Posts Tagged “feature”
Wisconsin potato shipments should be good this season, as should be onion loadings from Idaho and Oregon.
The Wisconsin potato harvest has been underway for a few weeks and will continue into the fall.
Central Wisconsin potato shipments should average, with good quality. Nice color with yellows and red potatoes is reported, plus Wisconsin is shipping more niche potatoes like fingerlings, yellow and specialty potatoes.
Concerning national potato shipments this fall, it appears volume with be similar to last year, which means there will be plenty of loading opportunities for spuds. However, this won’t be certain for two months or more until product is in stoarges and the danger of frost damage is gone.
Central Wisconsin potatoes – grossing about $3300 to San Antonio.
Idaho Oregon Onion Shipments
A hot summer has led some Idaho and eastern Oregon onion growers to harvest onions as much as two weeks earlier than normal, resulting from triple digit temperature for a two-week span.
That acreage includes about 1,650 acres of red onions, and more than 500 acres of whites. The balance — and the vast majority — is yellow onions.
The region is expecting onion shipments to be similar to last year.
Loadings could be off a little because of the extreme temperatures. The Idaho-Oregon onion season overlaps with California and New Mexico.
Shipments from Idaho and eastern Oregon occur from August through April and rank second only to Washington state in terms of domestic acreage and volume.
Although yellow spot virus is a potential problem in some areas of the Northwest — including Washington’s northern Columbia Basin — Idaho and eastern Oregon growers claim the virus has not appeared to be a big issue for them this season.
Americans are far short of where health officials and the produce industry would like them to be when it comes to eating fresh fruits and vegetables.
A new method of estimating how much fresh produce consumption by Americans should provide more accurate data, but the disappointing bottom line still comes up.
A report, Adults Meeting Fruit and Vegetable Intake Recommendation – United States, 2013, from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention estimates 91% of Americans failed to eat enough vegetables and 87% failed to eat enough fruit in 2013, based on government guidelines.
“Substantial new efforts are needed to build consumer demand for fruits and vegetables through competitive pricing, placement and promotion in child care settings, schools, grocery stores, communities and worksites,” according to the CDC’s July 10 report.
Neither the statistics nor the recommendations surprised Elizabeth Pivonka, president and CEO of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, Hockessin, Del. She said the state-by-state breakdown in the report confirms previous research, showing that residents of Southern states have the lowest consumption of produce, which the CDC says leads to higher rates of stroke, heart disease and cancer.
“This is the first year they are asking about the frequency at which people are eating fruits and vegetables,” Pivonka said. “That means we can’t really compare this survey to previous years, but it gives us a new baseline that is probably a better way to measure what people are doing.”
The survey for 2013 asked respondents how many times per day, week or month they consumed 100% fruit juice, whole fruit, dried beans, dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, and other vegetables over the previous month as part of the rotating core questionnaire administered every other year. The survey specifically excluded fried potatoes.
If fried potatoes are included, estimates for vegetable consumption are 30% to 44% higher, according to the report. If non-100% juice beverages are included, fruit consumption is 4% to 6% higher.
Highlights from the report include:
- During 2007-2010, half of the total U.S. population consumed less than 1 cup of fruit and less than 1.5 cups of vegetables daily;
- Median frequency of reported fruit intake across all respondents for 2013 was once per day, ranging from 0.9 in Arkansas to 1.3 times per day in California; and
- Median frequency of reported vegetable intake for 2013 was 1.7 times per day, ranging from lows of 1.4 times a day in Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Dakota to 1.9 times per day in California and Oregon.
The survey logged responses from 373,580 respondents. Another 118,193 took the survey, but they were not included in the results for various reasons, including non-resident status, failure to answer all questions or providing “implausible reports” of eating fruit more than 16 times a day and eating vegetables more than 23 times a day.
by Organics Unlimited
Organics Unlimited is pleased to announce the 10th anniversary of its nonprofit program, GROW. Throughout the month of September, Organics Unlimited will execute a special GROW Month campaign in order to raise awareness of the social responsibility program and inspire more distributors, retailers and consumers to become involved.
Since 2005, GROW has raised nearly $2 million to advance the rural Mexican and Ecuadorian communities surrounding its organic banana farms. With each box of GROW organic bananas sold to retailers and distributors, a portion of the proceeds go to the GROW fund. These donations are managed and distributed by the International Community Foundation and are used for youth educational scholarships in Mexico, clean water programs in Ecuador, dental and vision care in Mexico, micro-loans for small businesses and more.
Mayra Velazquez de Leon
“In celebration of the 10th anniversary of GROW organic bananas, we have released a new GROW banana label that features the special hashtag #GROWTURNS10,” said Organics Unlimited President and CEO Mayra Velazquez de Leon. “We hope this limited-time GROW label will inspire consumers to become more involved with the social responsibility campaign and share how their GROW purchases are making a difference in the lives of others.”
Consumers can join in GROW Month throughout September and help raise awareness of the humanitarian work of GROW by purchasing GROW organic bananas and sharing the hashtag on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Tips for how to share the #GROWTURNS10 message – such as organic banana recipes, inspirational stories of GROW scholars, crafts for children and more – are available at GROWbananas.org.
A new survey reveals young adults eat nearly a half a serving more in daily vegetable consumption compared with the overall U.S. average.
The survey released by Subway Restaurants, Milford, Conn., studies vegetable consumption compiled with the responses of 2,000 Americans from an online poll by Harris from June 4 to June.
Called the Subway National Eat Your Vegetables Day Survey, the data indicated 84% of Americans aren’t meeting the USDA’s daily minimum number of vegetable servings.
47% of consumers said nothing prevents them from eating more vegetables. While nearly half said there was no excuse for not eating more vegetables, 14% said vegetables were too expensive, 11% didn’t like the way vegetables taste and 10% said veggies take too long to prepare.
However, millennial consumers (born between 1980 and 2000) average 2.7 servings per day, compared to the overall U.S. average of 2.3 servings per day, according to the release. And 22% of millennials eat the recommended four servings of vegetables a day, which is the best of any age group.
Reasons behind the higher consumption by young adults may be related to a desire to eat well to look their best compared with older adults, according to the release. Fifty-six percent of millennials eat vegetables to lose weight, compared with 39% for those older than 35 years old.
“The American diet has traditionally lagged in prioritizing vegetables as a staple of their diet; however, it is encouraging that the youngest generation is slowly bucking the trend,” Lanette Kovachi, global dietitian for Subway, said in the release.
“The millennial generation is more self-aware than previous generations due to their social, photo driven culture, so “looking better” is a natural motivator,” she said in the release. “But the truth is nutrient-rich vegetable consumption truly does have positive physiological effects, including a healthier-looking complexion, assisting in weight control, enhancing the immune system and prevention of chronic disease.”
The Subway study draws attention to the need for consumers to add vegetables to their diet, Kristen Stevens, chief operating officer for Hockessin, Del.-based Produce for Better Health Foundation, said in the release. “The first step in changing behaviors is creating awareness and driving discussion to help educate consumers on the various health benefits of eating more vegetables and how to eat more of them.”
Other study findings:
- Men (12%) are more likely than women (7%) to cite preparation time as a reason they don’t eat more vegetables;
- America’s most loved vegetables are lettuce and tomato (65%), followed by carrots (62%$), cucumbers (56%), onions (53%), spinach (51%), peppers (47%) and avocados (44%).
Remember only a few summers ago when produce trucking rates from California to the East Coast were hitting $10,000? It hasn’t even come close to that in 2015 – and there appears to be a number of factors why.
As we head towards the Labor Day weekend final shipments to receivers for the holiday are now underway, if not already delivered. Don’t expect major rate increases.
East bound coast to coast rates in the summer of 2014 that were in the $8000 range are closer to $6500 this summer.
Here’s my take on why produce trucking rates are off.
***Less California Produce Volume. The 5-year California drought is beginning to take its toll on agriculture and it’s going to get a lot worse unless the El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean changes things this winter.
The San Joaquin Valley is being hit relatively hard by the drought and it is adversely affecting volume on many crops ranging from cantaloupe and honeydew and other melons to stone fruit, tomatoes and citrus. In the Salinas Valley, which has not suffered from the drought as much as in the San Joaquin Valley, all types of lettuce volumes have been like a roller coaster this summer.
The highest rates from California to the East Coast this year have been in the $8,000 range, and those were only for a limited amount of time.
***Rail Competition. While the railroads provide only limited competition, it still has an affect of produce trucking rates. After all, the rail rates are based trucking rates and often offer 10 to 15 percent less to haul. Still, we’ve seen a couple of rail related companies go out of business this year. The railroads have a history of dropping produce related services for other, less perishable products.
***Rules and Regulations. The insanity of excessive rules and regulations from both the federal and state levels continues, and it is having disasterous effects on owner operators. Rates are not keeping up with increasing costs of operations, although lower fuel prices have helped. Still, when you have the California Air Resources Board and their emission standards and other business killing rules, plus the feds pushing to implement Electronic on-board Recorders, not to mention many others, it all adds up.
***Qualified Drivers
The lack of qualified drivers continues to be a problem, although it could become a lot worse when the economy turns around. Attracting young people into the trucking industry continues to be a challenge. It’s a hard life and there’s certainly easier ways to make a living.
***Mexico. Over the past 20 years more and more produce is being grown in Mexico, and much of it is being driven by investments from American farming operations. Mexico has cheaper labor and less government interference in their operations. At the same time there is less produce being grown in California — Bill Martin.
Here’s an update on projected shipments of Washington apples, as well as a glimpse at Asian pear loadings out of California.
Washington state apple shipments are forecast to be their third largest on record. Loadings totaling 125.2 million 40-pound boxes of fresh apples are expected to be shipped. While this would be down approximately 10.5 percent from the 2014 record crop of 140 million boxes, it is just behind the state’s second-largest season of 128.3 million boxes shipped during the 2012-13 season.
Red Delicious remains the variety with the most shipments, representing a projected 25 percent of the crop. Gala is close behind at 23 percent, followed by Fuji at 13.7 percent and Granny Smith at 13 percent. This season, Honeycrisp is forecast to come in at 7 percent of the total crop, which would move it past Golden Delicious to become the fifth-ranked variety by production volume in Washington state.
The harvest started at the beginning of August for early varieties. Production typically peaks in September and October, finishing in November.
Yakima Valley apple shipments – grossing about $6000 to Orlando.
California Asian Pear Shipments
There has been a good transition from the Chilean season that is winding down to the California Asian pears in the second half of August. Shipments will continue into at least January, with similar volumes to last year out of the San Joaquin Valley.
Extreme heat in the second half of August had slowed California grape shipments, but volume is now picking back up. Meanwhile, you know fall is rapidly approaching when pomegranate and cranberry loadings get underway.
Grape volume have been hit and miss all season. At one point growers were waiting on green varieties to add sugar. In the second half of August, red varieties were taking their time to add color. It has made for an unpredictable years as far as steady shipments are concerned. Steady, more predictable shipments should come in the months ahead.
California grapes, stone fruit, melons and veggies from the San Joaquin Valley – grossing about $4800 to Houston, $6400 to Philly.
California Pomegranates
Very light volume from the Bakersfield areas has been underway for a couple of weeks, but will be strong from mid-October leading up to Thanksgiving (November 26th) with a resurgence in fresh pomegranate shipments prior to Christmas.
Cranberry Shipments
Fresh Cranberry shipments will get underway from Wisconsin and Massachusetts in late September, followed by Washington state.
About 33 million pounds of cranberries are expected to be shipped fresh in the U.S. this season, up slightly up from a year ago. Growers have seen market prices plunge because of new acreage that was planted in 2009. The U.S. produced 7.01 million 100-pound barrels of cranberries in 2009. In 2013, production was 8.96 million barrels.
The cranberry estimate for 2015-16 volumes is set at 8.6 million barrels.
Two leading fresh cranberry shippers are Habelman Bros in Toma, WI and Decas Cranberry Products of Carver, Mass.
Wendy’s International plans to buy almost 10% of the blackberry crop for a new seasonal salad the restaurant chain is scheduled to launch in summer 2016, based on federal numbers for domestic shipments.
California Giant Berry Farm is one of the suppliers for the 2 million pound deal, which has been in the works since 2014.
Statistics from the USDA show wholesale channels shipped almost 21.2 million pounds of U.S. blackberries in 2014. California shipped about 18 million pounds through wholesale channels in 2014.
California Giant has since started ramping up its blackberry production with many of its growers ripping out raspberries and planting blackberries. Other growers are using different pruning techniques to maximize production from existing plants.
California Giant also plans to source blackberries from the Southeast U.S., including Georgia, to meet Wendy’s demand.
The timing of the Wendy’s 2016 blackberry salad is expected to come just as the Mexican deal winds down and U.S. growers begin shipping. Supplies from California usually begin peaking in late July and continue with good volumes through the end of October.
Ultimately Wendy’s officials decided to go with California Giant and one other supplier for the blackberries. For most fresh produce commodities the chain uses two to five companies to supply its 22 distribution centers across the U.S.
Wendy’s has about 6,700 locations in North America and has introduced seven new salads in the past two years. One of those, the strawberry fields chicken salad, proved so popular in 2014 that the company brought it back this year.
The company plans to continue developing fresh produce menu items, saying consumer trends are being driven partly by celebrity chefs and cooking shows that promote healthy eating including fresh fruits and vegetables.
Baldor Specialty Foods has closed on a lease amendment that will expand its facility in the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx, NY, by 100,000 square feet. The lease, signed with the New York City Economic Development Corp., will allow the fresh produce and specialty food distributor to strengthen the area’s robust food and beverage distribution network.
The Hunts Point Food Distribution Center is one of the largest in the world and includes the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market, the Hunts Point Cooperative Meat Market, the New Fulton Fish Market, and parcels leased to companies, including Baldor and Krasdale Foods.
The nearly $20 million expansion, funded entirely by Baldor, will create 350 new quality jobs in addition to 400 jobs the company has created since moving to the Food Distribution Center in 2007. The expansion will allow Baldor to grow its fresh cuts manufacturing operation and increase its distribution to customers across the city and metropolitan region, including restaurants, hotels, retail food stores, corporate kitchens, nursing homes, hospitals and schools. The project will also serve to promote regional food distribution, adding capacity to Baldor’s current operation that already serves over 50 local farms and partners by distributing 40,000 cases of local product into the regional food system each week during peak season.
“This expansion solidifies our Bronx location as the headquarters of Baldor Specialty Foods,” TJ Murphy, owner and chief executive officer of Baldor Specialty Foods, said in a press release. “We are proud to make this investment in the Bronx, to strengthen our commitment to Hunts Point, and to continue to be a strong supporter of the area’s overall economic development.”
Currently, Baldor occupies a 193,000-square-foot warehouse distribution facility with over 1,000 employees located on 13 acres in the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, which it leases from the city. The lease amendment will allow Baldor to expand its facility and relocate its parking spaces to the adjacent Halleck Industrial Development site. Baldor was selected through a public Request for Proposals issued in 2013. The project is consistent with the goals of the Hunts Point Vision Plan to catalyze food-related industrial uses and create local jobs.
Together, approximately half of the food in New York City stores and restaurants passes through the NYCEDC-managed Hunts Point Food Distribution Center. The cluster of wholesale markets sits on 329 acres and support 115 private wholesalers that employ more than 8,000 people. In March 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the City will invest $150 million over 12 years to enhance the capacity of the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, strengthen existing businesses, and attract new entrepreneurs, generating nearly 900 construction jobs and approximately 500 permanent jobs.
Fresh online food purchases are often a disappointment to consumers, according to a new survey of more than 1,100 online grocery shoppers.
Consumers were polled who have shopped online for groceries at least once in the previous 12 months . The survey was conducted by organic online grocery service Door to Door Organics.
23 percent said they don’t buy fresh grocery products (produce, meat, fish and dairy ) online. For those who do buy fresh produce and other fresh food online, 57 percent said they have been disappointed in the quality or freshness of those items at least once in the last year.
58 percent of consumers would feel better about the quality of the fresh foods they buy online if they knew the products were recently picked or packaged. Just over half of consumers said they would be more comfortable if the fresh products were sourced from a local farm, and 25 percent said they would feel more secure about the quality of fresh grocery products if they were purchasing from a specialty online grocer.
“Easing concerns about the quality and freshness of produce and other fresh grocery items has always been a top priority for online grocers, especially those like us who specialize in local and organic produce,” Chad Arnold, CEO of Door to Door Organics, said in the release. “Selecting produce, for example, can be a very sensory-oriented experience — consumers like to touch, feel, smell and even taste their selections before purchasing. Online grocery shopping limits that initial sensory experience, so we do everything we can to ensure they experience that same satisfaction each time they open their Door to Door Organics delivery box.”
The survey found that online shopping is increasing, with 54 percent of consumers responding they had increased online shopping in the past year, with less than 4 percent indicating the amount of online shopping has decreased. 42 percent reported their online food shopping remained about the same in the past year.
Survey respondents said they valued their time at $56 per hour and reported it takes them an average of 69 minutes each week to shop for groceries, according to the release.
“It’s becoming increasingly harder for consumers to find a ‘one-stop-shop’ that meets all their grocery shopping needs,” Arnold said in release. “Today’s grocery shopper appreciates variety, wants to have easy access to all kinds of produce and products, but also values convenience based on being busier than ever. This is one of the primary reasons why consumers are making online grocery shopping a more regular part of their week, and I don’t expect that trend to turn downward anytime soon.”