the top export destination in the 2019 calendar year, accounting for 38 percent of total exports. Other markets are the Netherlands and Hong Kong with 15 and 10 percent of the export market share, respectively.
Fresh table grapes are one of the top produce exports by value for Peru and 2020 export value expected to reach $1 billion.
Peruvian grape exports to the U.S. peak in December and January due to seasonally higher prices. Between October 2019 and March 2020, Peru became the leading grape supplier to China accounting for 48 percent of market share. Total table grape production in Peru is forecast to reach 665,000 MT in 2020/2021 (October-September), a two percent increase over the previous year.
Favorable weather conditions, good water supply and growing demand are driving this increase. Peru has a dry coast with a range of temperatures and over 12 hours of sunlight per day, year-round, which makes it an ideal region for grape production. These conditions combined with precision irrigation enables Peru to mature vines 55 percent faster than in neighboring countries, the USDA report said.
Grape production is mainly located in Ica (41 percent) and Piura (22 percent), and the total area under cultivation is estimated at 31,500 hectares. Harvesting season in Peru begins in late October and ends in April. The Red Globe variety dominates production, as it remains popular in the growing Chinese market. However, producers are shifting toward higher value varieties to supply other markets.