Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Following the wettest May in memory, not only is the season getting a late start, but California cherry growers see fewer shipments due to rain-related fruit damage.
Chinchiolo Stemilt (Stockton) California, whose cherries are marketed by Stemilt Growers of Wenatchee, WA., estimates the statewide cherry crop to be slashed 50 percent, or 5.25 million boxes, of the 10.5 million boxes estimated at the season’s start.
The company relates it may come in lower, depending on the condition of the fruit on the remaining trees.
Harvest of the bing variety, the state’s largest-volume cherry may suffer the most damage of any of the varieties.
Early season estimates for bings were 4.5 million cartons, which was conservative. The California cherry industry plans to continue packing into the middle of June, but volume is expected to be significantly reduced.
If the current rough estimate holds true, production would be close to the 6-year average of 6.5 million boxes. Quality cherries are predicted to be shipped from June 5 to the 20th, despite orchards having significant fruit damage.
El Camino Packing Inc. of Gilroy, CA., grows and packs cherries from about 200 acres. The operation is reported 20 to 40 percent of its early cherries being cracked because of excess rain. Later blocks appear to have less damage.
By Coastline Family Farms
SALINAS, CA – Coastline Family Farms a western vegetable grower/shipper with locations in Salinas CA, Yuma AZ and Brawley CA., has announced the formation of a new dry onion growing and packing joint venture with Madison Ranches located in Echo, OR. The new venture will be named Madison-Cox Onions, LLC.
The Madison-Cox Onions joint venture will produce red and yellow bulb onions in Hermiston Oregon with the first harvest in September 2019 and shipping through March of 2020. Madison Ranches will be responsible for the production, storage, packing and shipping for the new venture.
Larry Cox, the CEO and grower/owner of Coastline said “My family has been growing red, yellow and white dry onions in the Imperial Valley of California for over 35 years. With the dynamics of the produce marketplace, we wanted to consolidate our onion sales under the Coastline Family Farms structure and develop an all year round onion program on the west coast.
We have known the Madison family for some time, they have a reputation for producing high quality premium onions in the Hermiston region of Oregon and knew they would be the right partner to help expand our production footprint.”
“Larry, myself, and our teams began discussing working together in the Pacific Northwest last fall. We are very excited about the opportunity to put together a quality oriented, year round onion program.” said Jake Madison, a 4th generation farmer and CEO of Madison Ranches. “Our two family farming companies are very similar which helps build a strong foundation of trust, shared values and a focus on a customer centric business model”.
“We started construction…on our new packing and storage facility which will feature a state-of-the-art, optical grading, sorting and packing line, capable of meeting the needs of our clients with onion bags ranging from 10-50lb. We focused the design on automation and state of the art equipment in order to deliver a premium product to our customers. ” added Jonathan Miller, General Manager of the Madison-Cox Onions joint venture..
“Coastline Family Farms will handle the sales and marketing for the joint venture.” said Tonya Giotta, Vice President for Foodservice Sales. The onion and vegetable sales veteran is joined by Carly Kwak-Bauch, Vice President of Product and Channel Development. Both women previously worked together at River Point Farms and were tapped by Coastline to develop a new dry onion business unit.
“The addition of the Madison-Cox joint venture in Oregon, gives Coastline a year-round, integrated west coast supply base. This enables us to provide national and regional foodservice operators, distributors, wholesalers and retail clients with a consistent year-round supply of premium dry onions.” added Tonya.
About Coastline Family Farms
Coastline Family Farms was founded in 1991 and is owned by Larry and Tina Cox. The company is a year-round grower-shipper of premium vegetables from California, Arizona and Mexico. Four generations of the Cox family have actively farmed throughout California for over 95 yrs. Today the company grows permanent, rotational and vegetable crops on over 10,000 acres of farmland in conjunction with a handful of highly respected, quality-focused family growers. This integrated grower/packer/shipper alignment, provides a product line which includes lettuces (iceberg, red & green leaf, and romaine) and a wide range of vegetables including cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, green onions, dry onions (red, yellow and white) and more.
About Madison Ranches
Since 1917 the Madison family has farmed the rich soils of the Southern Columbia Basin in Oregon. Today the 4th generation, Jake and Heather Madison manage nearly 10,000 irrigated acres producing onions, vegetables, seed crops, grains, organic crops, cattle, and feed crops. Continuing the over 100 year tradition of sustainable agricultural farming, the Madison’s use pioneering water conservation practices including cutting edge irrigation management systems, aquifer recharge along with aquifer storage and recovery (sub surface water basin replenishment and storage), and green power generation (wind, solar, and hydro).
Domestic blueberry shipments got underway in mid-April from Georgia and should wind down in the Northwest in late summer or early fall.
North Carolina blueberry loadings started in early May and California is just now entering its peak shipping period.
New Jersey blueberry shipments will be launched in mid-June, followed soon thereafter by Indiana and Oregon. Dry weather during the growing season may adversely affect Oregon blueberry volume.
Washington State enters the picture in late June with shipments continuing until early to mid-September.
Naturipe Berry Growers of Salinas, CA ships blueberries year-round and was loading in good volume from Delano and Bakersfield in early May.
Although cool weather held up the start of the crop, volume was picking up in April as conditions improved.
California Giant Berry Farms of Watsonville has competed its shipments of Georgia blueberries and has switched to California, with volume expected to be normal.
J&B Blueberry Farms Inc. of Manor, GA will be shipping blueberries until early July.
New Jersey blueberry shipments should start in mid June, continuing into mid August.
Michigan will wrap up the domestic season with loadings underway about July 1st and continuing into September.
It has been a slow start due to rainy weather earlier this year, but California strawberry shipments are gradually returning to normal volume this spring.
California strawberry loadings had amounted to about 27.7 million trays on April 20th, compared to about 29 million trays last year.
On a weekly basis, volume for the week ending April 20th was around 7 million trays, up from about 5.6 million trays for the same week in 2018.
Shipments had picked up leading up Mother’s Day May 12th and with the May 27th Memorial Day.
Ventura County strawberries are pretty much finished, but Santa Maria is picking up the slack with the Salinas/Watsonville not far behind.
Well-Pict Inc. of Watsonville wrapped up its Oxnard season the first week of May and now is focusing on Santa Maria and Watsonville.
Santa Maria and Watsonville both started late due to consistently rainy weather, although the precipitation was welcomed even though it pushed back the season a little.
In mid-April, Watsonville and Santa Maria were running about two to three weeks behind their normal shipping schedules, although strong volume is expected through June.
Naturipe Berry Growers Salinas has been in full shipping mode from Santa Maria since early May. Volume has gradually been increasing since then at their Salinas/Watsonville operations.
This season is pretty much back to normal following a dry year in 2018.
California Giant Berry Farms of Watsonville in now hitting peak shipments out of Santa Maria, with the second round of harvesting now underway in Watsonville where loadings are ramping up.
Santa Maria strawberries and vegetables – grossing about $7100 to New York City.
By Genuine Georgia Peaches
(Fort Valley, Georgia) – 2019 Georgia peach shipments officially kicked off on May 20th and this season is shaping up to be one of the best with enough volume to consistently supply its receivers over the 15-week availability period.
The Genuine Georgia Group expects to pack approximately 3 million boxes of peaches this season.
“We’re excited for a strong season with our customers. Everyone knows a Georgia peach can’t be beat and this season, we’ve been blessed by mother nature,” notes Duke Lane III, partner with Genuine Georgia. “The cool Spring has set us up for a successful Summer. It’s given us healthy, flavorful, unmatched sugary sweet Georgia peaches.”
Offering fresh peaches packaged bulk by the pound (volume-filled or tray pack) as well as convenient Grab-and-Go 2-pound bags, there’s a compelling opportunity for each retail partner to shine.
A recent Nielsen study on peach trends and opportunities (December 2018) demonstrated that 2018 was the first year that fixed weight produce items outsold loose produce. It also revealed that the top performing retailers in the country carried multiple skus – 2 times more than the lowest performing peach retailers.
“We see that when retailers carry multiple peach skus, mixing bulk with our grab-and-go bags, they instantly maximize sales opportunities by capturing different consumers at point of purchase,” notes Will McGehee, partner at Genuine Georgia. “It’s this kind of savvy partner that we expect to see shine this peach season.”
For more information about the Genuine Georgia Group, go to www.genuinega.com or call 478-822-9210.
By Summer Citrus from South Africa
CITRUSDAL, South Africa – Now in its 20th year serving the U.S. with fresh citrus during the summer months, Summer Citrus from South Africa is looking for an improved export season to the America with removal of water restrictions.
South Africa exports citrus to the U.S. from June to October.
The group is looking to increase exports to the U.S. of easy peelers and mandarins. South Africa is the second largest exporter of citrus globally and the ultimate goal for the overall program in 2019 is to increase market share for the country’s fruit in the U.S.
After emerging from a three year drought, the growers of SCSA are looking for the “first proper citrus crop without any water restrictions,” underlining the association’s excitement around the potential of the upcoming season.
About Summer Citrus from South Africa (SCSA)
Summer Citrus from South Africa represents a group of South African citrus growers who consolidate their logistics, marketing and sales efforts to bring the finest citrus fruit to market during the U.S. summer season. Established in 1999 and re-branded for expanded marketing efforts in 2016, the group provides Navels, Midknights, East Peelers, Star Ruby Grapefruit and Cara-Cara oranges for the U.S. market.
South Carolina shippers are gearing up for a promising season starting in June with most loads destined for markets in the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states.
South Carolina ranks 5th nationally in watermelon shipments. It has 10,000 acres of watermelon planted this season. Melon shipments are expected from mid-June thru late July. Approximately 80 percent of South Carolina watermelons shipments are seedless.
Following an early March freeze, the state’s peach estimate plunged to about 70 percent of a normal crop. Still, excellent quality fruit is expected. South Carolina ranks second to California in domestic peach shipments. Loadings started in early May and will continue through early August.
The state is also known for it vegetable shipments of collards, summer squash and sweet corn, although there are shipments of beans, peas and Sea Island tomatoes. Berries ranging from strawberries to blueberries will come on in June.
By Chilean Fresh Fruit Association
Southern Hemisphere citrus suppliers to North America, Chile commenced shipping the week of April 13th with 71,771 boxes of clementines by boat.
As of May 2nd, 55,268 boxes of clementines were headed for the East Coast and 16,503 boxes to the West Coast. Chilean Clementines will be followed by lemons, navels and mandarins. It takes about 21 days to arrive at U.S. ports.
The Chilean citrus industry anticipates similar overall volumes of citrus in comparison to last year, with the total volume reaching 350,000 tons vs. 358,000 in 2018. Clementine volume is expected to have the greatest variation, falling by 8 percent to 58,000 tons.
Juan Enrique Ortuzar, president of the Chilean Citrus Committee, explains this was not unexpected.
“In 2018, Chilean clementine production jumped 53 three percent. After a year of high production, blooms tend to be less intense, so this reduction in volume is not a surprise. The overall trend for Chilean Clementine volume is incredibly positive. In 2017, we shipped 40,687 tons of clementines to North America, and this year, the estimate is 58,000 tons. That’s an increase of 43 three percent in just two years!”
Expectations are high for a strong clementine season. Weather and growing conditions have provided the ideal scenario for good brix and sizing, and cool fall nights have turned the fruit to a brilliant orange color. Chile is facing higher than usual stock levels in the U.S. market, but the Committee is confident that consistently high quality fruit and strong marketing support will be the right combination to generate demand and drive sales.
“In 2018, we ran citrus promotions in more than 50 retail chains, with a strong focus on creative, high-impact promotions that generated double digit sales increases,” says Karen Brux, Managing Director of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association . “We hope to extend our reach even further this season. We’ll also engage our social media followers with videos direct from Chilean citrus orchards, new recipes and interactive promotions. We just reached a Facebook following of 350,000, so we have a large, captive audience!”
Weekly crop updates are now available, and the Committee will be sending more detailed information on lemons, navels and mandarins as shipments of these fruits begin.
mrwp
Superfresh Growers, Yakima, Wash., is marketing blueberries with an exclusive supply agreement with Norris Farms, Roseburg, Ore.
The blueberry grower has acreage in southern Oregon’s Umpqua River Valley, according to a news release, where harvest starts in early- to mid-June, and lasts to late September.
“Our collective farming, sales, and logistical expertise, combined with mutual multi-generational farming knowledge, make our families a great match,” Robert Kershaw, CEO of Superfresh Growers, said in the release.
Norris Farms owner Paul Norris said his family farming operation is excited to work with Superfresh Growers.
“It has been apparent from the day we met that our companies share cultures that are centered around quality, service and strong customer relationships,” Norris said in the release.
Superfresh also markets apples, pears, apricots and cherries.
As of May 1st fresh apple shipments have plunged 13 percent compared to a year ago.
This means U.S. fresh-market apples remaining to be shipped total 38.6 million bushel cartons on May 1st compared to 44.2 million cartons at the same time last year and 2 percent less than the 5-year average of 39.2 million cartons.
By variety, the May 1st apples remaining to be shipped compared with a year ago, were:
- Fuji: 4.71 million cartons, down 17 percent;
- Gala: 7.51 million cartons, down 4 percent;
- Golden delicious: 1.67 million cartons, down 43 percent;
- Granny smith: 4.85 million cartons, down 42 percent;
- Honeycrisp: 2.67 million cartons, up 9 percent;
- Cripps pink/Pink Lady: 2.23 million cartons, up 17 percent; and
- Red delicious: 11.9 million cartons, down 1 percent.
Washington state accounts for approximately 92 percent of the remaining 2018 apple crop.
Oneonta Starr Ranch of Wenatchee, WA reports Washington apple shipments have been pretty steady in May. Washington apple loading will continue until the start of the 2019 season.