Posts Tagged “peaches”
This is the most fun time of the year buy fresh produce, unless of course you 
are growing your own. Home grown tomatoes can’t be beat. Eat ’em like apples!
Here in Oklahoma for only a few weeks, we savor our Porter peaches, grown around the small town of Porter, OK on the Arkansas-Oklahoma state line. Nothing compares! Wish I could say the same for peaches coming from both coasts. Their quality has been all over the board this summer. Some has been juicy and sweet, while others have been dry and tastless.
The same goes for strawberries, although they have been disappointing more often than not.
The pleasant surprises for me in the produce departments this summer has been the seedless watermelons, and the bing cherries – both from California and Washington state. The melons and cherries have been reasonably priced and the quality has been quite good. Watermelons are now coming out of areas such as the bootheel of Missouri as well as Illinois and Indiana.
Kiwifruit has been a great buy for months. I pick it up regularly at three for a dollar. It hasn’t mattered whether it has been from California, Mexico, Chile, etc. It has all been good….Another excellent buy are avocados! I have had them from both California and Mexico recently. They are great in salads. I also love to spread them on crackers and have with a glass of red wine.
Everything from peaches to apricots, cherries and blueberries will soon be in 
good volume out of the Pacific Northwest, ramping of loading opportunities for those with refrigerated equipment.
Washington state cherry shipments are underway and in peak volume, which should continue through July, with lighter loadings continuing into August. Record cherry shipments are being predicted. Apricots also are being shipped, continuing into the third week of July.
Shipments are expected to be significantly higher for Northwest peaches this season, compared to 2011. Peaches get underway the third week of July and should continue into October.
Oregon blueberry loads became available recently from the southern production areas of the state. Further north in the Williamette district, “blues” have just started.
The Yakima Valley of Washington state is still shipping some apples and pears from the 2011-2012 season.
Washington state fruit – grossing about $6400 to New York City.
2012 may be a year many Michigan produce shippers will prefer to forget, not 
to mention for produce haulers who like to haul out of this state.
Your best opportunities this summer will be with Michigan vegetables, which have been mostly unaffected by adverse weather. Normal volume is seen and shipments will continue into the fall. Another plus is with blueberries. As a top shipper of “blues” in the country, Michigan blueberries are forecast at about 80 to 90 million pounds, which is pretty normal.
On the downside is with other fruit. Michigan ranks in the top five in apple shipments, but certainly will not this year. Very few new crop apples survivied the April freeze. Any apples you load in next few weeks will be the last remains from the 2011-12 season. The state’s cherry shipments were also clobbered by weather, with 85 to 90 percent of the cherries wiped out. Heavy hits also were suffered with the state’s peaches and grapes.
Produce shipments on the East Coast are a mixed bag this year and some areas 
are shipping more normal volumes, with other areas doing less.
Shipments of New Jersey blueberries, along with vegetables continue to be loaded in normal volumes. Jersey peach loadings are ramping up and should be in peak volume soon, continuing through July.
Further south in the Mid-Altantic area, sometimes referred to as the Eastern Shore, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia are shipping a variety of vegetables, with more coming into play as we enter July. This area, however, has struggled over the years, as it tries to provide shipments during a gap between states to the south of it, and New Jersey to the north, which in theory is supposed to begin shipments when Delaware, Maryland and Virgina are finishing.
However, it’s a gamble every year and if the southern states are late coming in, or Jersey is early, the the Mid-Atlantic states tend to face poor markets, and fewer loading opportunities for produce haulers. As a result this area does not have as many shippers as it used to.
Meanwhile, there are fewer Georgia vegetables, Vidalia onions and peaches this year due to weather factors, although the vegetables were easily hit the hardest of the three.
Vidalia, Georgia onions – grossing about $3200 to New York City.
New Jersey blueberries – about $1800 to Boston.
Remember when Wal-Mart introduced produce departments to their stores a 
number of years ago. They did an excellent job! You can thank a guy named Bruce Peterson for that. Anyway, Bruce left the huge chain a while back and Wal-Mart produce departments, at least in many stores, have went down hill. My local Wal-Mart often has substandard produce, and definately not enough staff to keep the shelves stocked properly, not only in produce, but in the grocery and other departments as well.
Anyway, I just bought my first peaches of the season at my local Wal-Mart. I purposely bought peaches from California, as well as – honestly I’m not sure where the 2nd peaches are from. The shipper is based in South Carolina, but he may be selling some peaches for growers in Georgia. The label didn’t say in which state the peaches were grown.
I would give the California peaches a “C” and the Eastern peaches a “C-minus.” The West Coast peaches had excess juice, which really tasted more like water. The East Coast peaches were seriously lacking in juice. Peaches from both California and South Carolina, or is it Georgia, were dry.
Looking at the photograph I took of a peach from California (on the right) and the East Coast peach (on the left), both have nice color, although both are lacking in size. Just goes to show, as Bo Diddley once sang, you can’t always judge a book by looking at the cover. Hopefully, both coasts will have better peach quality in coming days.
Supplies of refrigerated trucking equipment continue to tighten as spring 
produce volume continues to increase, and is being reflected in rates, which are rising.
The pressure to increased rates on produce loads, as usual, is being led by California. More specifically, the San Joaquin and Salinas valleys continue to build in volume. In the San Joqauin Valley, even though an April hail storm knocked out about 15 percent of the stone fruit crop, there will still be around 40 million boxes of peaches, plums and nectarines for hauling this season. The valley also has a lot of vegetables, which doesn’t even include grape shipments that won’t begin until July.
In New Mexico, one normally doesn’t think of produce loads. But if you are in the area, onion shipments are in light volume the Hatch (Las Cruces) area.
Peach shipments from the Ft. Valley, GA area are moving in decent volume, although loadings for the overall season are forecast to be down about one-third. Shipments are expected to finish in late July, a couple of weeks earlier than normal…..South Carolina peach shipments have started and should continue into August.
Georgia peaches – grossing about $2600 to Baltimore.
$8000-plus loads from Salinas to New York City are becoming more common.
Produce shipments from New Jerseyhave been occuring in limited volume since 
March, with items ranging from lettuce, leafy greens, herbs, flat parsely, cilantro, spinach, leeks and radishes. As we enter the summer season volume will pick up significantly for other types of vegetables, especially from the southern area of the state.
Green beans are just starting. Other vegetable loadings will get underway in June and July with bell peppers, cucumbers and squash. Sweet corn loadings kick in around the second week of July. Cabbage shipments recently started.
The Garden state also is one of the larger shippers of peaches and blueberries. Blueberries become available the first week of June, while peaches will get underway around the 4th of July.
Most New Jersey produce items are either starting on time, or a week or so early.
While many Florida veggies, such as pepper and squash shipments are 
seasonally finished, items ranging from potatoes to tomatoes and watermelons are moving in good volume. Heaviest volume out of Florida is now with central area watermelons, which is approaching 2,000 loads per week. There’s moderate volume with tomatoes, followed by potatoes. But in the overall scheme of things, Florida produce volume is in a seasonal decline.
Georgia is entering perhaps its most active time of the year for produce loads. There’s light volume in the Southern part of the state with blueberries, and heavier tonnage coming from mixed vegetables….About 400 truckloads of Vidalia sweet onions are being shipped weekly. In the Ft. Valley area, Georgia peach hauls are limited, resulting in a lot of multi drop loads as the season hasn’t really kicked in yet and shippers are trying to please as many customers as possible.. But come June that will change rapidly and more straight loads of peaches will become available.
South Carolina peach loadings are only a few days behind those in Georgia.
Georgia vegetables – grossing about $2600 to Chicago.
Florida watermelons – about $4200 to New York City.
In Florida while some vegetable shipments, such as peppers are on the 
decline, items such as potatoes, watermelons and tomatoes are providing better loading opportunities.
Florida is shipping about 500 truckloads of potatoes weekly and product is now coming out of the Hastings/Palatka area…..Watermelons are moving in much heavier volume, over 2,200 truckloads a week, from southern and central Florida. There also is good volume with tomatoes from the southern and central parts of the state.
If you are in Florida and need to fill out the truck, southern Georgia continues to ship greens, squash and other vegetables….Vidalia onions are now moving in good volume….In the Ft. Valley area, peach shipments have started…..Peaches in South Carolina are only a few days behind Georgia and both states should provide good loading opportunities – especially through the month of June.
South Carolina also has light to moderate volume with greens, sweet onions, cabbage, parsley and cilantro. Coming in June will be shipments of corn, tomatoes and peppers.
Looking ahead, North Carolina loading opportunities for watermelons and cantaloupe will be coming the last half of June.
Southern New Jersey continues to ship light amounts of lettuce and asparagus. These items will be winding down with the month of May, but will be replaced in June with vegetables ranging from bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes, as well as blueberries and peaches.
Central Florida tomatoes, watermelons – grossing about $4100 to New York City.
Georgia vegetables – about $2700 to Philadlephia.
While Georgia greens, cabbage, squash and Vidalia sweet onions shipments 
have been underway, more items are joining the “party.” Over the last half of May loadings will begin for cucumbers, bell peppers, watermelons and blueberries from southern areas of the state. Volume on “blues” will be lighter than usual at the start due a freeze earlier this year. Most of the vegetable shippers have operations scattered between the Georgia/Florida state line stretching northward up to the Americus and Cordele areas….Vidalia onions, and some other vegetable shipments are in the Southeastern part of Georgia.
Just south of Macon, GA is the Ft. Valley area, famous for its Georgia peaches. Loadings for the stone fruit should get started in a light way within the next week or so, with good volume coming about a week later. About 2.5 million boxes of peaches should be shipped this season, down a little from the bumper loadings of a year ago.
South Georgia vegetables – grossing about $2800 to New York City.
Southeastern Vidalia onions – about $2600 to Chicago.