Posts Tagged “melons”
Two varieties of melons are being added to the line up this season by Dan Andrews Farms LLC of Bakerfield, CA.
Over the year the firm has grown honeydews, cantaloupes and watermelons and this season is adding orange-flesh honeydews as well as hami melon that shaped like a football, which have white flesh and an exterior yellow rind with a touch of green.
Hami melons taste similar to honeydews, but are more of an Asian specialty melon.
The company has reduced cantaloupe acreage to add the new melons, which were requested by customers. The produce will bein June and July.
Andrews Farms also has gone back to growing carrots after dropping the item a couple of years ago. The carrots will include jumbo and short-cut carrots for Grimmway Farms in Bakersfield.
Two major California summer produce items are expected to get underway the week of June 24th, with volume shipments really increasing entering July.
Meanwhile, $9,000 gross freight rates from Salinas to the East Coast are becoming relatively common.
Cantaloupe shipments from the West Side of California’s San Joaquin Valley are expected to get underway next week, as loadings will continue into October.
Overall acreage is down about 5 to 10 percent on cantaloupes from a year ago. Whether that translates to yields and an reduction in loads remains to be seen.
Cantaloupe shipments start each season from Huron in the southern part of the valley and gradually moves northward into the Firebaugh district, before coming out of the Los Banos area. The end of the season has cantouples originating from fields in the northern area of Crow’s Landing.
Besides cantaloupe, other melons will be available for hauls ranging from honeydews, to Cranshaws, Casabas, Persians, Canaries, Orange Flesh, Santa Claus, Galias and Hamis.
Shipments of these items should get underway by July 1st.
Record Grapes Shipments?
Southern San Joaquin Valley table grapes from the Arvin district near Bakersfield will start shipping a little early this year (last week of June). Combine this with Sonara Mexican grapes crossing the border at Nogales, AZ and Coachella Valley grapes in the California desert running a little late – and there could be a glut of fruit needing to be shipped just prior to the Fouth of July holidays.
A number of grape shippers will be going entering the shipping arena the week of June 24th.
The April preliminary estimate this year is 106.9 million 19-pound boxes of grapes . If this holds, it will top last year’s record volume of about 101 million boxes.
More than half of that volume will be harvested and shipped after Sept. 1.
If the estimate holds it would result in record California grape shipments for the second year in a row.
Coachella Valley grapes – grossing about $6700 to Atlanta.
Salinas Valley veggies, berries – grossing mostly around $8000, with some as high as $9500 to Boston; $6,000 to Chicago.
California apple and pear shipments have started, joining bell peppers and host of other veggies, stone fruits and grapes being 
shipped. Across the country, summer produce shipments also are moving in good volume as well, although few can match the volume coming from California.
California apples for the new shipping season are under way from the San Joaquin Valley, while the new pear crop is providing loads from the San Joaquin Valley as well as the Sacramento District. Both items join a host of San Joaquin Valley produce items ranging from peaches, plums and nectarines to veggies such as sweet corn, and bell peppers, among others, as well as table grapes and melons.
Looking ahead to fall citrus shipments, California volume is forecast to be pretty normal. Mandarin loadings get underway by mid October, while navel oranges should start shipping in Novemember and continue through May 2013. The 2011-12 navel crop amounted to 88 million 40-pound cartons being shipped. The Valencia orange loadings are winding down and about 28 million cartons will have been shipped by the end of the season.
Michigan
Michigan is a leading shipper of blueberries, which are moving in good, steady volume. There’s also a wide array of vegetables such as sweet corn, bell peppers and squash being loaded on trucks.
New York
Cabbage loads are now coming out of Western and Central New York. Other vegetables will soon be available for hauling.
Eastern Shore
The tri-state area of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia have had a good growing season and steady shipments of vegetables and melons are now occurring.
Eastern Shore produce is grossing – about $1700 to Chicago.
Michigan produce – about $2700 New York and Hunts Point.
California’s San Joaquin Valley produce – about $7500 to New York City.
I bought this pair of melons grown in Guatemala at a local U.S. supermarket for 
$1.98 a piece. They were good, but not great. I placed a little salt on each to compensate for the lack of sweetness. The Guatemalan cantaloupe has gotten better as the season has progressed, not unusal for a lot of fruit, not matter where it is grown.
Now get this. In Japan, the Yubari King melon is what Kobe is to beef. Yubari is a Japanese city famous for cantaloupe that is a cross between two varieties. A Japanese auction has gotten as much $26,000 for a pair of these melons! However, the “regular” Yubari melons more typically garner “only” $50 to $100 a pair!
Think I’ll stick with my Guatemalan melons, even if I do have to add a little salt.
Looking ahead in Washington state, unless weather changes everything, 
record cherry shipments are being predicted. Coming out the Yakima and Wenachee valleys, cherry shipments kick off the second week of June and will continue into mid July. Meanwhile, if you’re in the region, steady shipments of late season apples and pears continue.
In Nogales, AZ, the U.S. Custom and Border Protection has expanded lanes for trucks importing Mexican produce to eight lanes. Mexican grapes are now crossing the border and an estimated 8 to 9 million cartons are expected to be shipped to points throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Looking down the road a bit, vine ripe tomatoes out of Southeastern Arkansas could start shipping one to two weeks early this year. Light volume is expected by late May, with good volume coming within a week or so. Shipments are expected to continue into mid-July.
Blueberry loads are now available from Southern Georgia, joining other items ranging from greens to squash, cucumbers and peppers. Southern Georgia’s Vidalia onions are now in peak movement to markets, particularly in the eastern half of the country.
In California, grapes and melons are coming out the desert, while Southern California continues to ship berries, avocados, citrus and some veggies. Look for building volume on vegetables from the Salinas Valley….May should be an interest month as we monitor building produce volume, availablilty of refrigerated equipment, and its effect on freight rates…..As always, truckers’ abilities to find westbound freight to pick up fruits and vegetables in California and the Northwest will be a challenge.
I’ve recently returned from a produce show in Dallas and although freight rates on 
California produce loads have recently been steady, or in some cases declining a little, most people I’ve talked to (shippers, wholesalers, truck brokers, trucking companies) only see this as the calm before the storm. In coming weeks as volume builds throughout many California shipping districts, they are expecting rates to show significant increases. $9000 produce rates from the West Coast to the East Coast are expected to be common. Some would not be surprised if rates hit $10,000.
Here’s the outlook for loading opportunities on the huge volume of summer fruit that annually is shipped from California.
Strawberries – Mostly available right now out of Southern California and to a lesser degree from Santa Maria. Yet California ships 88 percent of the nation’s strawberries and it really cranks up in a few weeks when Watsonville starts shipping in volume.
Blueberries – These berries are now being loaded out of the Arvin district and as the season progresses will move northward in the San Joaquin Valley to Delano and Kingsburg. California expects to ship 15 to 20 million pounds of “blues” this year.
Melons – watermelon and honeydew from the Bakersfield area kicks off in mid-June, followed by cantaloupes around July 1st.
Stone Fruit – It was in 2008 around 60-million 25-pound cartons of peaches, plums and nectarines were shipped, but last year loadings were down to an estimated 47 million cartons. Don’t expect anymore this year. California has been shipping too much stone fruit that doesn’t taste very good, and are replacing some orchards with improved varieties….Cherries are a different story. Californians know how to grow good tasting cherries! This year the state should be loading decent volumes of cherries by the third week of May. Shipments should be in the 8 to 10-million box range; 12-million boxes in the unlikely event perfect weather continues.
Table Grapes – The Coachella Valley is currently shipping grapes and will continue through June. Shipments will then transition to the Arvin/Bakersfield district, where the huge volume will begin and gradually moves northward through the San Joaquin Valley. California may have record shipments this year, and top 100-million boxes for the first time.
Apples – California isn’t really known for apple shipments as it is dwarfed by Washington state. However, it does have 16,000 acres of orchards and available loads should be similar to last year. Shipments of the gala variety begins in late July and runs through mid-September. This variety will be followed by granny smiths in August and and fujis in September and cripps pink in October.
Oranges – The 75-million-plus cartons of navels are pretty much history for this year, while smaller loadings of valencias are now being shipped. About 28 million, 40-pound boxes of valencias should be shipped.
Among the best loading opportunities for those of you that haul produce this time of year is with West Mexican produce crossing the border at Nogales, AZ. Between now and April is a wide variety of everything from watermelons to mangoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, eggplant, tomatoes and beans, among others. Once these items begin to decline in volume, there will be table grapes beginning sometime around the last half of April. But now is when the biggest volume, and loading opportunities are underway….The bad news is you may have to pick up at more than one warehouse to fill out your trailer. The good news is all the warehouses around Nogales are in close proximity.
Nogales mixed veggies grossing about $5000 to Philly.
February may be the slowest month of the year for produce shipments, and 
for the most part there’s plenty of trucks for hauling product from most shipping points nationwide. There are a few exceptions. Equipment appears to the tighest in Florida for hauling mixed veggies, tomatoes and strawberries; sweet potatoes out of Eastern portions of North Carolina and with potatoes out of Northwest Washington.
Nationally, it is reported there are four percent more apples remaining in storages compared to a year ago. Best apple loading opportunities are occuring from Yakima, WA and points in western and central Michigan….Mexican melons and mixed vegetables are crossing the border at Nogales, AZ in good volume…In California, December freezes have apparently reduced citrus shipments for the season from around 93 million cartons to about 74 million cartons. Mandarins were hit pretty hard, especially in the northern San Joaquin Valley. Although packinghouses sort out damaged product, it is a good idea to (as always) to watch what is being loaded.
Washington apples – grossing about $6000 to New York City.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – $2250 to Chicago.
Michigan apples – $2400 to Atlanta.