Posts Tagged “feature”
Record heat and above-normal rainfall have played havoc with Florida produce shipments, making tighter supplies likely for at least the next couple of months.
Florida cabbage shipments are particularly lacking, with some of the vegetables growing to the size of footballs, while other heads are maturing too slowly, risking they won’t be ready by the prime shipping time leading up to St. Patrick’s Day – March 17th.
The situation is really serious in South Florida, which was deluged by nearly eight inches of rain in four days in early December. Afterward, shipments of cucumbers, endive, escarole, radishes, squash, grape and Roma tomatoes plummeted.
At the end of January, 14 of 15 shipments of different Florida vegetable crops were running behind, with celery, squash, cabbage, broccoli, strawberries, sweet corn and avocados among the hardest hit.
The Florida Department of Agriculture predicts shortages will continue through late March or early April.
April and May are typically the months for heaviest Florida produce shipments during the year. How long the peak shipping season lasts usually depends upon when summer heat starts taking its toll.
Florida produce shipments – grossing about $2100 to New York City.
A 20-year lease agreement with Port Everglades has been renewed by Marine terminal operator King Ocean Services Ltd. Inc.
King Ocean operates twice a week from Port Everglades with services to Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela and Aruba, The company recently celebrated its 22nd year at the port and the agreement at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., port calls for a minimum 72,000 container lifts annually over an initial 10-year term.
King Ocean nearly doubled its port marine terminal recently to 41 total acres in two locations and in 2015, moved 153,984 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) through the port, according to a news release.
The agreement includes relocating King Ocean’s terminal within the port’s Southport cargo area during construction of the port’s Southport Turning Notch Extension project which is designed to lengthen the deep water turnaround area from 900 feet to 2,400 feet.
Those improvements should allow for up to five new cargo berths and construction is expected to begin in early 2017 and be completed by the end of 2019, according to the release.
“King Ocean has established successful business models at Port Everglades that take advantage of the port’s robust trade lanes to Latin American and the Caribbean and direct highway access,” Steven Cernak, the port’s director and CEO, said in the release.
The roller coaster ride of western winter desert vegetables has seen peaks and valleys in volume over the past three months and it is not over yet.
Light shipments of Western vegetables occurred in holidays ranging from Thanksgiving and Christmas through New Years and well into January. Then volume experienced a dramatic increase with lettuce and many vegetables heading into February. However, a potential shipping gap is looming as it appears winter vegetable shipments may come to a conclusion in mid- to late March. This would be ahead of the transition for many produce shippers to the Salinas and Santa Maria valleys.
The winter weather forecasts of hugh amounts of rains El Niño in Southern California have failed to materialize. Although a wet March is still being forecast. If that occurs and it drenches the desert, an even earlier end to vegetable shipments would most likely occur.
Some are saying that regardless of the El Niño situation, desert loadings are going to end early. While Salinas Valley vegetable shipments might get an early start, volume still will be light.
There will be some early Salinas fields harvested from mid-March to mid-April, but shipments will be variable at best.
Yuma, AZ vegetables shipments – grossing about $5700 to New York City.
Imported Mexican produce volume has been much lower than normal due to rain and cold weather throughout the winter, plus a freeze at Christmas delayed plantings and tightened supplies of many items. However better weather is resulting in higher volume in February.
While Mexican produce shipments in late February were approaching normal, some items remain in much lighter volume. For example, bell peppers are expected to remain lighter than usual. Mexican watermelon shipments should remain good until the last half of March when production will be less. Yellow mangoes loadings have started within the past week, with volume picking up heading into March.
Mexican watermelon imports should hit good volume by mid-April. A similar situation is expected with honeydews and cantaloupes. Steady Mexican vegetable shipments are expected to continue with zucchini, yellow, gray, acorn, butternut and spaghetti squash.
There is now good volume with imports through Nogales with tomatoes on the vine, beefsteak, roma, grape, yellow grape and cocktail tomatoes, yellow bell peppers and organic round and roma tomatoes and eggplant.
Imported Mexican produce through Nogales – grossing about $3200 to Chicago.
Imported Mexican produce through Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley – grossing about $3900 to New York City.
By The Northwest Pear Bureau
A study has found that adult pear consumers had a lower body weight than non-pear consumers and they were 35 percent less likely to be obese.
In the new study, Fresh Pear Consumption is Associated with Better Nutrient Intake, Diet Quality, and Weight Parameters in Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2010, published in Nutrition and Food Science, revealed new information regarding the health benefits of pear consumption, particular interest is given the high rates of obesity in the United States,
“We believe fiber intake may have driven the lower body weights that were seen in this study because there was no difference in energy intake or level of physical activity found between the fresh pear consumers and non-consumers,” the study states.
The epidemiologic study, led by Carol O’Neil of the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, used a nationally representative analytic sample to examine the association of fresh pear consumption with nutrient intake, nutrient adequacy, diet quality, and cardiovascular risk factors in adults.
“The association between pears and lower body weight is very exciting,” said Dr. O’Neil. “We believe fiber intake may have driven the lower body weights that were seen in this study because there was no difference in energy intake or level of physical activity found between the fresh pear consumers and non-consumers.”
In addition to discovering a correlation between fresh pear consumers and lower body weight, the study found that pear consumption was associated with higher diet quality (as defined by the Healthy Eating Index). Moreover, the consumption of one medium fresh pear per day had a positive effect on nutrient intake since consumers had higher usual intakes of dietary fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, copper, and potassium, and higher mean intakes of total sugars; consumers of fresh pears also had lower intakes of total, monounsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, and added sugars.
Pears are an excellent source of fiber and a good source of vitamin C. One medium pear provides about 24 percent of daily fiber needs for only 100 calories. They are sodium-free, cholesterol-free, fat-free and contain 190 mg of potassium. The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that people who eat more fruit as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to reduce their risk of some chronic diseases, although little is published on the health outcomes associated with individual fruits, including pears.
January and February are always frustrating for produce hauls since the lightest volume of the year for fresh fruits and vegetables occur. March often isn’t much better, depending on weather factors. So here’s a peak of various commodities and the shipping potential as we prepare to barrel into spring.
Brussels Sprouts
As with many produce items in the west brussels sprout out of California have been in exceptionally light volume due to the California drought. However, supplies of the tiny members of the cabbage family seem to be improving. After a slow start in Mexico, Brussel sprout shipments are picking up from Baja California. The product has increased in popularity since being declared a super food.
Mexican roma tomatoes
Good volume with Mexican roma tomatoes from Sinaloa, Mexico are crossing the border at McAllen, Tx.
Lower Rio Grand Valley, Texas Mexican fruit and vegetable imports and LRGV citrus – grossing about $2400 to Chicago.
Florida Lettuce Quality
Cool, damp conditions in Florida this winter has resulted in an increase in lettuce downy mildew, caused by the oomycete pathogen Bremia lactucae. Primarily a foliar disease, it has a direct effect on yield and quality. Downy mildew causes light green to yellow angular spots on the upper surfaces of leaves. White mycelial growth of the pathogen develops on the under sides of these spots. Over time, these lesions turn brown and dry up. Severely infected leaves may die. In some instances, the pathogen can become systemic, causing discoloration of stem tissue. Extra caution is urged if your hauling Florida lettuce. Know what’s being put in your truck and if need, inform your receiver before leaving the dock.
Florida produce volume still remains light, with multiple pick ups at best required.
Florida vegetables, tomatoes, melons and potatoes – grossing about $2200 to New York City.
A study claims lettuce may produce more greenhouse gases (GHGs) than bacon does by a particular metric. And there is more to the whole story.
The claim that lettuce produces more GHGs per calorie originates from a Carnegie Mellon University study that was promoted recently.
It found that the U.S. National Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) recommendations on how much produce, seafood and dairy you should eat could be “harmful to the environment.”
The study, by Prof. Paul Fischbeck, and graduate students Michelle Tom and Chris Hendrickson, examined how many resources U.S. diets consume, and how many GHGs they produce per calorie.
“Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken,” Fischbeck said in a news release.
Many outlets (and Carnegie Mellon’s news release) jumped on the study’s finding that lettuce is “three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon.”
And at least one expert blasted the claim as ludicrous.
Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Mellon University offers degrees in 20 locations around the world.
Alarming declines in Florida citrus shipments continue.
Florida grapefruit shipments are the lowest in at least three decades and down 300,000 cartons from the previous month’s report due to El Nino weather conditions and December temperatures in the mid 80s that cut production. Some growers plan to end grapefruit loadings by March, earlier than the typical May seasonal finish.
The latest Florida citrus forecast issued by the USDA has this season’s production for the state as 29 percent lighter than last season’s crop. The tangerine forecast improved, though production for that item is still expected to be less than that from the previous season.
Orange volume for the state of Florida is expected to reach 69 million boxes of fruit for the 2015-2016 season – that’s almost a third less than the 96.8 million boxes produced during the 2014-2015 season. The forecast is in line with a trend that has the state’s orange shipments decreasing over the last several years. Of the 69 million expected boxes, 33 million are expected to be Valencia oranges.
The forecast for tangerines was increased this month to an estimated 1.5 million boxes for the season. That’s a million more boxes than were forecast for the season last month. But even with the bump, production for the season is still expected to be significantly less than the 2.3 million boxes that were produced during the 2014-2015 season.
The roller coaster ride of Western desert lettuce volume has steadied in recent weeks. More consistent loading opportunities will hopefully continue the rest of the season from Yuma and the Imperial Valley.
Lettuce shipments should remain in good volume until around April 1st, before a seasonal decline ends the season by mid April. At this point lettuce shipments will shift to Huron, CA for about three weeks before heading into the Salinas spring season.
Yuma lettuce and other vegetables – grossing about $4700 to Atlanta.
Chilean Fruit Imports
Central Chile has recently had relative humidity levels not seen in many years, leading to further losses for table grape growers. Recent rains have resulted in losses of 30 percent for Flames (red grapes) and Superiors (green grapes) in the area. Three years ago when this happened there was a lof of rot with grapes.
Normally there would be humidity of 20-40 perecent, instead of 80 percent.
This means a large amount of fruit will not meet export standards for lacking quality standards.
Apple Shipments
About 75.3 million bushels of U.S.-grown fresh-market apples had yet to be shipped as of February 1, 21 percent less than last year at the same time.
The February total was also one percent lower than the five-year average, according to the February Market News report from the Vienna, Va.-based U.S. Apple Association.
Washington accounted for 64.9 million bushels of the February 1 apples remaining in storage. New York had 4.2 million bushels, Michigan 3.4 million bushels and Pennsylvania 1.1 million bushels.
Yakima Valley apples – grossing about $3700 to Chicago.
California strawberry shipments are down this season about 40 percent compared to this time a year ago.
But the West Coast isn’t alone with lower volume on strawberries. Some are calling Florida’s strawberry season a crop failure. Florida strawberry shipments are down 50 percent, while Mexico is off by one-third.
Strawberries shipments are typically big for Valentine’s Day (which was February 14). This next big push is for Easter, which arrives early this year, March 27th. Although California strawberry shipments should increase for Easter, loadings are still expected to be well below normal.
Mexican strawberry shipments are also increasing. During the week of January 18-22 Mexico was averaging 160,000 to 180,000 trays. The following week there was at least 20 percent.
Above average rainfall in California from El Nino is expected to last into April, which could continue to make increases in strawberry volume a challenge.
A trend that is now adversely affecting early season shipments the past few years has been the shifting of strawberry field acreage away from Ventura County in Southern California, which is the earliest shipping district. Oxnard (Ventura County) has just over 6,800 acres of strawberries. That compares to the 10,300 acres planted just three years ago. Most of the grower/shippers have planted more strawberries in the Santa Maria district over the last few years, which is further north along the California coast.
The reason for the acreage shift relates to the varieties of the fruit. Oxnard needs a good short-day strawberry variety and there aren’t any good ones right now. Growers simply are not getting the yields in Oxnard.