Posts Tagged “feature”
California Navel orange shipments for the 2012-13 season is estimated at 93 million cartons (40-pound equivalent) statewide and 90 million cartons for the San Joaquin Valley, according to the USDA.
While shipments for California Navels should be heavy, it will probably be short of a record. The record was hit in the 2010-11 season, when the Central Valley alone produced 93 million cartons, and up 6 percent from the 2011-12 loads.
The first shipments took place in early November.
Red potato shipments out of North Dakota and Minnesota are nearly 35 percent head of loadings through October than they were during he same fall period a year ago. Red River Valley fresh potato shipments are expected to be the largest since 2008.
The total USA potato volume is estimated to be at least 12 million hundredweight larger than a year ago.
The North American Potato Market news is reporting that average daily shipments of russets has dropped 0.6 percent compared to last year while daily red shipments increased 18 percent.
Texas citrus season is in full swing, and shipping has begun for grapefruit and oranges. The USDA forecast for the 2012 – 2013 Texas citrus season is 2.8 million cartons of oranges and 10.6 million cartons of grapefruit.
Moderate shipments of watermelons from Mexico will continue crossing the border into Nogales, AZ through the end of the year. Overall Mexican fruit and vegetable crossing at Nogales are seasonally light, but the will change in Janaury as a host of produce items will be increasing in volume.
Strawberries continue to be a favorite of consumers, as well as other berries ranging from raspberries to blueberries and blackberries. The popularity of each continues to increase. The fruit not only is tasty, but healthy.
The agricultural lending company Rabobank sees retail berry sales continuing to incrase by seven percent annually for the next three years.
Rabobank’s Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory group recently released a report, titled “The U.S. Fresh Berry Boom — Who Will Profit from the Growth?”
No surprising is the report notes California will continue to be the leading producer of fresh berries for strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Sharpest gains in recent years have been with strawberries and blueberries.
California produces 88 percent of the country’s fresh strawberries and significant portions of fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Florida is also a significant producer of fresh berries.
During the fall and winter months strawberry and blueberry importes from Mexico and Chile compete directly with Florida’s season. Chile now accounts for over 50 percent of imported blueberries.
Consumers are now purchasing more berries that been grown south from British Columbia and continuing all the way south along the coast to Chile. This shift will continue following seasonal patterns, but also seeing increased volume in the more southern regions.
Over the past five years, California has shown tremendous growth in strawberry production the past five years. In 2008, the state produced 114 million cartons of strawberries, which grew to 181 million cartons in 2010. In 2011, volume actually slipped to 178 million cartons but this year, but in 2013, the total volume should be in the 190 million carton range.
The majority of those gains come from increased yields. California’s strawberry acreage totalled 36,519 acres in 2008, but was down to 37,732 acres this year.
It is a different story for blueberries. Worldwide statistics show total world acreage of blueberries has grown significantly over the years. It has quadrupled in the past 15 years and now sits near 200,000 acres with most of that being in North and South America. The Americas represent close to 80 percent of the world’s blueberry acreage and production.
It seems that the old saying “the more things change, the more things stay the same” is as true as Isaac Newton’s law of gravity. One thing for certain, it ain’t a pretty picture. To quote Benjamin Franklin, “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
In the United States, that has never been more true than today. Looking at news headlines all year has convinced me that we are have already become a nation where the morons far outnumber the rest of us. Let’s look at some of the more notable issues of this past year.
In Detroit $15,000 per student was spent on public education with a 24.7 percent graduation rate. Now just what employer wants to hire someone who has demonstrated they are a quitter by dropping out of school? I can’t imagine why they have such a high unemployment rate in Detroit, can you?
We have President Obama that plays golf all the time and waits for Congress to work together and bring solutions to him. That’s like being a general and waiting for your troops to work out the battle plans for you. Do you think just maybe we have a failure of leadership here?
The state of California is drowning in overspending and debt and who do they elect for governor? Good old “Governor Moonbeam,” the very guy who spent them into oblivion the last time he was governor. We have a retirement supplemental program called Social Security, that everyone knows is running out of money rapidly, and what does our infinitely wise government do? They classify drug addiction as a disability so drug addicts can suck off of Social Security disability payments. After all, we wouldn’t want those poor disabled drug addicts not to have the money to buy more drugs now, would we?
In his re-election campaign, the President’s campaign managers have declared Governor Romney has a “war on women.” Now just how does a man that has had five children engage in a “war on women?” Five kids kind of indicates that you like women pretty well doesn’t it? New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg has outlawed soft drinks over 16 ounces to limit the sugar intake of New Yorkers. Instead of buying a single 24-ounce drink New Yorkers are now buying two 16 ounce drinks. I guess old Mayor Bloomberg just isn’t very good at math.
The number one problem in Mexico is drug gang violence, and it has resulted in over 35,000 murders. So what does our Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) do? They allow shipments of over 2,000 assault weapons to be sent across the border to Mexican drug cartels. Now that makes sense doesn’t it? Makes you think maybe the ATF has been hiring Detroit dropouts.
The Chicago teachers are some of the highest compensated teachers in the nation. So what do they do? They go on strike because they don’t want to be held accountable for their performance. I just can’t imagine why Chicago schools are failing, can you? Derek Jeter should join the Chicago teachers union.
The pièce de résistance rests in the White House and holds the nation’s office of the Vice President of The United States. I like to call him “Gaffy Duck” Joe Biden. This is a guy that is the envy of all the writers on Saturday Night Live. They can never top the things that this guy comes up with. He was the very first person to note, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Now that doesn’t imply that the former African-American candidates were mumbling, stupid, dirty, and ugly does it, Joe? Does it worry you that this idiot is just a heartbeat away from the Presidency? I mean this guy was laughing all the time in the recent VP debate about Iran obtaining a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching Cincinnati. Nice to know the nation’s VP thinks ICBMs in the hands of Islamic martyrs are laughable.
I don’t know, maybe it’s me and the fact that I’m getting older, but it just seems that common sense has left this country and moved to China. You know, the place where Jeep is putting in a new factory, and according to our nation’s leaders they will never import Chinese made Jeeps to the U.S. Oh well, I think I’m just going to take the “Bloomberg common sense” solution to all of this. Instead of ordering a 20-ounce margarita I’m going to order two 12-ounce ones instead! I guess that’s the new math. — Larry Oscar
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.
While head lettuce shipments continue from the Salinas Valley and the Huron District in the San Joaquin Valley, volume is rapidly decreasing as the seasonal shift if well underway and volume increases from the desert areas of the Imperial Valley in Southern California and in the nearby Yuma district of Arizona.
Normal shipments are expected from the desert areas through the end of the year. Loadings for romaine from the Imperial Valley should start the week after Thanksgiving.
Lettuce loads from the Salinas Vallely are expected to overlap the Imperial Valley season by a week or two.
Record shipments of tables grapes continues from the San Joaquin Valley spanning the Kern District to the northern part of the valley is averaging over 1,600 truckloads per week…..Also from the Kern District is shipments of carrots, averaging about 350 truckload equivalents per week.
Strawberry shipments from the Watsonville District are in a seasonal decline, while volume is picking up from Ventura County. Moderate volume continues from the Santa Maria District. As with many vegetables in California, berry volume is much lower than only a few weeks ago.
There’s a number of produce items in California providing light volume, but at this point may be helping to fill out the truck. Those items may range from oranges to lemons, kiwi, various veggies and even holiday product such as pomegrantes.
San Joaquin Valley produce – grossing about $4400 to Chicago.
More consumers are realizing the healthy benefits of eating nuts.
A record crop of around 550 million pounds of pistachios is projected as the 2012 harvest nearing completion. Pistachio growers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada are expecting huge demand from consumers.
There are currently about 250,000 acres of pistachios planted in the four states (98 percent of that is in California), and currently only 145,000 acres are producing crops. Based on industry data, the current plantings are expected to boost the crop size to 800 million pounds by 2016, double what it was in 2009.
About 60 percent of the total USA pistachio volume is exported mostly to China and to the European Union.
In the USA there are sponsorships of the American men’s and women’s water polo teams. The women’s team won the gold medal at the recent London Olympics.
There also continues to be sponsorship of the Miss California Pageant, with the idea of tying in with Miss California on the beauty and fitness side of eating pistachios.
The pistachio industry also is involved in sponsoring various nutrition and health studies. Previous studies have focused on benefits to cardiovascular health and on lowering of cholesterol by eating pistachios.
Pistachios are not alone in the nut category in terms of experiencing growing global demand. All tree nuts, whether it be almonds or walnuts or pistachios, seem to be doing well.
Florida certainly isn’t a destination many produce haulers seek in the fall, unless they are taking a vacation. It is historically quite difficult to find return loads out of the Sunshine state after delivering there. Still, here’s a look at what should be available with citrus and vegetable loads during the next couple of months.
There will be fewer navel oranges available, but larger volumes of grapefruit and tangerines as Florida’s early season shipments move to bigger volumes. The USDA issued on October 11th it’s first season forecast. Florida expects to ship 2.2 million equivalent cartons of navels, 17 percent less than a year ago. Although fewer loads are forecast, it still is a decent volume for the state. While citrus shipments are moving into good volume, lighter movement is seen starting in late December and early January.
Fall vegetable loadings from Central and Southern Florida are expected to be down from a year ago, particularly with items such as sweet corn, green beans, bell peppers, cucumbers and squash. While the harvest began last month, we’re looking at mid November to around Thanksgiving before better volume starts.
While plantings of Florida fall veggies are generally lower this season, larger volume with strawberries from the Plant City area is expected. Light harvest starts in late November with volume and shipments increasing during December.
Produce loading opportunities from the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas are expected to increase in coming years as a new highway connecting West Mexico to south Texas opens in the new few months. Now another project is expected to increase produce loads from Mexico to markets in the USA and Canada.
A plan to change how millions of boxes of mangos are treated for the Mexican fruit fly and bacterial contaminants could be a boon Valley’s growing produce industry — and ultimately produce haulers.
The USDA has lifted a procedural barrier allowing construction along the U.S.-Mexico border of facilities that blast mangos and other fresh produce with a highly focused beam of electricity, eliminating pathogens and pests. McAllen, TX becomes the first city in the Southwest with the technology.
The E-beam facility will be built at 23rd Street and Military Highway on land owned by the Abasto Corp., directly across the street from the 42-acre Warehouse Kingdom development. The valley’s E-beam facility should create a competitive advantage for the McAllen metro area as it seeks to gain a larger share of the Mexican produce market. But consumers across the nation could also benefit from a larger array of high-quality fruits and vegetables that last longer on the shelf.
The high-tech procedure is supposed to virtually eliminate the chance of pests and pathogens such as fruit flies crossing the border.
The $22 million facility, which will eventually employ up to 200 people, will use a non-nuclear alternative to gamma-based irradiation to sterilize fruit and vegetables crossing the border in both directions.
To kill microorganisms, produce has traditionally been treated with a gas called ethylene oxide that is being phased out for health and environmental reasons. But a shift to treating produce in hot water baths created its own host of problems, among them a reduced shelf life and lower success in killing contaminants.
ScanTech’s technology eliminates both problems by essentially electrocuting the fruit without generating heat. The irradiation method uses less energy, does not involve dangerous radioactive materials and is supposed to be as safe to operate as a household microwave.
It is difficult to find anyone in the trucking industry more aware of the checkered past of truck brokers than Jimmy DeMatteis. For this reason, and simply because it is the right thing to do, Jimmy goes out of his way to make sure those people behind the wheel of the big rigs get a fair shake.
As president of Des Moines Truck Brokers, Inc. (DMTB) he knows the reputation of the company’s 43 year history is on the line with each load. It all began in 1951 with his dad, James A. DeMatteis (Jim Sr.) hauling produce. By 1960 he was a small fleet owner and three years later became a broker of exempt commodities.
Jim DeMatteis Sr. with LJ Mack circa 1960
Jim Sr. started DMTB in 1969 and remained a one-man operation until 1984 when James R. DeMatteis (Jimmy) came aboard.
“We have always been advocates for small carriers and their success,” Jimmy says. To back up his claim, just go the company’s website at: www.dmtb.com where it states, “Our reputation for paying carriers is second to none”. DMTB has a policy to pay all carriers within one day of receiving the carrier’s freight bill.
Jimmy has served on the board of the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) for the past 6 years “because I believe in our industry and I want to see us do it right.”
Jimmy also serves on the Executive Committee of The Alliance for Safe, Efficient Competitive Truck Transportation (ASECTT) whose main focus is addressing “all the fallacies and flaws in CSA-2010.” He notes the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) decided it was “going to ram this program down the throat of every motor carrier.” As a result ASECTT filed a lawsuit. It resulted in the FMCSA having to reevaluate the way it rated carriers through alerts in its safety management systems. The ratings system has resulted in safe carriers being rated as unsafe. “We want FMCSA to do their job. Their job is to determine the safety fitness of the motor carrier community. Instead they have chosen to deputize the motor carrier, shipper, and broker communities to do their work”
“We want the FMCSA to state they are the party responsible for a carrier’s safety fitness, not the shipper, not the broker,” he states. “Shippers are putting things in contracts based on CSA scores that black list many good small trucking companies. Carriers get put out of business because shippers or brokers won’t work with them as they are deemed unsafe by these scores or alerts.”
The problem comes from the FMCSA basing its program on percentages. “No matter how many bad carriers you get rid of, you are always going to have 35 percent that are going to have alerts. This is very damaging to small carriers. It works well for large carriers and gives them a distinct advantage,” Jimmy states.
Based inNorwalk,IA, DMTB recently moved into new facilities shared with a sister company, Capital City Fruit, with whom it has a 43-year relationship.
Jimmy emphasizes small trucking operations are the backbone of the trucking industry.
“I want to think we at DMTB get it. We treat others with respect, we pay fast and take time to talk to our drivers,” he says. Des Moines Truck Brokers has a policy if a driver walks into its office with bills of lading and the staff has not met that trucker before, everyone stands up, and introduces themselves and shakes his or her hand.
“We in the logistics industry all do important work, but at the end of the day, the person doing the most important work, is that guy or gal out there behind the wheel,” Jimmy states.
For more information about Des Moines Truck Brokers, Inc. go to www.dmtb.com or call 800-247-2514
At least for some shippers in the Red River Valley, it was looking a little dim in September due to drought. However, October rains have increased yields — and loading opportunities have improved for those who haul red potatoes out of the region, located on the borders of North Dakota and Minnesota.
The last of the spuds are now being dug. It’s looking like valley potato shipments for the 2012-13 season will be quite close to the five-year average. Currently, only about 250 truckloads a week or being shipped, but loadings are still increasing as the focus moves from harvest, and storage to shipping.
From central Wisconsin, russet potato loads are averaging around 500 truckloads per week…..Peak shipments of cranberries for the Thanksgiving holidays are now underway from central Wisconsin.
Nebraska continues light loadings of potatoes. In the southwestern part of the state potatoes are being shipped from the Imperial, Neb area. The other most active part of the state is around O’Neill in the northeastern part of the Nebraska.
In the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, grapefruit and orange shipments have been slowly ramping up. Because California’s season ended early, there’s been good demand for Texas citrus, although loadings have been limited and there’s not much citrus yet to be found in the retail stores.
If you are loading grapefruit or oranges in South Texas, it should be a little more simple than 20 years ago when there were at least two dozen citrus companies. That number has shank to only four, primarily due to mergers and acquisitions. This should be reducing the number pick ups required for some hauls.
Central Wisconsin potatoes – grossing about $3400 to Houston.
Red River Valley red potatoes – about $4300 to Orlando.
The USA needs around 111,000 more drivers to move the nation’s freight, according to Doug Stobiber, vice president of produce transportation for L&M Transportation Services of Raleigh, NC. He was speaking at the produce industry’s largest gathering recently, the annual convention of the Production Marketing Association (PMA), held in Anaheim, CA
While Stoiber notes better pay and higher freight rates for drivers is important, he placed just as much emphasis on truckers being repected.
He points out there is a shortage of qualified drivers and it is only going to get worse, primarily because fewer younger drivers are entering the industry, combined with greater numbers of older truckers retiring. While the average age of the commerical driver is 48 years old, the ones under 30 years of age amount to less than 10 percent.
Current law requires commerical driver’s operating interstate be at least 21 years old. President Obama is in favor of permitting states to lower the age limit to 18 years old. While supporters of this proposal are looking at ways to increase the number of drivers with CDLs (commerical drivers license), opponents point out the high accident rate among teenage automobile drivers, saying they are too young and immature to drive a big rig.
Starting this year, the nation’s largest generation (baby boomers) are reaching 65 years of age. They are retiring at a rate of 10,000 each day.
Stoiber made some economic comparisions between hauling dry freight, compared to fresh produce. There are liabilities as a produce trucker. Those remain until the papers are signed and the receiver accepts the load. The use of a refrigeration unit on a trailer adds an additional $1,500 in costs to a coast-to-coast haul. Overall, there are fewer risks with dry freight. Even with all the economic factors involved in produce hauling, Stoiber emphasizes the need for the produce industry giving drivers more respect. This will go along way in attracting more drivers to haul produce.
“Truckers have been viewed as obstacles to doing business instead of partners in the supply chain,” Stoiber said.
He encouraged the audience to pay higher freight rates and to think in terms of price per consumer unit instead of $1,000 per load. It comes down to more than just a good freight rate. Loyalty and respect are very important to truckers, he said.
Stoiber also addressed issues brought forward by a group encourging better practices in dealing with produce truckers. The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWA) earlier this year released guidelines for making fresh produce hauling more attractive. Tips range from decreasing detention time when loading and unloading, to allowing drivers to watch loading.
The best practices are regularly reviewed and updated as federal regulations and other factors change the way truckers are allowed to operate, said Stoiber, who is a member of NAPTWA. The best practices are free on the working group’s website at www.naptwg.org.