Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
As California cherry shipments wind down loadings will soon move to the Northwest led by Washington state. Initial movement starts in May, with peak shipments occurring during June before the season winds down in August.
The Northwest Cherry Growers have issued an initial forecast of 20.5 million, 15-pound boxes. No record shipments are being predicted this season, but there should be good volume, with larger sized fruit.
A strong start to cherry shipments is expected in the last few days of May, and due to growing conditions, one of the largest spreads between early and late districts is predicted. In other words, a little longer shipping season this year.
One of the earliest areas for the first Washington cherry shipments are Mattawa (Washington), about 60 miles northeast of Yakima. Another early producing area is LeGrow, found in the Tri-Cities grown region. A third early producing are is along the Columbia River at Hermiston, OR. One of the latest producing areas is at Wenatchee, WA.
Plentiful berry shipments are seen in the months ahead for strawberries, blueberries.
California Giant of Watsonville, CA says it is growing and shipping fruit with good size and quality on all four types of berries.
The company finished winter strawberry loadings in Oxnard and Santa Maria in late April and scheduled new plantings. Volume in Watsonville has been increasing this month.
Watsonville raspberry shipments go underway in the first half of Mayharvest was expect.
California Giant’s blackberry pickings are expected to start in early to mid-June, and Mexico blackberry volume continues toward peak shipments.
Blueberries
Mexico is reporting good blueberry quality and similar quality is being reported from Oxnard. Georgia also is generally reporting good blueberry quality.
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Strawberries
In California’s Central San Joaquin Valley, the first organic blueberry ranch started in late April, while significant conventional volume has been occurring in recent days.
Seven Seas of Visalia, CA is, a division of Tom Lange Co. Inc., Springfield, Ill. reports shipments of conventional strawberries in Santa Maria started in mid-February and organic strawberries in early March.
The company’s California berry crop is off to an excellent start, with some of the best quality and yields ever. Seven Seas will have heavy volumes throughout the spring and summer.
Homegrown Organic Farms of Porterville, CA kicked off its California organic blueberry shipments in late April, continuing for about a month until late May or early June before transitioning to the Pacific Northwest, where loadings will continue at least through August.
Supplies of Northwest blueberries should be plentiful with high quality in late summer.
HBF International LLC of Sheridan, OR is likewise full of optimism and will be harvest blueberries up and down the San Joaquin Valley until June 15 or 20 and then transition to Oregon around June 20.
Oregon blueberry shipments also look promising. Movement should continue through October.
HBF will have blackberries from Oregon from late June through September.
Fewer plantings of California leafy greens are expected to result in less shipments during the next few months. This is because of declines in foodservice demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
RaboResearch conversations with vegetable shippers reveal they are likely to cut acreage by 10 to 15 percent over the next 60 days.
Because of reduced demand over the past six weeks, growers for foodservice have walked away from fields. Many are hoping to redirect shipments to retailers.
The acreage not being used now represents 50 to 85 percent of the land normally planted for product destined to restaurants, schools and other foodservice accounts. Vegetables generally are directed to foodservice accounts more than fruits. Tomatoes and lettuce are two of the higher volume vegetables going to foodservice.
About 15 percent of fresh fruit is shipped for foodservice.
Retail performance
Increased shipments to retail have helped compensate for lagging foodservice demand.
Retail statistics for the four weeks ending April 12 reveal fresh produce sales increased 17 percent compared with the same period last year.
Fresh fruit sales were up about 9 percent for the four-week period, while fresh vegetable sales were up 25 percent.
Orange sales for the period were up 55 percent, but sales of grapes, melons and pears were down.
The 25 percent overall increase in vegetables was highlighted by gains in potatoes and sweet potatoes, at 80 percent and 55 increases, respectively.
Packaged salad sales for the four-week period ending April 12 were up only 7 percent.
On the plus side foodservice shipments are likely to increase when states end lockdowns.
Good hauling opportunities should happen this spring with fruit and vegetable shipments from California’s thanks primarily to near ideal weather conditions.
Monterey County, which encompasses the valley, produced about $2.8 billion worth of vegetables in 2018, the latest year for which statistics are available from the county agricultural commissioner’s office, and just over $1 billion worth of fruit.
Coastline Family Farms of Salinas will ship about 25 kinds of mixed vegetables, including iceberg lettuce, romaine, romaine hearts, leaf lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green onions, kale and spinach.
Coastline expects to be down overall with vegetable shipments, although its early season volume should be about the same as last year. Later season loadings look to be down because of fewer plantings due to competition from other growing areas during the peak growing season and because of the impact of COVID-19.
Misionero Vegetables LLC of Gonzalez, CA. has year-round programs for salads, value-added lettuces and mostly organic vegetables. The grower-shipper grows in the desert during the fall and winter and transitions back to the Salinas Valley for spring and summer.
Bengard Ranch Inc. Salinas is shipping Iceberg lettuce, romaine, romaine hearts, broccoli, cauliflower, green leaf and red leaf. Additionally, the company is shipping celery from Oxnard that will switch to Salinas in June.
Lucky Strike Farms of Burlingame, CA notes while shipments are rolling along, distribution avenues are going to change drastically until restaurants open again. Although restaurants in California were closed because of the outbreak, more than half were open for takeout orders. The company handles a full line of vegetables, citrus, some melons and fruit.
California Giant Berry Farms of Watsonville, CA reports Salinas berries are showing good quality. It’s blackberry loadings got underway in May and continue. Raspberries started in mid May and blackberries should be ready for harvest by the middle of June.
Grower-shippers in California’s Kern County say they started on-time start with this season’s vegetable shipments, in spite of heavy rainfall.
Danny Andrews Farms of Bakersfield, CA reports minor delays due to rain on the start of lettuce and cabbage, but harvest of those items began April 13.
Andrews started vegetable shipments with iceberg lettuce, green and red cabbage. The company will have carrots in June and melons in July.
It remains to be seen whether the rains will adverse affect quality and yields of melons.
Johnston Farms of Edison, CA wrapped up citrus shipments in mid-April and started its potato season nearly a week ago, with peppers expected by June 1.
Kirschenman Enterprises Inc. of Edison, CA started its potato season with shipments from the Coachella Valley, and now is focusing on its Bakersfield crop which includes white, red and yellow spuds.
The company expects to launch its table grape season in Kern County at the end of June. Kirshenman reports the grape industry expects to have 10 percent less volume this year, not because of COVID-19, but due to overproduction, declining markets, and some grape varieties being pulled in favor of new varieties.
TD Produce Sales of Bakersfield started shipping white potatoes in late April and red and yellow potatoes in early May.
(PEACH COUNTY, GEORGIA) – Georgia Peach growers are anxiously awaiting first harvest of what is shaping up to be the best crop in years. Harvest is expected to begin around the 15th of May and continue through the 15th of August.
Genuine Georgia expects to pack nearly 3 million boxes of Georgia Peaches during the summer months. Offering convenient Grab-and-Go 2-pound bags as well as fresh peaches sold loose by the pound or the each.
With the current situation surrounding COVID-19, many retailers are expecting a huge lift in southern peach sales this summer.
“Many are touting fresh peaches as the feel-good fruit of the summer. With these uncertain times, we’re glad to be able to support our peach partners throughout the summer season. Everyone needs a taste of familiar comfort these days and we’re ready to bring back some normalcy to consumers nationwide with the juicy, healthy and unmatched flavor of a Georgia peach,” says Will McGehee, partner with Genuine Georgia.
“Retailers have the opportunity to merchandise peaches according to their shopper’s preference,” said Duke Lane III.
2020 Genuine Georgia partners can look forward to customized marketing support programs featuring everything from digital ad programs, social media support campaigns, a dietitian toolkit and customer specific merchandisers highlighting sweet Georgia Peaches.
Sweet Georgia peaches are a nutritional powerhouse of health. A medium peach packs more than 20 different macro and micronutrients, including fiber, vitamins A, C, E, potassium and zinc. They are also naturally free of fat, sodium, cholesterol, gluten and trans fats. The orange-yellow hue of peaches is a cue that they’re an excellent source of beta-carotene, an important antioxidant that’s converted to vitamin A. In fact, a medium peach (1 cup slices) has about 500 IU of vitamin, equal to about 10% of the Daily Value for this nutrient. Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for optimal growth, bone health and vision.
For more information about the Genuine Georgia Group or to partner for the 2020 season, go to www.genuinega.com or call 478.822.9210.
Grimmway Farms is now shipping the new crop of organic red and gold potatoes from its Cal-Organic Farms division from California.
The company’s Lamont, Calif., facility started shipping the red and gold potatoes in late April, followed by the organic fingerlings in May and russets in early June, according to a news release.
The company is harvesting reds and golds in Coachella Valley and will move to Kern County in late May.
“There is solid demand for new crop potatoes due to an uptick in consumption this spring,” Bob Borda, vice president of organic sales at Grimmway Farms, said in the release. “We’ve seen great growing conditions with mild weather in the desert and harvest volumes look optimal, so we’re looking forward to opening the season strong with plenty of supply and a good quality crop.”
The company packs red and golds in 3- and 5-pound sacks and 50-pound bulk cartons, with size A, B or C spuds, according to the release. A medley of red and golds are also available in a 3-pound pack.
Cal-Organic rainbow fingerlings will be available later in the season, with gold, red and purple potatoes in 1.5-pound mesh packs and 25- and 50-pound bulk cartons, with single-color options available for bulk orders, according to the release.
A near-shutdown of foodservice outlets and booming demand from retailers resulted in Texas onion grower-shippers opening their season with unprecedented market conditions.
There were ups and downs in onion shipment due to the combination of factors — caused by social distance restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. in March.
Frontera Produce Ltd. of Edinburg, Tx reports onion shipment got off to a quick start out of the gate, driven by higher retail demand. However, by March 27th Loadings nearly came to a standstill. But a better balance has since come about as retailers learn to balance their orders.
Onion shipments started around two weeks early this year, compared to 2019.
Looking at the fast start from a volume perspective, during the week of March 15-21, Texas onion shipments totaled 15.4 million pounds (385,000 40-pound cartons), up more than fivefold from just 2.8 million pounds (70,000 cartons) the same week last year.
Bebo Distributing Co. Inc. of Pharr, Texas, notes there had be been good supplies of Texas onions going into May.
In 2019, the USDA reported Texas shipments of top commodities were:
- Cabbage: 86.04 million pounds;
- Grapefruit: 183.13 million pounds;
- Onions: 246.2 million pounds;
- Oranges: 83.13 million pounds;
- Seeded watermelons: 22.64 million pounds; and
- Seedless watermelons: 598.28 million pounds.
Chile is predicint an 8 percent increase in total citrus exports of 353,000 metric tons (MT) this season. Big increases in soft citrus volumes that more than offset expected declines in oranges is getting most of the credit for the overall rise.
The forecast calls for a 24 percent rise in mandarins, a 21 percent increase in clementines, flat lemons volumes, and a 13. percent decrease in orange exports.
The volume forecast for mandarins and clementines is 115,000MT and 61,000MT respectively. The year-on-year increase in volumes of both categories is due to new plantings made over the last 10 years.
An estimated 1463 acres have been planted annually and that the surface area is higher than 22,239 acres. Meanwhile, the decline in orange volumes to 87,000MT is due to a decline in surface area over recent years.
Many growers have been opting to either regraft or plant other crops. Lemon exports are expected to come in at 90,000MT.
A late winter freeze is being blamed for what is expected to be a double digit drop in Mexican grape shipments this season.
Total volume in 2020 likely will be down about 20 percent from a year earlier — 19.7 million cartons, compared to 23.7 million in 2019.
Just about all varieties will be down in 2020t. The forecast calls for 800,000 boxes of perlettes versus 1.7 million in 2019; 8.7 million red seedless in 2020 versus 10.8 million in 2019; mid-green, 4.2 million in 2020 versus 5.1 million in 2019; red globe, 300,000 in 2020 versus 307,000 in 2019; and black, 1.5 million in 2020 versus 1.9 million in 2019.
The exceptions, with larger volumes seen this year over last, were early primes, at 2.8 million boxes versus 2.6 million in 2019; and “others”, 1.5 million versus 1.2 million in 2019.
Pandol Bros. Inc. of Dinuba, CA reports a good winter and a freeze, which had an impact on total production.
The freeze was particularly hard on the early season perlettes.
Fresh Farms of Nogales, AZ reports the first grapes shipped out of Jalisco in early April, with Sonora grapes starting to ship in early May, which would be normal.
The Oppenheimer Group of Vancouver, British Columbia was planning an early May start, which would be earlier than a year ago,
The is expecting to have good volume this season despite the expected smaller crop.