Posts Tagged “Florida”
As we move further into spring and there are shipping gaps with some fruits 
and vegetables, one of the most consistent items on a year around basis are potatoes. They certainly don’t always pay the highest of freight rates, but they are dependable, and usually less perishable; meaning less risk to the hauler and hopefully less chance of dealing with “claim happy” receivers looking to shaft you with a unfair deduction or rejection.
All potato shipping areas combined around the country are loading over 4,700 trucklload equivalents of spuds on average per week right now. Idaho is accounting for around 1750 truckload equivalents weekly. Other leading states currently shipping spuds are Colorado’s San Luis Valley, the Columbia Basin in Washington state and the nearby Umatilla Basin in Oregon, as well as South Florida and Central Wisconsin. Much fewer shipments are occurring from Western Michigan, Aroostrock County, Maine, as well as from the Imperial and O’Neill areas of Nebraska and the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnestoa.
Twin Falls Idaho area – grossing about $5300 to New York City
San Luis Valley – $1600 to Dallas.
South Florida – $2700 to Baltimore
NOTE: The new U.S. potato season usually kicks off around late July or August. A peek at the upcoming year for potatoes shows potentially good news if you haul the product, or if you are a consumer. Potato farmers in the Northwest once again can’t resist the urge (or is it greed?) to plant an additional 30,000 acres of spuds for the 2012-13 season. That will probably more loading opportunities and lower retail prices. It could also mean a disasterous season for growers if too many spuds end up in the distribution pipeline.
Produce shipments from the eastern portions of the United States continue to 
be seasonally light. Florida is still one of the better places for loading produce right now, although it’s biggest volume in spring shipments are still ahead of us. South Florida potato shipments continue to increase, but still are light. Tomatoes are among the volume leaders with about 750 truckloads a week. Plant City strawberry volume is in a seasonal decline. There’s also varying amounts of citrus and vegetables. Blueberries have started in light in volume, but increasing from Central and Northern Florida.
Central and Southern Georgia has light volume with mixed greens…North Carolina sweet potatoes continue steady shipments. The state has 65,000 acres of sweet potatoes and ships about 50 percent the volume in the United States.
Truck availability has been tightening some in North Carolina and Florida, with rates from Florida showing a little strength.
New York state has light to moderate shipments of apples and cabbage from Western and Central areas. Apples addionally are being shipped from the Hudson Valley. The Empire State also is loading about 150 truckloads of storage onions per week, primarily from Orange County. Of course, apples, cabbage and onions are not compatible on the same load and can result in quality issues due to oder absorption, etc., especially on longer hauls.
New York cabbage is grossing – about $200o to Boston.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – about $2750 to Boston.
Florida vegetables – about$3000 to New York City.
March can be one of the more frustrating months if you haul fresh produce. 
We are getting there, but certainly haven’t arrived. Several major shipping areas are starting to wind down, while others are still trying to ramp up with spring volume. A great example is in the West. Winter shipments of lettuce and other veggies from the deserts of Arizona and California provide loading opportunities during the winter, but are entering a transition period, where shipments will be moving northward to the Huron area of the San Joaquin Valley, following closely by Salinas. There’s now light volume with vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower from Santa Maria and Ventura County. Strawberry volume in Southern California is ramping up, but certainly not there yet.
Florida is similar in that vegetable volume is increasing, but won’t be hitting seasonal numbers until early April.
The steady, more consistent shipments are with hardware items ranging from apples, pears, onions and potatoes from the Northwest, potatoes from Colorado and Wisconsin; sweet potatoes out of Lousiana, Mississippi and the leader — North Carolina.
By this time next month we should be seeing significant increases in loading oppportunities, particularly from California and Florida, with rates rising accordingly.
Yakima Valley apples and pears grossing – about $5500 to Atlanta.
South Florida vegetables – about $2200 to Baltimore.
It’s still too early for decent loading opportunities out of Florida — while we’re still another two to three weeks away from significant volume, particularly with vegetables. Yet, the Sunshine state is better now than it was only a few weeks ago when it comes to finding a load.
From South Florida, about 250 truckloads of red potatoes are being loaded a week. There is even heavier volume with roma, mature green, cherry and grape tomatoes coming out of the Southern areas of Florida….The Plant City and Dover location near Tampa is shipping some of the most beautiful and tasty strawberries you can image (I just bought this shown in photo today).
Central Florida produce shipments – grossing about $2300 to Chicago.
Despite a freeze on January 3-4, which caused some damage to early spring Florida produce, overall it has been a warmer-than-normal winter and most 
shipments should be one to two weeks earlier. Florida’s peak spring shipments will occur from late March, extending into May until hot weather begins reducing volume.
Florida spring loadings often involve multiple pick ups of items ranging from bell peppers to squash, cabbage, cucumbers and other veggies. Loads with multiple pick ups often mean multiple drops at the other end of the haul, so be sure and negotiate your freight rates with this in mind.
Tomatoes are a big volume item from Florida and expect loads to be available a week earlier than usual from the Immokalee and Palmetto-Ruskin areas — starting in early April.
As for citrus, shipments are expected to wind down up to three weeks earlier on items such as tangerines (late March) and grapefruit (in April). Tangerine loadings normally end in late April.
Florida ships a significant amount of spring red potatoes from the southern part of the state such as from Lake Wales. Heaviest red potato loadings take place during March and April.
Florida watermelon shipments will get underway in early April.
South Florida red potatoes grossing about $2600 to Philadelphia.
I have just returned from Florida and over the weekend had the opportunity 
to attend the Florida Strawberry Festival at Plant City, FL, just east of Tampa. Before talking about the event, here’s the bottom line on Florida strawberry shipments. Volume is good from the area, with over 400 truckloads being shipped weekly. However, if the warm, humid weather continues shipments will start rapidly declining, which is pretty normal for the last half of March.
Strawberries grossing about $1,000 to Atlanta.
The Florida Strawberry Festival has been held since 1930 and is quite similar to a state fair with everything from midway rides to a queen contest and awards for cake decorating, plus plenty of entertainment, among countless other activities.
I caught the show by the pop group Air Supply on Saturday night (March 3). I’m told they had several big hits during the 1980s, but I guess I missed them somehow. Anyway, wasn’t my flavor of music, but they did have a great band!
If you’re looking for something to do and in the area, it can be a fun event, which lasts through March 11th. By the way, lots of huge, beautiful flats of strawberries are being sold at the festival for $7 and $8.
As the seasonal light to moderate winter produce loadings continue, California 
remains your best bet. There’s items ranging from strawberries to avocados in Southern California. In the desert, mixed vegetables ranging from lettuce to cauliflower, broccoli and celery are being shipped. One cautionary note: Excessive supplies of vegetables have led to a glut in the market due in part because of a mild West Coast winter. If any weather event on the East Coast that ma occur, compounds the problem as receivers don’t want trucks stuck in snow, ice etc. with a load of perishable produce.
In the Gulf Coast area, there is Texas cabbage coming out of the Winter Garden District just south of San Antonio. Further south in the Lower Rio Grande Valley there is citrus and mixed veggies, plus crossings of numerous items from Mexico….In nearby Louisiana and Mississippi, sweet potatoes continue to be shipped….In the east, there are sweet potatoes loading from North Carolina. On some days there’s been a shortage of trucks in NC, but this may be in part due to sweet potatoes not being known to get a very good freight rate.
Light to moderate apple shipments are coming from the Applachian District of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Apples are being shipped from New York’s Hudson Valley, as well as central and western parts of the state….The new crop of red potatoes from South Florida are now being shipped.
California desert vegetables – grossing about $5400 to New York City.
Mississippi sweet potatos – $1700 to Detroit.
South Texas and Mexico produce – $2100 to Atlanta.
Central New York apples – $1600 to Baltimore.
We’re getting more information on how shipments may be affected from Georgia and Florida following a freeze from about a week ago.
In Georgia, it is becoming clearer the cold temperatures did significant damage to blueberries — perhaps as much as 50 percent of the crop. Hardest hit were the early Georgia berries, which typically start in late April and provide loadings through May….There will also be some losses of Vidalia sweet onions, but shipments are not expected to be significantly affected overall. Onion loadings should kick off in a small way around April 10-15 and move into good volume over the next two weeks.
In Florida, the cold front was not as serious, although initial predictions see blueberry shipments being cut by 20 percent for the season. Florida blueberries usually begin harvest in the southern and central parts of the state by late March, finishing in early May. The northern Florida blueberries typically are finished by the middle of May.
In general, the Southeastern freeze damage occured north of Interstate 4 and became progressively worse the further north you go.
We are several weeks away from Southern shipments of blueberries as well as 
sweet onions from Georgia’s Vidalia district. However, a recent freeze in the Georgia and Northern Florida is bound to reduce volume and loads. It is a matter of determining how much.
Blueberry shipments normally start in late March and continue until Mid May from Northern Florida, followed by Georgia, which starts in late May. Early estimates are all over the board and too unreliable to really get a handle on at this time.
Southeastern Georgia’s famous Vidalia sweet onions are also going to face some losses, but intial inquiries show those losses should not be heavy to the overall shipping season. It still appears volume could be close to normal once loadings begin around the second week of April and then shipments should start really picking up within a week or two.
With a glut of tomatoes due to over production both from Florida and Mexico,
tomatoes should be reasonably priced in your local supermarket. I emphasize “should be” as retailers too often love to see overproduction “blood baths” allowing them to buy product cheap, but too often these retailers are very reluctant to pass the savings on to the consumer.
Another good buy should be Chilean grapes. I’ve found the red seedless grapes to be of excellent quality, although often lacking in size. The green seedless grapes I’ve tasted have been a little tart, but not bad.
If you are looking for honeydew, expect to pay a premium as supplies from both Mexico and Central America are light. I find honeydew this time of year too often lacking in taste….Asian pears are a favorite of mine. They are a little pricey anytime, but expect this to be even more so now. Supplies are shifting from the U.S. to Chile, where the crop may be off as much as 15 percent.
My experience thus far with strawberries has been kind of erractic. I have had some fruit that didn’t look that good, but had better taste than some of the berries with great color. It’s hard to figure out.