Posts Tagged “Florida tomato shipments”
Peak volume tomato shipments from Florida are on their way.
In 2023, Florida shipped fresh open-field tomatoes from October through July, with peak shipments from October through May. Leading tomato-producing counties in Florida include Hillsborough County, Manatee County, Hendry County, Palm Beach County and Collier County.
Florida tomato acreage in 2023 totaled about 30,000 acres, of which about 29,00 acres were harvested, according to USDA numbers.
With yields of 300 hundredweight per acre, the value of the 2023 Florida tomato crop was estimated at $493.6 million, according to the USDA. Total tomato harvested volume was 8.97 million hundredweight.
The USDA’s annual shipment summary reported that Florida accounted for 23.44 million 25-pound cartons of open-field fresh round tomato truck shipments in 2023. That accounted for about 56% of total domestic fresh round tomato truck shipments.
The USDA reported that only 8,000 25-pound cartons of Florida organic round tomatoes were shipped in 2023.
Florida cherry tomato shipments in 2023 totaled 344,000 25-pound cartons, just over 70% of USDA-reported cherry tomato shipments.
Florida grape tomato shipments in 2023 were reported at 2.148 million 25-pound cartons, or about 71% of total domestic grape tomato shipments.
Florida plum tomato shipments in 2023 were reported at 8.17 million 25-pound cartons by the USDA, or 61% of total domestic plum tomato volume.
For central and south Florida, the USDA reported that average prices for 5×6-size mature green tomatoes in 25-pound cartons began in early November and continued through mid-May. Prices for the 2023-24 season began in early November in a range from $14.95 to $18.95 per carton. Prices topped $30 per carton in late December and topped $37 per carton in late January and early February.
Maitland, FL: Florida’s November tomato crop will be smaller than normal due to the impact of Hurricane Ian, but Florida will remain a significant supplier from now through December. The weather since the hurricane has been ideal, allowing growers to quickly recuperate fields. This means that even those farms that sustained damage will be able to harvest a portion of their crop, according to the Florida Tomato Committee.
The storm had no impact on tomato production in North Florida, which will have steady volume from now through mid-November. As the harvest moves south to Central Florida, supplies will be lighter than normal due to the impact of the storm around the Palmetto and Ruskin growing areas. November volume will be down, but there will still be tomatoes available. Central Florida production is expected to ramp up through December. The storm’s impact was less severe in the Southwest Florida growing regions around Naples and Immokalee, which will help offset reduced volume in Central Florida. Production in Southwest Florida will steadily increase starting in December.
Plantings for South Florida’s winter tomato crop have continued as normal with no impact from the hurricane.
Florida tomato shipments are increasing with improved weather, although a slow start to the season was due to Hurricane Eta.
Planted acreage and the mix of varieties should be similar to 2019. Round slicer or beefsteak tomatoes account for almost 70 percent of the crop, with plum/romas, grape and cherry tomatoes comprising most of the rest.
Florida has about 50 commercial tomato growers, all together creating a nine-month season. The tomato season in Northern Florida begins in early October, as the harvest works its way down the peninsula throughout the fall and winter.
The harvest then heads back up the peninsula to central Florida in the spring and to northern Florida in the early summer, usually ending by the Fourth of July.
West Coast Tomato, Palmetto, Fla., reports it began harvesting in late October.
The company has a packing house in Palmetto, with farms in Manatee County in central Florida and Immokalee in southwest Florida.
The USDA reports the value of Florida’s tomato production was $425.9 million in 2019 compared to $344.1 million in 2018.
That’s an $81.8 million increae while at the same time, farmers planted 2,000 fewer acres of tomatoes, from 29,000 acres in 2018 to 27,000 acres in 2019.
However, Category 5 Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle in October 2018, destroying tomatoes about to be harvested.
Farmers yielded 280,000 pounds of tomatoes per acre in 2018, compared to 300,000 pounds per acre in 2019.
Looking at the 2020 calendar year’s winter, spring and early fall harvesting seasons, the state shipped 35 million pounds of tomatoes through November 18, compared to 68.7 million pounds during the same time frame in 2019.
Florida tomato shipments remain steady, and quality is reported to be good.
The Florida Tomato Exchange of Maitland, FL reports growing conditions have been great, while Hurricane Dorian did not have any impact.
While fall tomato shipments in Northern Florida have ended, Central Florida loadings have now taken over and will continue through winter. Volume similar to the past two years is expected. Round tomato volume should total around 26 million to 28 million boxes. Round, or mature green tomatoes usually account for about 70 percent of the Florida tomato shipments, with romas, cherry and plum varieties making up the balance.
The face of Florida spring produce shipments long have been centered around citrus, mixed vegetables and tomatoes. This will continue to be the case in the foreseeable future, but there are some other products that have entered the picture and could provide substantially larger volume in the future.
Florida peach shipments have started in recent years, and the state is heavily promoting the stone fruit, particularly in April, when it has a shipping window pretty much to itself. Florida peaches are shipped as imported Chilean peaches are winding down, and before the product is ready in California, Georgia and South Carolina.
Asian vegetables are relatively new to Florida produce production, which are grown across the state and have a growing concentration in the St. Augustine/Hastings area of North Florida.
These items range from Chinese cabbage, to bok choy, beans, bitter melon, Chinese broccoli and many other Asian herbs and vegetables. As these items become more mainstream, there will be more loading opportunities for produce haulers.
There also has been increasing acreage with sweet potatoes in recent years. Florida has the first domestic sweet potatoes of the growing season prior to the traditional Louisiana, Mississippi, California and North Carolina sweet potato seasons that start in late summer.
Brussels sprouts are another up-and-coming crop in Florida, particularly in the Hastings area. Cabbage traditionally has been a staple crop in this area, but growers in the area have recently branched out to other crops, such as broccoli and cauliflower and Brussels sprouts.
Florida Tomato Shipments
Grower, shippers such as Oakes Farms Inc. of Immokalee and DiMare Co. of Homestead launched tomato shipments in October and continue into June. Tomato volume typically has a substainal volume increase starting in the middle of March.
Between March and May, Florida accounts for 55 percent of grape and cherry tomato shipments in the U.S. and 41 percent of the round tomatoes.
On average, Florida supplied 100 percent of temple oranges, 70 percent of sweet corn, and 55 percent of snap beans shipped the U.S. from 2014-17.
Florida produce shipments – grossing about $3200 to New York City.
There’s probably no single California produce item having more truck loads per week than table grapes, although this should be changing soon as volume is headed towards a season ending slide. Still, San Joaquin Valley shippers loaded about 975 truck loads last week. The first Chilean grapes to arrive at Philadelphia by boat are expected the week of December 18th.
In the Southern San Joaquin Valley in the Bakersfield area, there is pretty steady movement of carrots averaging around 375 truck loads weekly.
As the seasonal shift of vegetable shipments is nearly completed from the Salinas Valley, light volume of items ranging from broccoli to cauliflower has started from Central and Western Arizona. Heavier volume already is underway, particularly from the Yuma area with lettuce. The combination of head lettuce, as well as romaine and leaf lettuce totaled nearly 2500 truck loads last week and volume is still increasing.
Low Tomato Shipments
Thanks to Hurricane Irma last September, Florida tomato shipments this season are down 54 percent compared to the same time a year ago. Florida, as of December 9th has shipped 3.44 million cartons, down 54 percent from 7.4 million cartons in 2106. For example, Florida tomato shipments the week of December. 3-9 totaled 500,000 cartons, down over 65 percent compared with 1.492 million cartons the same week last year.
The USDA reports total supply of domestic and imported tomatoes the week of Dec. 3-9 was 1.9 million cartons, down 25 percent from 2.56 million cartons the same week a year ago.
Tomato prices at shipping point had hit $35 in mid-December resulting in high prices at retail stores and resulting in fewer sales as consumers balked at the high prices. The f.o.b. (shipping point) price for central and south Florida tomatoes on Dec. 12 was $37.95 per carton for some mature green tomatoes, four times higher than the $8.95 per carton the same time a year ago.
Cold weather in central and eastern parts of the country limited some Mexican tomato shipments coming through south Texas in early December. For imports coming in through Nogales, tomato shipments from Sinaloa, Mexico should experience significant volume increases in January.
Florida may not have normal tomato shipments until mid-January.
Florida tomato volume is rebounding as the recovery from Hurricane Irma continues. Meanwhile, double digit freights on potatoes from some states in the Western U.S. are occurring.
Florida tomato shipments remain much lighter than normal thanks to Hurricane Irma last fall, that is fixing to change. Volume is gradually coming back as the replantings mature, but it will be around Christmas or perhaps early January before volumes return to normal. Irma dumped a ton of water of some fields, so use caution loading. There’s a chance of bacterial and general quality problems with some product, until a little later in the season.
North American Potato Shipping Update
North American fall potato shipments in the most recent USDA update is pegged 505 million cwt. (per hundredweight), down 1 percent from last year. Canadian growers harvested 106 million cwt., up slightly from 2016, and U.S. growers are expected to produce 399 million cwt., down 2 percent from 2016. U.S. growers planted 906,500 acres, down from 923,800 in 2016, and harvested 900,600 acres, off from 909,600 in 2016.
Canadian growers planted 345,800 acres and harvested 342,200, both amounts similar to the previous crop. The USDA reported yields per acre at 443 cwt. for growers in the U.S. and at 309 cwt. for growers in Canada.
Potato shipments for Christmas are getting underway and truck rates from both Idaho and Colorado have increased 10 to 20 percent to many markets. Wisconsin, which has the lowest volume of the three states, is not experiencing volatility in rates. Idaho is shipping moving nearly 1700 truckload equivalents of spuds a week, although a significant amount of this is going by rail. Colorado is shipping around 750 truckloads per week, while Wisconsin is loading about 400 truckloads. The Columbia Basin and Umatilla Basin on the Washington/Oregon border has similar volume (about 350 loads) to Colorado and rates have generally went up 10 to 15 percent recently.
Twin Falls area Idaho potatoes – grossing about $6300 to New York City.
San Luis Valley Colorado potatoes – grossing about $2000 to Dallas.
Stevens Point, Wisconsin area potatoes – grossing about $3300 to Atlanta.
Washington’s Columbian Basin potatoes – grossing bout $5100 to Chicago.
by Pioneer Growers
Belle Glade, FL – Pioneer Growers has announced the near completion of their new facility expansion that includes expanded cold storage and processing facilities at their Belle Glade, FL location.
The facility became operational recently, and this is the third and final phase of a mid-term expansion plan that includes 64,000 additional square feet of space for processing, storage, and office space. The Florida facility now includes 13 docks and 700 new pallet spaces to aid in cooling incoming product and staging outgoing shipments.
Vice President and General Manager Gene Duff remarked, “As one of the largest fresh sweet corn growers in the U.S. it’s important that we continue to expand and improve our facilities to meet not only growing demand, but to maintain production efficiencies that continue to improve our product handling and quality.”
Construction of the phase three project began in August of 2016 and was part of a 5-year plan that included previous expansions of processing, receiving and packing areas and features Thermomass tilt wall construction.
Pioneer is currently shipping sweet corn, cabbage and radishes along with green beans which are processed in the new Phase 3 expansion.
In closing Duff remarked, “Pioneer Growers has always been an industry leader and our growers and employees are proud and excited to work in the most modern facility in the Glades where we produce and ship some of the freshest, best quality sweet corn and vegetables grown anywhere in the U.S.”
Pioneer Growers is a grower owned marketing cooperative specializing in fresh sweet corn and mixed vegetables including green beans, radishes, and cabbage. Today, Pioneer is a leader in the sweet corn industry offering year-round availability with more than 13,000 acres across Florida, Georgia and the Northeast with a focus on premium quality driven by their commitment to super sweet varieties packed in the Pioneer and Green Giant Fresh brands.
Florida tomato shipments and vegetable shipments – grossing about $2500 to New York City.
Florida strawberries and tomatoes are leading produce shipments from the Sunshine state this month.
Florida has over 11,000 acres of strawberries are grown in the Plant City area each year, with Hillsborough County shipping about 15 percent of the nation’s strawberries and virtually all the berries grown during the winter.
Since late spring, the weather was good and the state has been leading the nation in strawberry shipments now for a number of weeks. Although small compared to California’s total strawberry shipments, Florida ships about 20 million flats each year.
Florida is loading about 1,000 truck loads of strawberries per week.
Florida Vegetable Shipments
Unlike some winters, Florida growing conditions also have generally been favorable for vegetables, leading to fairly stable shipments from week to week. Mature greens provide Florida’s heaviest tomato volume, with much less amounts coming from plum and grape tomatoes. However, if you add the three types of tomatoes together, they are averaging about the same amount of volume as Florida strawberries.
However, a major difference between hauling strawberries and tomatoes relates to geography. Florida’s strawberry shipments are concentrated in a relatively small growing area just west of Tampa. By contrast, Florida tomato shipments are spread throughout much of the state, with some areas being more active depending on the season.
At the same time, Florida also is shipping a number of other winter vegetables. However, volume with Florida vegetable shipments are much lighter this time of the year. While Florida may be shipping around 1,000 truckloads of mature green, plum and grape tomatoes each week, the next closest item is bell peppers, averaging only 250 truck loads weekly. Other leading Florida vegetables range from cabbage, to sweet corn, cucumbers, and beans, but the volume this time of year is only 50 percent or less that of bell peppers.
This will remain so until the last half of March, or April, depending upon weather conditions. All of this means mixed loads and only partial loads for the most part in the winter. Even during the heaviest Florida produce shipping season in the spring, multiple picks and drops are very common.
Florida tomato shipments look to be similar to last season, while a big plunge is seen with Florida citrus.
During the 2015-16 season, which ended in June, tomato growers packed 28.2 million 25-pound equivalent cartons of mature greens and vine-ripe tomatoes, down from 36.5 million from the previous season. The decline is attributed primarily to excessive rains during the growing season. Torrential spring rains reduced yields that caused the 8 million carton shortage,
Last year, Mexican tomato imports increased 18 percent from the prior year from October to mid-June. Imported Mexican tomatoes are primarily vine ripes, while Florida’s tomatoes are mostly mature greens.
Fall plantings for this season are expected to be similar to a year ago. Florida tomato shipments will get underway in October. In fact Florida typically is shipping tomatoes most of the year, with the exception being July, August and September.
Florida Citrus Shipments
Florida citrus acreage has declined to its lowest level in nearly three generations.
On September 12th, the USDA reported the Sunshine State’s citrus acreage declined to 480,121 acres for 2015-16, the lowest since the agency began surveying acreage in 1966.
Oranges, which constitute 89 percent of the state’s citrus acreage, is the lowest since that period as are grapefruit and tangerines. In 1970, Florida growers planted 715,806 acres of oranges, 124,050 acres of grapefruit and 101,615 acres of specialty fruit or tangerines and tangelos.
Currently, oranges make up 425,728 acres, grapefruit, 40,316 acres and specialty fruit, 14,077.
Orange production is down 3.7 percent from the 2014-15 season while white grapefruit sustained the biggest loss at 17 percent for the period. Red seedless grapefruit experienced only a 4 percent decline.
Tangerine and tangelo acreage declined 17 percent respectively from the previous year.
Of the 27 citrus-producing counties, 24 recorded acreage declines.
The Indian River region produces the most grapefruit acreage while the central region leads in the production of oranges and specialty fruit.
In terms of total citrus production, the central, southern and western regions represent the biggest acreage.
Florida will have light overall shipments of produce until March or April when spring vegetables get underway. In fact the whole Southeast is pretty “dead” this time of year.
Southern Georgia vegetable shipments – grossing about $800 to Atlanta.