Posts Tagged “Eastern Shore vegetable shipments”

Eastern Shore Vegetable Loadings are now Underway

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The Eastern Shore, also referred to as Delmarva, encompasses several counties in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. It is separated from the mainland to the west by the Chesapeake Bay, and washed by the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on the east.

Eastern Shore produce shipments provides retailers and foodservice companies, particularly along the Eastern Seaboard, with a steady supply potatoes, vegetables and other fresh fruits and vegetables from spring to fall. This year, loadings started in early June and will continue through September.

At Dublin Farms of Horntown, VA, fresh potato shipments are just getting underway, with volume expected to be similar to the 2022 season.

Virginia potatoes provide a niche in filling the gap after Florida’s fresh crop potatoes are dug in the spring and before the more northern production areas start producing in late summer early fall. Dublin will be shipping fresh potatoes to customers stretching from Florida to Canada until late in the summer.

Cambridge Farms is headquarted in South Easton, MA, but has long partnered with potato growers from the Southeast to the Northeast, including along the Eastern Shore. Good volume is expected from North Carolina and Virginia.

Cambridge Farms started Virginia potato shipments in mid-June with, and reds, white and yellows.

Papen Farms in Dover, DE, produces sweet corn, green beans and cabbage. The company is expecting those three crops to produce on a fairly normal schedule this season, with loadings from early June through its fall crop of green beans. Sweet corn is the company’s top volume commodity and it is on schedule for its post-Fourth of July harvest, which will last about two months.

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Western States Cherry Shipments; Eastern Shore is Moving Vegetables

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DSCN9486Some Western cherry shipments are finished, but the Northwest cherry crop is coming on….Meanwhile, the Eastern Shore of  Maryland, Virginia and Delaware is underway with vegetables.

California cherry shipments are ending up at nearly 9 million, 18-pound boxes, which would exceed the 8.7 million-box-record loadings in 2008.  It may very well be California’s best and largest sweet cherry season ever as Washington state’s harvest gets underway.  Hollister, CA finished about a week ago.

Last year California finished with 5.1 million boxes after losing about 3 million boxes to rain.

California’s cherry industry has had many disappointments in recent years due to rain or heat.  Inadequate winter chill led to poor fruit set in 2014 and a crop of just 2.7 million boxes.  And 2005 and 2006 were at 3 million boxes or less.

California shipments averaged 250,000 boxes per day between May 5 and June 4, with a peak of 377,000 boxes on May 23.

About 70 percent of California’s crop was shipped to all regions of the U.S. and 9.4 percent to Canada, 9 percent to South Korea and the balance to Japan, China, Hong Kong and a few others.

Pacific Northwest Cherry Shipments

Pacific Northwest cherry shipments are forecast at 22.7 million boxes with Washington cherry shipments accounting 81 percent of  it.   The Northwest counts by 22-pound boxes and California by 18-pound boxes.

The Washington harvest began with the Chelan variety at Doebler Orchard near Mattawa on June 6.

It was a limited run for the first cherries, but packing cranked up about June 15 as more orchards started picking.

Yakima Valley apple and pear shipments – grossing about $4500 to Dallas.

Eastern Shore Vegetable Shipments

All packing sheds on the Eastern Shore were running as of yesterday.

Fresh potato shipments are particularly good for Canada this season with reds, russets and yellows being shipped from areas of the Eastern Shore.  However, the majority of potatoes are shipped throughout the Northeast when those areas are not producing.

The largest russet grower on the Eastern Shore is Yaros Farms in Lower Northampton County.  Dublin Farms in Horntown is one of Virginia’s biggest potato  operations.  It ships 12 to 15 loads daily from late June through mid-August.

When the southern states stop shipping, loadings are redirected there. Depending on the volume from Canadian potatoes from year to year, the Eastern Shore also distributes into in Canada.

There typically is between 3,000 and 4,000 acres of potatoes grown on the Eastern Shore.

C&E Farms in Cheriton, VA, is one of the largest green bean operations in the nation.  C&E Farms also ships green beans from North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida. The company has packing facilities in Cheriton and in Parrish, FL.

Virginia’s three major tomato operations, Lipman Family Farms, Pacific Tomato Growers and Del Monte, will be shipping about equal volumes of round, roma, grape, cherry and heirloom tomatoes from late June through September.

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Eastern Shore Vegetable Loadings Have Started

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DSCN5844Eastern Shore vegetable shipments are underway for the summer from Virginia, Delaware and Maryland.

Fresh produce shipments typically start in early June, but those crops were a little late because of a cooler spring.  Growers produce two fresh-crop seasons, except for potatoes which have just one season.

Virginia potato shipments began around June 20, and will be in full swing with good loadings by early July

Although numerous fresh produce items are grown in the Eastern Shore region, Virginia’s main crop is potatoes, which has between 3,000 and 4,000 acres.

Most of the potatoes produced in Virginia are shipped throughout the eastern U.S., as far west as the Mississippi River and include red, white, yellow and russet potatoes.  When northern areas are not producing, much of the crop is distributed in those regions.  When the Southern states stop producing, shipments are redirected to the South.  Some of potatoes are distributed in Canada.

Dublin Farms in Horntown is one of the state’s biggest potato shippers.

The Eastern Shore also has significant acreage in tomatoes and green beans, with C&E Farms in Cheriton being the largest shipper of green beans.  The farming operation produces about 750,000 bushels of beans annually off of its 5,000 acres.

The two major tomato operations on the shore are expected to produce about the same volumes of round, Roma, grape, cherry and heirloom tomatoes during this season, which runs from late June through September.

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