Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
A record 34.1 million(42-pound) bushels of fresh market apples remained in storage to be shipped on June 1 — a 23 percent increase from a year ago.
The final MarketNews storage report of the season by the U.S. Apple Association also showed processing apples still in storage were 28 percent more than the June 1, 2019 report, with 13.8 million pounds.
At 47.9 million bushels, the overall fresh and processing apples still in storage on June 1 was a record, 24 percent over last season at the same time and 26 percent more than the five-year average.
The association will resume its monthly storage report in November, with numbers on the new crop.
Washington has 5.9 million fresh-market bushels in regular storage and 29.2 million bushels in controlled-atmosphere on June 1.
The leading fresh-market apples in storage on June 1 were:
- Red delicious: 8.3 million bushels;
- Gala: 6.7 million bushels;
- Granny smith: 5.2 million;
- Fuji: 4.7 million bushels; and
- Golden delicious: 2.8 million bushels.
Moving into summer the focus on produce trucking tends to be with hot weather items such as cherries, other stone fruit, and salad items. Still there are a good amount of “cold” weather potatoes still being shipped, although almost entire from 5 states.
Idaho is shipping over 1800 truck load equivalents per weeks, while the other four shipping areas are shipping a little over 1600 truck loads weekly combined: San Luis Valley, Colorado, 595; Kern District, California, 420; Columbia Basin in Washington and adjacent Umatilla Basin in Oregon, about 400 but in a seasonal decline; and finally, Central Wisconsin about 200 and also in a seasonal decline.
With a total volume of 3.9 billion pounds, Idaho accounts for 37.5 percent of the total supply, with Colorado, 15.3 percent; Canada 10 percent; Washington 7 percent; Wisconsin 6.3 percent; and Florida with 4.8 percent.
All these regions make 80 percent of the total market supply. Canada has had explosive growth in potato shipments. Last year this region only supplied 77 million pounds compared to the 387 million in 2020.
San Luis Valley potatoes – grossing about $2200 to Chicago.
Twin Falls potatoes – grossing about $5600 to New York City.
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California grape shipments have been underway for about three weeks out of the desert area of the Coachella Valley, but that is minor compared to what lies ahead. As the desert volume winds down in early July, the Arvin district gets underway near Bakersfield, followed by the primary loadings in the central San Joaquin Valley.
The 2020 forecast is for 106.5 million boxes, which is up on 2019’s 104.8m boxes, but below the three-year average of 109.5 million boxes.
Availability from the main growing region in California, the Central Valley, will crank up in mid-July.
Meanwhile, the grape season in Mexico will soon be winding down, with overall shipments to be off about 20 percent from last year with estimates for 2020 at 19.7 million boxes.
There was an overlap of shipments from Mexico and the early district in Coachella.
Here’s a round up what is expected for summer citrus shipments from the view of some suppliers.
Bee Sweet Citrus of Fowler, Calif., will be shipping valencia oranges and blood oranges from California as well as mandarins, navel oranges and cara navels from Chile. The company also will have domestic and imported lemons.
The Chilean Citrus Committee of Santiago, is expects to have 176,000 tons of clementines and mandarins this season compared to 143,168 tons in 2019.
Clementines started early May, followed by mandarins with both being available through October.
Chilean lemon volume will be similar to 2019, and lasting through October. Navel shipments have just started and be continue through October.
New Limeco LLC of Princeton, FL is importing citrus from Mexico and Honduras.
Seald Sweet International of Vero Beach, FL is importing Primasole clementines from Peru with the early season having 20 to 25 percent over last year. South Africa and Chile soon followed. Late season mandarins from South Africa will increase 10 to 20 percent over last year by late September through October.
Seven Seas of Visalia, CA., a division of Tom Lange Co. Inc., Springfield, Ill., is shipping California valencia oranges, grapefruit and lemons this summer. The company also is importing navel oranges, midknight oranges, mandarins, lemons and star ruby grapefruit from South Africa, Chile and Peru.
Sunkinst Growers Inc. of Valencia, CA., has been shipping lemons, California star ruby grapefruit, valencia oranges and limes. the company has grapefruit, lemons and limes the year-round, while valencia oranges are a summertime exclusive and are now in peak volume.
Wonderful Citrus of Delano, CA is importing mandarins from Uruguay, Peru, Chile, South Africa and Australia this summer and lemons from Argentina.
It is nearly July and that means summer Michigan produce shipments are building in volume. Blueberries and vegetables are expected to have normal volume, although most crops are starting one to two weeks later than last season due to cold and excessive rain last spring.
Both Leitz Farms LLC of Sodus, MI and Naturipe Farms in Grand Junction, Mich report they will be shipping blueberries July through the end of September, with the best volume occurring in July and August.
Buurma Farms of Gregory, MI reports a beautiful crop of vegetables. The company started June with radishes, while mustard greens, collards, kale and cilantro will arrive by June 10 and beets by the end of June.
Mike Pirrone Produce of Capac, MI started about a week ago with
collards and kale, zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers. Eggplant and peppers will get underway in the last part of July.
Grape tomatoes loadings will start in mid-July, leading into roma and round tomatoes. Cucumbers and tomatoes will be shipped until the middle of October.
Miedeman & Sons of Byron, MI has just started loadings of cabbage. The operation also grows sweet corn, cabbage, bok choy, napa, celery, cabbage and winter squash. Bok Choy starts after the 4th of July, with squash coming on around Labor Day.
Van Solkema Produce of Georgia based in Bryon, MI will have cabbage, corn, celery, radishes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, chilies and blueberries. The company is just starting with cabbage and leafy greens, as well as romaine and red leaf lettuce. Zucchini and yellow squash are just starting harvest, while tunnel cucumbers and celery are expected by July 10th. Peppers will follow the third week of July.
South Carolina produce shipments are underway in light volume and North Carolina isn’t far behind.
Grower Network of Lake Park, GA markets fresh produce from the Carolinas and notes shipments usually peak in mid-June for South Carolina and mid-July for North Carolina with volume increasing 3 to 5 percent, which is typical,
In 2019, North Carolina produced 2.2 billion pounds of sweet potatoes, 37.5 million pounds of blueberries, 185 million pounds of cucumbers, 190 million pounds of watermelon, 61 million pounds of bell peppers, 64 million pounds of summer squash, and almost 80 million pounds of pumpkins, according to the USDA.
In 2019, South Carolina produced 127.5 million pounds of peaches, 161.3 million pounds of watermelon, according to the USDA statistics service.
Titan Farms of Ridge Spring, SC is the premier grower, packer and shipper of over 2.4 million boxes of fresh peaches and vegetables annually. Peak loadings of Titan peaches are occurring from June 15 to July 12.
South Carolin’s strawberry shipments have finished and now the state’s top-producing crops for late spring and summer: blueberries, peaches, melons, leafy greens, tomatoes and green onions are getting underway,
South Carolina peach shipments have been ongoing for over a month and loadings should last through August.
L&M Cos., Raleigh, N.C., will have increase shipments for summer because of more volume at its North Carolina and New Jersey farms. Squash loadings started in late May.
The shipper began moving South Carolina cucumbers nearly two weeks agos and will start shipping yellow potatoes around June 20 and North Carolina watermelons July 5.
L&M has vegetable farms in Florida, Georgia and New Jersey to offer product for longer windows of time, before and after the Carolina seasons.
Coosaw Farms, Fairfax, S.C., ships over 2 million pounds of conventional and organic blueberries a year, and this year shouldn’t be different,
Watermelon is the other big crop for Coosaw Farms. Along with the larger-sizing crop from Florida, watermelons grown in South Carolina should be shipping through July.
Jackson Farming Co. of Autryville, N.C., is planting more sweet potato acreage for the upcoming season. The company’s first harvest on seedless and seeded watermelons is estimated for the last week of June, with seedless through the end of September and seeded through mid-August. Cantaloupe should run mid-June to mid-August, and honeydews the first week of July through the first week to middle of August.
Pumpkins at the company’s Edenton, Ennice, Sparta and Autryville farms will be planted in July with harvest from September through mid-October.
California garlic shipments are just getting started and strong demand is expected to continue as consumers do more home cooking and seek to boost immunity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christopher Ranch of Gilroy, CA is now shipping with its early garlic, which is the heirloom garlic variety, Lerg, that is slightly milder than the company’s late garlic proprietary heirloom, the Monviso variety.
This year’s California garlic shipments could hit about 100 million pounds, with 15 million pounds of early garlic and 85 million of late garlic.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic and closure of foodservice outlets in March, Christopher Ranch’s garlic shipments were split pretty evenly between foodservice and retail.
The company reports its peeled garlic for foodservice shipments basically went to zero the week of the first shelter-in-place. It required major adjustments as business suddenly included mostly retailers. Still, demand was described as “stratospheric.”
While Christopher Ranch had planned to carry 100 percent U.S.-grown garlic for the 2019-20 marketing season, increased demand in recent months required the grower/shipper to import about a third of its garlic mostly from Mexico and Argentina.
I Love Produce of Kelton, PA reports strong shipments during the COVID-19 pandemic for people seeking to boost immunity and cook at home. The company imports Chinese garlic and ginger.
The company report during the months of January and February roughly when China was shut down (because of COVID-19), that is when that spike in demand started. China is now shipping garlic at close to normal levels.
I Love Produce sees with new crop supply of garlic on tap from California, Spain and China, expanding supplies may take some of the pressure off tight supplies.
California pear shipments will be getting off to a normal start in early July, after two years of late harvest starts,
Greene and Hemly of Courland, CA report Bartletts in California’s River District will start the season.
Growers are preparing for the season with an uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and safety of employees is factoring into preparation decisions.
“We employ 450 people in our farms and packinghouse,” Chiles Wilson, owner of Rivermaid Trading Co., Lodi, CA., said in a press release by the California Pear Bureau. “We want to make sure we can give them their jobs back this year. It’s not just about us as farmers but all the people we employ and their families.”
The California Pear Advisory Board is focusing on flavor, particularly on the effects of ethylene blocker 1-MCP, commonly used in storing different fruit to halt the ripening process.
California pear growers ship only new-crop pears.
Despite a drought in Mexico, and a forecast of a 45 percent drop in citrus production, total exports to the U.S. are expected to see a minimum drop in 2020.
While an ongoing and significant drought continue, navel orange exports to the U.S. should be down only 3 percent. Most of the decline affects valencia oranges destined for the juice market.
Mexican orange production is on 847,000 acres, but the USDA reports high tree mortality is expected due to prolonged high temperatures and lack of rain. Producers in Veracruz report widespread replanting of orange trees is underway.
Orange yields are down by about 30 percent, while the 2019-20 harvest of 2.53 million metric tons is 45 percent lower than a previous estimate and one of the lowest projected harvests since the early 1990s.
There are also concerns without increased government support, citrus greening disease could become a more serious problem throughout the country.
Most Mexican fresh oranges shipped to the U.S. are navel oranges from Sonora, and the USDA projects 2019-20 fresh exports to the U.S. will reach 60,000 metric tons, down 3 percent from 2018-19.
Lime Exports
Mexico is the world’s second-largest producer of limes, with production in the states of Michoacán, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Tamaulipas.
While drought has hurt lemon and lime production, the damage has not been as severe as suffered by oranges.
Nearly all lime exports go to the U.S. Mexican exports of lemons and limes to the U.S. are forecast at 755,000 metric tons for 2019-20, unchanged from 2018-19.
A mostly good growing season has New Jersey vegetable shipments pretty much on track.
Among the items being transported to market are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash and all coming along and a large variety of greens.
As May came to a close and June got underway, growers were finishing up asparagus and strawberries while still harvesting leafy greens, spinach and herbs. Squash, beans and cucumbers start in June and continue into July, when growers start with volumes of sweet corn, tomatoes, peaches, eggplant and peppers, among other specialty crops.
Among New Jersey’s biggest specialty crops are blueberries, peppers, peaches, asparagus, cranberries, squash and spinach.
In 2019, the state harvested:
- 9,300 acres of (not wild) blueberries, yielding 5,090 pounds per acre for a total of 47.3 million pounds and $85.3 million value;
- 3,500 acres of bell peppers, yielding 33,600 pounds per acre to produce 117.6 million pounds, worth $45.9 million;
- 3,900 acres of peaches year, yielding 10,000 pounds an acre to produce 39 million pounds and a $25.7 million value;
- 2,000 acres of asparagus, yielding 3,584 pounds per acre, for a production of 7.2 million pounds, valued at $16.3 million;
- 2,700 acres of cranberries, yielding 196 barrels per acre for a production of 529,000 barrels and $14.5 million value;
- 3,200 acres of squash, yielding 10,080 pounds per acre for a total of 32.3 million pounds and a $13.7 million value; and
- 1,900 acres of spinach, yielding 13,440 per acre for a total of 25.5 million pounds and a $6.7 million value.
In June 2019 alone, New Jersey shipped 17.8 million pounds of blueberries, compared to 16.4 million pounds in June 2018, according to USDA.
Peaches came next by weight, followed by nectarines and cranberries.
Peach loadings should start about July 1, with an excellent crop expected.
Consalo Family Farms of Egg Harbor City, N.J., which also has a farm in Hammonton, a sales company, also has farm partnerships nationwide.
The company will be shipping blueberries are through July. The company also sales company, Freshwave Fruit and Produce in Vineland, N.J.
Meanwhile, Consalo Family Farms began harvesting cooking greens and herbs May 1 and romaine and leaf lettuce May 8.
The fifth generation company, founded in 1898, also has partnerships elsewhere. It has cooling and packing facilities in Cedarville, a distribution center in Vineland, N.J., and a fleet of trucks to deliver the products to retail stores.
The Nardellis’ New Jersey season starts with asparagus in mid-April, continuing all the way through to summer dry items, such as peppers, cucumbers and squash, and then back to wet items such as lettuces and greens until Thanksgiving.
In June, the company will have a lot of wet greens, as well as romaine, red leaf, green leaf, Boston, endive, escarole, many cooking greens, parsley and cilantro.
Cabbages — green, red, savoy, napa, bok choy — have just started. In mid-June, there will be green and yellow squash, then cucumbers. By the end of June and early July, Nardelli Bros. will be shipping peppers and three flavors of corn.