Posts Tagged “feature”
Kansas Democrats and Republicans has agreed upon bipartisan legislation, which was recently been filed in hopes of making fresh food more affordable in the state.
Republican Senator Michael O’Donnell, and Democratic Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau, both of Wichita, filed Senate Bill 263. The measure would eliminate the state tax on fruits and vegetables. The purpose is to encourage Kansans to eat healthier, plus it would support local farmers, as well small business owners who lose business across state lines.
Senator O’Donnell believes killing the sales tax on fresh fruits and vegetables would improve the health of everyone. Research indicates a link between obesity and higher fruit and vegetable prices. The higher prices make it more challenging for many families to eat healthy.
At 6.15 percent, Kanas’ sales tax is second highest in the nation behind Mississippi. In addition to that, county and city governments can levy their own taxes, bringing the total as high as 9 percent in some areas.
Kansas has over 2.9 million residents and ranks 31st in population among the states. It ranks 15th in geographic size.
The most populous city in Kansas is Wichita (population 382,000), followed by Overland Park (174,000) and Kansas City (127,000) and Topeka (127,000).
by Justin Worland, Time.com
There’s a way to get school kids to eat more vegetables at lunch, and it has nothing to do with what’s on the menu. Just mess with their schedule, finds a new study published in the journal Preventive Medicine: Kids who have recess before lunch are more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables than those who play after they eat.
The study looked at 2,500 kids in seven Utah elementary schools who participated in the National School Lunch Program, which serves balanced lunches that must include a serving of vegetables with each meal. Three schools switched their schedules to hold recess before lunch, while the other four schools kept recess after lunch. Researchers stood by the garbage cans and measured how many children threw away fruits and vegetables and found that the schedule swap boosted produce consumption by an impressive 54% for elementary school children.
That’s because young students tend to rush through their meals and skip the most nutritious parts when lunch is held before recess, the authors say. “Recess is a pretty big deal for most kids. If you have kids [choose] between playing and eating their veggies, the time spent playing is going to win most of the time,” said study author Joe Price, an economics professor at Brigham Young University, in a press release.
The first 20 years of NAFTA has had a big time impact on the fresh produce industry, and produce trucking.
Americans are now consuming twice the fruit and three times the vegetables from Mexico and Canada as they did before 1994, and it takes refrigerated equipment to deliver it to markets.
Likewise, U.S. growers and shippers more than tripled the amount of produce they export to Mexico during the first 19 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Part of the increase in Mexico’s produce imports from the U.S. is attributed to the rapid expansion of Mexico’s supermarkets. As of November 2014, H-E-B had 43 stores in five Mexican states, and Wal-Mart had 2,114 stores in Mexico.
The U.S. is now importing more cucumbers and mushrooms from Canada than it exports. Before NAFTA, the U.S. was a net exporter of those commodities to Canada.
“In 2011, Mexico and Canada combined supplied about 13 percent of the fresh or frozen fruit available in the U.S. and 17 percent of the available fresh or frozen vegetables. In 1990, these shares each equaled 6 percent,” according to the USDA’s report.
Details on specific U.S. production and import/export of specific commodities are included in the report. There are also discussions about retaliatory tariffs related to cross-border trucking requirements.
During the past decade Georgia has become a leading shipper of blueberries, but a recent freeze has raised concerns about volume for the upcoming season.
Estimates vary on how many South Georgia blueberries were damaged during a series of late February freezes, but much of the confusion is due to numerous micro climates that exist in the growing areas.
The freezes hit February 17-20 and during the early morning hours of February 20, temperatures fell into the low 20s for several hours in the Alma, Baxley, and Homerville, Ga., blueberry growing regions, damaging the early season part of the southern highbush crop.
Damage estimates range from 10 to 40 percent.
Georgia harvests and ships two blueberry crops.
Southern highbush blueberry shipments start in mid- to late April while the rabbit eye shipments usually begin in late May. Some growers ran frost protection because of the cold temperatures, resulting in ice damaging many limbs. Losses were higher for growers that didn’t irrigate.
It appears now Georgia “blues” may start shipping up to two weeks later – in late April.
Last year, Georgia shipped 56 million pounds of fresh berries, up from the 32 million shipped in 2013.
Homerville, which normally starts shipping around April 10 with an early variety, may not start loadings until April 20, with Alma and Baxley set to begin closer to May 1.
Otherwise, Georgia produce shipments are pretty quite right now with about the only loadings being with limited amounts of greens and carrots….Certainly no straight loads here. If you are coming out of Florida, you might pick up a pallet or two on your way north.
Here we take look at Washington apple shipments, Idaho and Oregon onion loads, Idaho potatoes, plus the outlook for California strawberry shipments coming for Easter.
Washington state ships approximately 60 percent of the apples in the United States, but it is responsible for over 90 percent of the apple exports. In a typical year, Washington exports one-third of its production outside of the United States. Needless to say, exporters were relieved to see the port labor dispute on the West Coast settled.
Yakima Valley apples – grossing about $1000 to Seattle, $5000 to Dallas.
Idaho Potato Shipments
Looking at the Twin Falls, ID area, potato shipments remain pretty steady from week to week and are averaging around 1800 truck load equivalents per week….Moving to western Idaho and eastern Oregon, there are about 300 truck loads of dry onions moving from storages per week.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5600 to New York City.
Western Idaho and Malheur County, OR onions – grossing about $4700 to Atlanta.
California Strawberries
Easter Sunday is April 5th, and all three California berry growing regions will be up and running, and shipments should be good. Also, keep in mind the primary California strawberry shipping areas are cranking up a couple of weeks early this year because of excellent growing conditions.
Oxnard, which typically peaks from mid-March to mid-April is starting shipments about two weeks early. Santa Maria will also will have strawberry shipments for Easter, while Watsonville will play a supplemental role with light strawberry volume for the holiday…..Currently Oxnard not only has light volume with berries, but other items ranging from celery to romaine and leaf lettuce, as well as cabbage.
Ventura County (Oxnard) produce – grossing about $4500 to Chicago.
There is angst among some in the Canadian produce industry because the rules set up by an entity of America’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has changed some rules regarding protection they receive when there is a dispute involving a produce transaction. However, it could be worse. What if the Canadians had absolutely no protection against unfair practices, something U.S. produce truckers have never had.
The U.S. government recently took away a trading privilege from Canadian produce companies that has been available for more than 75 years. The result is fruit and vegetable producers risk losing thousands of dollars, closing their businesses, or moving across the border into the U.S.
Canadian produce companies that were owed money from U.S. companies could pay $100 to start a legal process, under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA). This would happen when U.S. companies didn’t pay their bills on time, at all, or when the company declared bankruptcy.
However, in October 2014, the United States withdrew Canada’s privileged access to PACA after the Canadian government neglected to implement the same privileges this side of the border. Now Canadian fruit and vegetable producers have to pay double the amount of money they’re owed to get access to the unpaid funds. If they’re owed $100,000 for cucumbers for example, they have to pay $200,000 as a bond to get the process started.
For decades, this writer has advocated owner operators, small fleets and large fleets hauling fresh fruits and vegetables be afforded similar protections the USDA’s PACA provides for the produce industry. This would be invaluable for produce truckers facing unfair claims or deductions or rejected loads. However, the produce industry has always fought against such measures and the PACA has certainly shown no interest.
About the only recourse for produce haulers is going through the court system, which can be costly, time consuming and particularly difficult considering the fact the problem may have taken place thousands miles from the trucker’s home base. Otherwise, hope and pray you have a good truck broker or shipper backing you when such issues arise. — Bill Martin
By Sakata Seed Co., Inc.
Broccoli is known for its anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties, which benefit more than just the heart; in fact, studies show that broccoli consumption can lead to better vision, healthier skin, reduced cholesterol, stronger immune system and improved digestion. Better yet, broccoli delivers a powerhouse of nutrients, while remaining low in sodium and calories.
‘Need-to-Know’ Broccoli Nutrition Facts
- Good source of fiber
- Good source of Potassium
- High in Vitamins: A, B6, C
- Nutrients: Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Iron
Sakata urges you to eat healthy, exercise and educate yourself on how to prevent heart disease. A heart healthy America starts with you. Here are some important steps for decreasing risk for yourself and others.
6 Steps Toward Building a Heart-Healthy America
- Increase knowledge
- Exercise regularly
- Eat healthy
- Manage stress
- Regulate weight
- Spread awareness
The American Heart Association has deemed February American Heart Month. As a continued supporter of the American Heart Association, Sakata is doing their part to promote a heart-healthy America. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death of American adults today. Proper diet and exercise are the building blocks of heart disease prevention, which is why finding foods that naturally prevent heart problems is crucial.
It will take several months for West Coast ports to return to normal and catch up on a backlog that has piled following a nine-month labor dispute. The two sides reached tentative agreement February 20 on a new five-year contract.
All kinds of agricultural commodities, including produce, were affected by the dispute, which began after the last contract expired July 1. Though the terms of that contract were extended and there was never an official strike, there were many disruptions caused by work slowdowns or the closing of the ports by the terminal operators.
Ag groups and other experts say the dispute cost the U.S. economy more than $7 billion. No numbers on the cost to the trucking industry was given. While $7 billion is a significant number, it pales in comparison to the estimated $2.1 billion that would have been lost each day if the ports would have been closed by a strike or a lockout.
The Chilean produce industry, which exports fruits and vegetables to the United States to ports on both coasts, report the west coast port problems cost its industry $50 million. The port work slowdown had delayed the unloading of ships from a two-day average to 7 days and was expected to get even worse before the agreement was reached.
It was reported last week there are approximately 1.8 million boxes of fruit from Chile at the ports. If the dispute had not been resolved, the situation would have become dramatically worse. In mid March, 5 ships are scheduled to the ports with a combined total of 2.5 million boxes of fruit.
Southern California fruit – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
Freezing temperatures late last week that descended upon the South apparently sparred most Florida vegetables. However, some big time damage has hit blueberry crops in Florida and Georgia.
Florida Produce Shipments
Widespread damage to Florida vegetable crops, which is less than two months from entering peak spring shipments, apparently has been avoided. Strawberries in the Plant City area also escaped damage. Temperatures were reported around or just below freezing. Assessments are underway and more will be known in the days ahead. There are reports of freezing pocket areas scattered around Florida. For example, there are reports of damage to green beans and sweet corn in the Lake Okeechobee area, where growers had helicopters flying to circulate the air. This helps keep temperatures up.
South Florida vegetables – grossing about $2800 to New York City.
Georgia Blueberry Shipments
However, blueberries in Northern Florida and Southern Georgia the night of February 20th were not so lucky. There are areas in the Gainesville, FL area where there is definite blueberry damage. It is reported that other Florida blueberry shipping areas didn’t get hit with cold enough temperatures to hurt the fruit.
However, it is different in Georgia. Temperatures in the low 20s for several hours occurred in the Alma, Baxley, and Homerville, Ga.,regions, which experienced their third consecutive night of freezes.
It may be the end of February before the full extent of the damage in Georgia is known. Blueberry growers ran frost protection systems throughout the night. Damage may be less severe in Homerville, which is farther south than the other areas and is in a warmer microclimate.
The early blueberry shipments set to start in mid-April sustained the most damage and the state’s loadings could be delayed until early May.
From North American potatoes, to desert vegetables, here is a shipping update.The potential for potato shipments in the U.S. and Canada is up 2 percent from the previous season. About 510 million cwt. (per hundredweight) of potatoes were produced last fall in North America. About 408 million cwt. were grown in the U.S., 102 million cwt. in Canada. The U.S. total is 3percent more than the year before, the Canadian total 1 percent less. The U.S. harvested 929,500 acres, down from 930,500 acres in 2013. However, U.S. yields increased from 425 cwt. to 439 cwt. per acre. Canadian acreage fell from 351,300 in 2013 to 343,700 last year. Yields rose from 292 cwt. to 297 cwt. per acre.
Idaho potatoes shipments – grossing about $6000 to New York City.
Desert Vegetable Shipments
Perfect weather in the Southwestern deserts of Arizona and California may be great for production and volume with head lettuce, romaine, broccoli and other vegetables. However, demand for such items in portions of the upper Midwest, and especially the Northeast has been killed because of snow storm after snow storm. The desert shipping areas have another month or so before the transition to the Huron district in the San Joaquin Valley. Vegetable loadings typically occur for about three weeks from Huron before shifting to the Salinas Valley.
Desert vegetables – grossing about $5400 to Atlanta.