Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
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.
Chilean table grape exports are wrapping up with 6 percent less volume from a year ago, although shipments still increased to some key markets. Meanwhile, Mexican grape loadings are getting underway.
The Chilean Fruit Exporters Association reports as of the week of April 20th, 551,459 metric tons (MT) of fruit had been shipped, compared to 618,590 MT last year. The U.S. and Canada account for 52 percent Chilean table grape exports, although shipments to those markets have fallen by 5 percent this season.
Exports to Asia fell by 15 percent, after the coronavirus outbreak severely affected market conditions over recent months. Asia remains the number-two market.
Europe and Russia were the only two markets to which Chile managed to ship more grapes, both increasing by more 10 percent, with Europe receiving 74,990MT and Russia 9,792MT.
Exports to other Latin American countries fell by 17 percent to 29,476 MT, and to the Middle East fell by 3 percent to 8,625 MT. Fruit quality has been generally good in general. The decline in exports is in line with industry expectations at the beginning of the season.
The Peruvian avocado ramped up volumes in mid-April.
Following a year-on-year drop in export volumes last season of 17 percent, Peru is forecasting a 5 percent increase over 2018, when 336,000MT were exported. But unlike 2018, when the volumes were greatly concentrated in a few weeks, supplies are more consistent and spread out throughout the season. The peak volume is expected to be from May through July.
The Peruvian Hass Avocado Growers’ Association (ProHass) reports there had been a slight slowdown in exports, but it was believed this was more related to companies learning about how to implement the new measures under the covid-19 pandemic and also due to market uncertainty over recent weeks.
There have so far been few problems in terms of logistics in Peru, with
enough truck drivers available and accommodating to the new schedules. The flow of containers from the ports to the packing houses and vice versa has also not been much of an issue, but the response times and efficiency of these operations have slowed. The first exports of the Peruvian avocado season have been focused on the European market.
Peruvian exports to the U.S. has been increasing in recent years. Peruvian avocado supplies are viewed as a good complement to the domestic and Mexican supplies. Exports from Mexico are at the lowest point in the Northern Hemisphere summer months.
While avocados from Peru arrive mainly at East Coast ports in the U.S. they as shipped nationwide.
Europe is still Peru’s primary market, and it is now shipping there, as well as China and Japan.
California avocado shipments are far outpacing last season, primarily because of heavy demand from retailers in early and mid-March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the California Avocado Commission reports loadings have now slowed down in line with retail demand.
Despite retail orders being offset somewhat by the huge drop in foodservice demand, California avocado growers harvested nearly 46.7 million pounds this season through March 22.
This compares to only 5.1 million pounds for the same time last year. Some of this increase is due to a larger crop in 2020, but much is due to strong early-season demand. There has been a lot consumers stocking up and panic-buying, especially with the start of the pandemic, but there have been some expectations of softer retail traffic going into April. This has resulted in many growers to temporarily slow down on harvesting.
Unlike some produce items, mature avocados can remain safely on their trees, providing some harvesting flexibility.
Georgia Vidalia onion shipments are underway and loadings should be similar to a year ago.
There are 9,373 acres on onions in the ground, which is similar to 2019 crop acreage, which was about 2,000 acres down from 2018.
The Vidalia Onion Committee reports more onions are being grown on less acreage. There are about 80,000 to 110,000 onion plants per acre being cultivated by hand to produce the 5 million to 7 million 40-pound equivalents shipped every year.
In 2019, the Vidalia onion industry produced 5.3 million 40-pound equivalents. There is a six to eight-week harvest period for fresh onions, and then about half the crop, or 3 million to 3.5 million bushels, is shipped from cold storage or controlled atmosphere storage through summer.
Last year was one of the best shipping season in Vidalia onion history and the industry has hopes for the same results this go around.
Every year the Georgia Department of Agriculture sets an official start date for the season after hearing from a 13-member advisory panel of the Vidalia Onion Committee of growers. This year’s start date was April 16.