Posts Tagged “feature”
Delano, CA — Premium table grape grower and marketer, Four Star Fruit looks forward to another strong Holiday grape season.
Recognized for its exceptional sweetness and distinctive late-season profile, the Holiday variety is a highly sought-after seedless variety, easily identified by consumers nationwide. The summer heat wave will create challenges for some varieties, but Holiday is in the early stages of maturity, and the company is not seeing any roadblocks.
“We are looking forward to another great Holiday season with strong promotable volumes,” said Jack Campbell, President of Four Star Fruit. “Our team is fully equipped and ready to collaborate with retail partners to deliver an exceptional eating experience, driving robust consumer demand this fall.”
Earlier this year, Four Star Fruit solidified its position as a frontrunner in the table grape industry with the recent acquisition from Agriculture Capital of Columbine Vineyards’ complete Holiday grape program. Under the terms of the acquisition, Four Star Fruit has exclusive rights to all brands, trademarks, and DNA associated with the Holiday variety.
Holiday clamshells and bags are available upon request; please get in touch with your Four Star Fruit sales representative for more information.
About Four Star Fruit, Inc.
Four Star Fruit has been in table grape production as a grower-shipper since 1987. The company is family-owned and operated for three generations by the Campbell family. Four Star produces remarkable premium conventional and organic grapes, including the trademarked Pristine® variety. Their fields are located throughout the San Joaquin and Coachella Valleys and internationally in Peru, Chile, and Mexico. Their top-of-the-line facility allows for innovation and flexibility in packaging. Four Star farms thousands of acres of grapes annually while carefully ensuring each bunch’s quality from planting to harvest, packing to shipping.
U. S. berry shipments from one coast to the other in the first half of the summer’ were good and strong volume is expected for the last half of the season as well.
California strawberries loadings are strong in California, and blueberries now are now being shipped from California, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington. Blackberries and raspberries are available from the East Coast, California, Washington and Oregon.
Bobalu Berries based in Oxnard, CA reports strawberry movement remains strong in the late summer for the company which ships product the year around.
The firm has been shipping its spring crop from Santa Maria, CA., and its late-summer volume was expected to kick in during August when the fall strawberry crop begins.
Oxnard will follow with a fall strawberry crop extending into 2025.
California Giant Berry Farms headquartered in Watsonville notes great quality and flavor for its strawberries from the Watsonville/Salinas area.
The company’s has just completed its strawberry season in Santa Maria.
As of the week ending July 6, California growers had shipped 131,827,552 trays of strawberries. That’s up from 109,085,918 trays at the same time a year ago and up from about 128 million trays in 2022, according to the California Strawberry Commission, based in Watsonville.
Gem-Pack Berries of Irvine, CA sources summer strawberries from the Watsonville/Salinas and Santa Maria regions; raspberries from Watsonville and the Mexican state of Baja California; blackberries from Oxnard, CA., Watsonville and Tennessee; and some blueberries from the Pacific Northwest.
Gem-Pack will have organic strawberries from Watsonville as late as October and sources organic and conventional raspberries from Baja California nearly year-round.
Berry shipments should remain steady into August, when volume will start to decrease.
Concerning blueberries, Consalo Family Farms of Vineland, N.J., is transitioning from New Jersey to grower partners in Michigan.
Consalo Family Farms also has a growing organic blueberry program and continues to expand blueberry varietals.
Cal Giant reports blueberry quality out of the Pacific Northwest is “good” on conventional and organic product. Blueberry quality out of Mexico also is good, although there is some scarring and shriveling fruit due to hot weather.
Watsonville raspberry shipments are reported steady with good quality, according to Cal Giant. Good quality is reported from Mexico.
Blackberry quality is good from Watsonville is with steady volumes, which are now increasing.
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he New Mexico onion season was off to a strong start in early July, shippers and USDA numbers report.
The USDA indicated that New Mexico onion shipments for the week of June 23-29 totaled 912 (40,000-pound) truckloads or about 48% of the total domestic truck shipments of onions that week.
Season-to-date shipments of New Mexico onions through June 29 were 4,298 truckloads, up 19% compared with the same time a year ago.
Brandon Barker, vice president of Barker Produce, Las Cruces, N.M., said on July 2 that the state’s onion harvest was close to halfway finished. Yields have been good this year, and supply of the state’s onion is projected through the end of August, he said.
Demand, retail programs and price contracts have been strong, Barker said, with the yellow onion market a little more sluggish than the red and white onion markets.
“It’s been a good year for us,” he said.
Chris Franzoy, president of Legacy Fresh LLC, Deming, N.M., said he was happy with the quality of New Mexico’s onions. The company is packing red, yellow and white onions.
“We service basically every market from retail to food service, as well as processors,” he said.
Franzoy said Legacy Fresh was finishing up the intermediate transplants and moving into its direct-seeded spring-planted onions.
“They’ve got nice healthy tops, and we expect to have good quality all the way through,” he said.
Overall domestic supply of onions could drop later in July, which may result in higher shipping point prices, he said.
Franzoy, a fourth-generation farmer whose family operates Billy the Kid Produce, along with his wife, Tammy, launched Legacy Fresh to serve as the marketing arm of Billy the Kid.
The company’s growing operation spans about 3,000 acres, and its packing facility can pack up to 30 full truckloads on a daily basis, Franzoy said.
Through the first six months of 2024 Mexico is the only origin currently exporting mangos to the U.S., with a total of 55,404,132 boxes for the season.
Volumes for the Mexican season, which started in January and is expected to last until October, are expected to be about 1% lower year-on-year, according to the National Mango Board report.
The total mango volume shipped on the week ending 06/29/2024 was approximately 4,221,703 boxes.
Projections for the season are at approximately 94.8 million boxes, with the main varieties being: Tommy Atkins (34%), Ataulfo/Honey (27%), Kent (25%), Keitt (11%), and others (3%).
There are currently three main mango varieties shipped to the U.S. market: Kent (52%), Tommy Atkins (29%), and Ataulfo/Honey (16%).
Additionally, Colima, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, South Sinaloa, and North Sinaloa are the regions currently harvesting and/or packing.
Over the last two decades, blueberries have experience amazing growth, but “blues” were still identified in a poll of industry professionals as the berry with the biggest potential to grow consumption in the next five years.
The 268 voting in a poll in the LinkedIn Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group were asked, “What berry category has the most room to grow in the next five years?”
The results of the poll were:
- Blueberries — 41%.
- Blackberries — 27%.
- Strawberries — 16%.
- Raspberries — 15%.
USDA per capita retail numbers shows strong gains for each fresh berry category.
The USDA does not report blackberry per capita consumption.
Raspberry retail per capita consumption in 2021 totaled 0.8 pounds, up 166% from 0.3 pounds in 2011 and up 700% from 0.1 pounds in 2001.
Strawberry retail per capita consumption in 2021 totaled 6.7 pounds, up 45% from 4.6 pounds in 2011 and up 131% from 2.9 pounds in 2001.
Blueberry retail per capita consumption was 2.3 pounds in 2021, up 92% from 1.2 pounds in 2011 and up 667% from 0.3 pounds in 2011.
Trade numbers show explosive growth of all berries.
U.S. import value of all berries excluding strawberries totaled $4.3 billion in 2023, up 339% from 2013 and up 1,940% from 2003.
U.S. import value of fresh and fro
Calavo Growers of Santa Paula, CA started importing Peruvian fruit each week
in June, and shipments are anticipated to continue into early September.
Calavo Fresh Sales reports inital arrivals are ripening well and have
excellent quality. Peruvian supplies look good coming out of Peru, although
crop volume is down from previous years and sizing is trending from large to
small sizes.
Calavo’s shipments from Peru are received in the port of Philadelphia and
transferred the short distance to its Swedesboro, N.J., warehouse for ripening
and shipping.
The majority of Calavo’s Peruvian fruit is sold loose in standard 2-layer
tray-packed cartons.
North American Blueberry Council. of Folsom, CA reports U.S. blueberry production is expected to reach 700 million pounds this year, up from 637.2 million pounds in 2023.
An exceptional summer blueberry shipping season would follow Georgia’s record volume last year with an even bigger crop — 115 million pounds — in 2024.
North Carolina’s volume is down slightly from last season, but quality is great. Likewise, New Jersey and Michigan are set for a strong season with excellent pollination and fruit set. Additionally, growers in the Pacific Northwest anticipate a larger crop than last year.
Fresh volume out of California could be off because of lan anticipated heat waves materialize during the second half of the Golden State’s blueberry season.
Overall, quality of U.S. blueberries is expected to be good this summer.
Naturipe Farms of Salina, CA will have blueberries from New Jersey, Michigan, Oregon and Washington. The company reports exceptional quality and flavor.
Naturipe also sources blackberries from Georgia, North Carolina and California and sources raspberries from central Mexico and the country’s Baja California region.
Consalo Family Farms of Vinenland, NJ recently expanded a packinghouse at its Egg Harbor City, N.J., blueberry farm. The company offers New Jersey blueberries starting in early June but offer berries year-round.
Gem-Pack Berries of Irivine, CA sources raspberries out of Baja California, California’s Watsonville/Salinas growing region and Oxnard, CA.
The grower/shipper reports the quality and flavor of Watsonville raspberries have been awesome.
Naturipe notes it will have significant volume of new acres of its new proprietary blueberries in all of its blueberry-growing regions, resulting in higher volume this year.
Utolithin A, a gut compound that’s produced by ingesting pomegranates, berries, and nuts, can have an impact on aging and diseases like alzheimer’s.
The compound has been proved to improve muscle function in young animals and the prevention of age-related muscle decline in old-mice.
Urolithin A removes weak mitochondria from the brain and is as effective as Nicotinamide riboside supplement (NAD supplement), plays a key role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as it actively helps remove damaged mitochondria from the brain.
Researchers don’t know the exact amount of urolithin A that’s needed to improve alzheimer’s symptoms, but the substance is available in pill form as well.
The study is published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
According to the study, alzheimer’s disease is estimated to triple worldwide by 2050. The disease, which affects your memory and bodily functions, is difficult to treat.
Vilhelm Bohr, the Affiliate Professor at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Copenhagen and was previously Department Chair at the US National Institute on Aging, said that “Even though the study was conducted on mouse models, the prospects are positive. So far, research has shown promising results for the substance in the muscles, and clinical trials on humans are being planned.”
California pear growers began harvest in the River growing district this week with bartlett and red bartlett being the first varieties to be picked this year.
Harvest in the River District will be followed in early August with Mendocino district starting harvest on Aug. 5 and Lake County district starting on Aug. 12.
In comparison to last year’s crop, bartletts are expected to see an 18% decrease in production, while other pear varieties are projected to be down by 16%, Zanobini said.
“The total anticipated production for all varieties is estimated at 2,004,350 boxes,” said Chris Zanobini, executive director of the California Pear Advisory Board in a press release. “This volume includes organic bartlett pears and red pear varieties that are growing in popularity, as well as over 510,000 boxes of golden russet bosc pears.
The River growing district, which produces 66% of California’s pears, represents the largest volume of California grown pears, according to the release. The Lake County region is the second largest at 22%, followed by the Mendocino growing region which produced 12% of California’s 2023 pear crop.
During the past four years inflation has battered consumers, and a Rabobank analysis says U.S. consumers have finally hit the wall.
In a report on the cost of a Fourth of July barbecue, Rabobank analysts said consumers are trading down and eating out less often in response to long-running inflation.
“The consumer is waving the white flag on food inflation,” Tom Bailey, senior consumer foods analyst at Rabobank, said in a news release. “With an added 2% in price hikes in 2024 coupled with the cost disparity between dining out and cooking at home at its widest margin in history, we’re seeing heightened fatigue and frugality.”
The 2024 Rabobank BBQ Index, which measures the cost of staple ingredients for a 10-person barbecue, shows that it will cost $99 to host a cookout on the Fourth of July this year, up from $97 last year and $73 in 2018. Cookout ingredients are 32% higher food costs in 2024 compared with 2019, according to Rabobank.
The index showed that the average U.S. consumer has to work an hour to earn enough money for a six-pack of beer and a burger in 2024, up from 51 minutes in 2019, and they’ll have to work nine hours to pay for a barbecue this year, up 32% since 2019.
Produce prices for the BBQ Index are mostly tame compared with a year ago, Rabobank economists said. California’s drought in 2023 sent lettuce prices to more than $100 a carton, well above the average range of $15 to $20 per carton. Rabobank analysts said lettuce prices have come down significantly in 2024.
“We expect leafy greens to have steady supplies, good quality and decent prices,” Rabobank economists said in the release.
Potatoes, also hit hard by drought last year, have rebounded with greater supply based on expanded acreage harvested in the fall of 2023. Potato prices are about half of year-ago levels, the index showed.
On the other side of the ledger, Rabobank analysts said tomato prices have moved higher in 2024 as dry weather in Mexico has curtailed production and overall availability.
Rabobank analysts said a reported 68% of people polled by Vericast say they are switching from restaurants — where the tab is up 4.4% annually — to grocery stores, which have seen only a 1.1% price.
Consumers are pulling back all purchases because of tight budgets, Rabobank officials said. Retail sales were weaker than expected in May as higher borrowing rates and inflation discouraged purchase decisions, Rabobank economists said.
“Retail sales will likely remain soft throughout 2024,” Bailey said.
Wages have not kept up with inflation. Credit card debt, on average, sits at $10,479 per household in the U.S., up from $8,763 in 2021. Forty-one percent of Americans polled by WalletHub say they have more credit card debt now than they did 12 months ago, the release said.
Government aid, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program emergency payments, the child tax credit, increased unemployment benefits and a suspension of student loan payments have ended, the release said. People under the age of 35 have been hit the hardest; credit card delinquencies in this demographic are at their highest level since 2011, according to the Federal Reserve.
“Fiscal fitness is now more of a focus,” Bailey said. “Saddled with mounting credit card debt, waning savings, and lower real income, consumers are spending less.”