Posts Tagged “Mid-Atlantic vegetable shipments”
Mid-Atlantic states summer vegetable shipments are later than usual after a cold, wet spring delayed some plantings in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
Dublin Farms of Horntown, VA is running a week to 10 days later than normal.
DELAWARE
In Delaware, sweet corn under plastic, as well as cabbage, was ready in mid-June, while snap beans started in early July.
Watermelon shipments will start around the third week of July.
Delaware ranks in the nation’s top 10 for sweet corn and watermelon shipments.
Blueberry shipments started in June, with peaches arriving in early July.
MARYLAND
Maryland gets its first local sweet corn by the end of June, said Mark Powell, chief of agriculture and seafood marketing at the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
VIRGINIA
In Virginia, apple, grape, peanut, and tomato shipments rank in the top 10 among all U.S. states. Other crops include potatoes and pumpkins.
According to the USDA’s 2019 State Agriculture Overview:
- 9,500 acres of apples were harvested, yielding about 20,000 pounds per acre, and excluding processed apples, it was valued at $0.25 per pound for fresh-market apples, resulting in $22.4 million in production value; and
- 5,600 acres of pumpkins were harvested, yielding 18,480 pounds per acre, for a total of 103.5 million pounds, $0.18 per pound, resulting in $16.4 million in production value.
Potatoes shipments started in late June and will continue through July. Potato acreage dropped by about 500 acres for a total of about 3,000 acres this year, as a large farm purchase transitioned some cropland.
Dublin Farms’ potato loaodings started in early July. Most of the potatoes end up at the terminal markets in Jessup, Md.; New York; Boston and Philadelphia, as well as at repacker facilities.
Dublin Farms also grows string beans for processing and fresh market for C&E Farms, Cheriton, VA. From there, the green beans will ship direct to retailers and to terminal markets.
Shipments got underway July 8 for cherry and grape tomatoes and July 11 for round and roma tomatoes.
Green beans from one of the largest growers of the commodity on the East Coast, C&E Farms, started in mid-June.
More inland, flat or “donut” peaches are now hitting a peak, mostly coming from near Charlottesville at Crown Orchard Co. of Covesville, VA., the largest donut peach producer in the state and a major player on the East Coast.
The tomato deal ought to crank up July 1 and go through September, possibly into October.
Heavy rains last spring set back vegetable crops and shipments from the mid-Atlantic states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, which in some cases will result in shipping gaps. Still, growers are expressing optimism for a strong year.
Some farmers reported actually pumping off more water in May from the field than they pumped in for irrigation. The result could be shipping gaps in July.
Fifer Orchards of Wyoming, DE is an exception claiming the rains did not prevent normal planting of crops and the season’s shipments should be on schedule for vegetables, although a little later than usual.
Fifer Orchards also is expecting a full crop of peaches, with no injury from cold weather. Peach shipments start in mid-July and continue through mid-September.
Papen Farms of Dover, DE report cool and wet weather during March, April and May set crop progress back, but weather in June was favorable. However, yields could be off because of growing conditions.
Papen Farms cabbage shipments started in mid-June, about two weeks later than normal. Sweet corn shipments were about a week late and got underway in early July and will continue into September. Green bean loadings will get started started the last week of July.
Papen Farms will be shipping vegetables to markets ranging from Maine to Florida. The company’s early shipments tending to go north because the Delaware harvest is running ahead of those northern regions. Later in the season, the pattern is reversed, with more shipments to Southern states.
Potato Shipments
As for the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the spring was cold and wet at Dublin Farms of Horntown, VA. The operation ships red potatoes, white potatoes, and yellow fleshed potatoes. Some shippers also have russet potatoes. Shipments will continue until mid-August from acreage similar to a year ago. Potato acreage in the area is normally between 3,000 and 4,000 acres.
Most Eastern Shore of Virginia vegetable shipments consist of potatoes, green beans and tomatoes.