Posts Tagged “Mexican vegetables”
Here’s a shipping update on three companies in the Western U.S.
Peppers Plus LLC of Rio Rico, AZ began shipping peppers December 1st, and will continue shipping Mexican vegetables into the spring.
While the company will continue shipping green, red, yellow and orange blocky Bell peppers, it has discontinued shipping mesh-house bells. Meanwhile the operation increased from 100 to 112 acres of peppers this season.
Peppers Plus also is shipping hard shell squash and will continue until about June 1st. Peppers should wrap up in mid May. The company has been expanding its growing operation on average of 10 to 15 percent per year.
Fresh Farm is Shipping
Fresh Farms’ winter vegetable program “will be up ten percent for every item,
The operation has been shipping green Bell peppers, pickles, eggplant and hard squash since mid November and should continue with good volume until May.
The firm’s English cucumbers will be shipped until mid-April.
Fresh Farms’ green bean shipping started earlier this month and was soon followed by yellow and bi-colored sweet corn.
The company’s organic program this season includes zucchini, yellow, butternut and spaghetti squash, as well as American and English cucumbers and green beans.
Sunions
Shipments of Sunion onions has got underway in its second season.
Sunions, a long-day sweet onion variety grown in Washington and Nevada, was developed by Nunhems Vegetable Seeds and is distributed by Generation Farms of Lake Park, GA; Onions 52 LLC of Syracuse, UT and Peri & Sons Farms Inc. of Yerington, NV.
Unlike other long-day onions, Sunions actually become sweeter and tearless in storage, according to a news release.
Sunions are released for sale using a certification process that includes a sensory panel with the authority to determine Sunions ship dates, and the panel uses three separate tests for both flavor and tearlessness before releasing Sunions for shipping.
An early start for West Mexican vegetables crossing the border at Nogales, AZ is a result of warm weather and good growing conditions. It is resulting in earlier-than-normal good supplies of winter produce items.
Good volume has started this week with vegetables ranging from green bell peppers to squash. Mexico’s biggest volume produce item, tomatoes, should start crossing the border at Nogales no later than the third week of December.
Of particular interest to many produce haulers should be the fact that there may be more loadings of Mexican vegetables at Nogales destined for the East Coast this season since weather factors in the East have delayed plantings.
Loading delays in Nogales has been an issue for years, but observers say the situation is improving at the Nogales-Mariposa Port of Entry, although more customs agents are still needed. A load of produce crossing the Mexican border into Arizona used to take six to eight hours, but this has reportedly been cut to two hours or less.
Here are examples of what some shippers of Mexican produce are doing.
Calavo Growers Inc. has shade house-grown tomatoes through mid-May and the Santa Paula, CA based company expects to increase its volume by 10 to 15 percent this season from Mexico.
Del Campo Supreme Inc. in Nogales, Ariz., will start shipping a full line of tomatoes, ranging from vine-ripes, beefsteak, tomatoes-on-the-vine and grape tomatoes, starting in mid-December. The tomatoes are grown in both shade house and green house facilities.
During the 2016-17 season, Mexican growers exported approximately 1.2 billion pounds of round, roma, cherry and grape tomatoes to the U.S.
Some of the shippers for Mexican vegetables through Nogales are:
Big Chuy Distributing Co. Inc, Nogales, plus Ciruli Bros. LLC, Grower Alliance LLC, IPR Fresh, and Thomas Produce Sales Inc. all located in Rio Rico, AZ.
Here are some of the Mexican vegetables and when they will be shipped.
** Eggplant, and squash started in early November
**Beans will be in peak volume all of December
** Roma and beefsteak tomatoes start in mid December
** Hothouse-grown red, yellow and orange bell peppers and shade house-grown green bells are being shipped September through May
**Green bell peppers are shipped from mid November though April
Mexican veggies crossing at Nogales – grossing about $3600 to Chicago; $6500 to New York City.