Posts Tagged “Canadian potato shipments”
Summer valencia and other California citrus shipments are underway….Meanwhile, there is less acreage and growers of potatoes in Canada, but volume is maintained.
Navel orange shipments from California are finishing early as valencia orange loadings as will as lemons and other citrus are gearing up.
California primarily ships valencia oranges during the summer months with this season’s crop being moderate size, coming off of about 70,000 acres.
California navel orange shipments will end this month instead of their normal conclusion around the Fourth of July. In fact, navel loadings destined for the East Coast concluded with the beginning of June. California growers shipped 82 million cartons of navels this season, as compared to 94 million cartons in 2016.
Valencias are often referred to as the ‘summer orange’ since peak supplies are available June through September. Higher than usual valencia shipments are seen since navels are ending early.
Fewer California lemon shipments are seen this season. However, more imported lemons are seen coming from Chile, Argentina and South Africa for deliveries throughout North America.
Canadian Potato Shipments
Prince Edward Island continues to reduce its potato acreage, but remains the largest shipper of spuds in the country, according to Statistics Canada’s census of agriculture.
Island farmers planted 83,326 acres in 2016, down from 386,561 acres in 2011, but that was still close to a quarter of all the potato land in Canada. That number has dropped off in recent decades. Until 2005, the province was planting more than 98,842 acres a year.
The second biggest grower was Manitoba, at 67,672 acres.
While the number of acres grown was down just 3.7 per cent, the number of farms reporting was down significantly. In 2011, 300 farms reported potato fields and in 2016 that was down to 247.
That means the average potato farm is getting a lot bigger. In 2011 the average P.E.I. potato farmer put in 289 acres. In 2016 that was up to 338 acres.
Canadian Fruit Shipments
While shipments are not anything near Canadian potatoe shipments, fruit shipments are becoming a larger part of Island agriculture, with blueberry shipments leading the pack.
Acreage of fruit, berries and nuts were up 12 per cent between the two censuses, amounting to 14,388 acres. The huge majority of that, 96.5 per cent of it, was blueberries.
Apples also saw a significant increase, from 126 to 153 acres.
Overall, the number of farms on the Island fell 9.5 per cent, to 1,353.
Manitoba could give the small island of Prince Edward Island a run for its money when it comes to potato shipments.
Manitoba is partly responsible for an increase in Canadian potato shipments, according to new numbers from Statistics Canada (SC). Currently, P.E.I. is Canada’s biggest spud producer.
SC recently reported potato shipments in Canada are up 4.1 per cent in 2015, Manitoba potato shipments alone accounts for 57.2 per cent of the increase.
In 2015, P.E.I. potato shipments represented 23.7 per cent of total in Canadia. Manitoba was close on its heels with 20.6 per cent.
Prince Edward Island prides itself on being Canada’s king of spuds. The island is Canada’s largest potato producer and the industry is worth more than a billion dollars, according to the Prince Edward Island Potato Board.
The recent surge in Manitoba potato production has to do with how much the main potato processors – McCain’s, Simplot, and Cavendish – contract out to farms. All three demanded fewer potatoes for 2013 and 2014 from Manitoba farms, but in 2015 all three demanded more.
Looking at the long-term trend, it’s clear Manitoba is peeling its way to catch up to P.E.I. The industry has grown substantially in the past 20 years.
Canadian potato production is up overall in part because of the low Canadian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar.
Total potato loadings from U.S. shipping areas are expected to be down five percent for the 2013-14 shipping season, but spud haulers shouldn’t really notice a difference, since it is such a large crop. A similar sitution exists with Canadian potato shipments.
Overall, the two countries combined means there are only three percent fewer potatoes for loading in North America. The total is still a huge 501 million cwt. (per hundred weight).
Of that amount, about 398 million cwt. of the potatoes will be shipped from U.S. production areas than the previous season, according to USDA statistics. Canada will provide about 103 million cwt. of loads, two percent more than the previous year.
The U.S. had about 942,000 acres of potatoes planted, down from about 1 million acres the year before. However, yields rose from 423 cwt to 427 cwt per acre. Acreage also was down in Canada but yields were up significantly, rising from 274 cwt to 292 cwt per acre.
Here’s a glimpse at a few of the major potato shipping states.
Idaho Potato Shipments – The state ships a lot of spuds by rail, but trucks still transport the majority of the loads. Most pick ups orginate from the Upper Valley and the Twin Falls – Burley District. Idaho is averaging around 1,650 truckload equivalents of potatoes being loaded each week.
You should gross about $4350 to Atlanta.
Colorado Potato Shipments – The San Luis Valley is averaging nearly 700 truck loads of potatoes per week.
You should gross about $4100 to New York City.
Wisconsin Potato Shipments – Most loads are originating from shippers within a 50 mile radius or so of Stevens Point in the Central part of the state.
You should gross around $1400 to Cleveland.
Washington Potato Shipments
Spud loadings are originating out of the Columbia Basin and just across the state line in Oregon’s Umatilla Basin. There’s about 325 loads of potatoes a week soming out of here. They are also shipping even more onions than spuds – about 800 loads a week.
You should gross about $3000 to Chicago.