Posts Tagged “strawberries”
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.
Here are some excerpts from an article written by the editors of Runner’s World, titled, Battle of the Super Foods. Following are some comparisions of the most nutritional among nutritional fruits and vegetables.
STRAWBERRIES vs. BLUEBERRIES The winner: Blueberries
Both are health all-stars, but a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reported that blueberries (particularly wild ones) showed the most antioxidant activity of all the fruits tested. “These antioxidants help keep your immune system strong and reduce muscle-tissue damage from exercise.” ,” says Mitzi Dulan, R.D., co-author of The All-Pro Diet.
SPINACH vs. KALE The winner: Kale
Kale’s nutritional might would win over even Popeye. Gram for gram, kale contains four times more vitamin C, and one and a half times the amount of immune boosting vitamin A and vitamin K. “Vitamin K ensures that blood clots properly,” says says sports dietitian Suzanne Girard Eberle, R.D., author of Endurance Sports Nutrition., “but it’s also needed to make a bone protein essential for strong, healthy bones.” Kale contains three times more lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants deposited in the retina that work together to protect eye health.
Orange beats apple. They have similar amounts of calories and fiber, but oranges have 12 times as much vitamin C.
Red pepper beats green pepper. It boasts eight times the vitamin A, which keeps your immune system strong.
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.
Easter is Sunday, April 8th and is always big for such items as strawberries and asparagus. California will be just about the only place shipping such items for Easter as Mexican strawberries will be pretty much finished for the season, while California “grass” from the desert may not have the greatest volume with its season just getting underway. California strawberries will have the market to itself with Florida and Mexico shipments finished. California berries will be heaviest out of the Oxnard district, with lighter volume coming out of Santa Maria.
In Michigan, apple shipments continue from the Western Part of the state, primarily from the Grand Rapids area. The state should ship about 23 million cartons, down some from its record setting season that had 28 million cartons of apples.
In the Appalachian district of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia about 50 truckloads of apples are being shipped each week. New York state is loading about 200 truckloads of apples weekly from the Hudson Valley, as well as Central and Western areas of the state.
Southern California berries, citrus grossing – about $5600 to New York City.
Western Michigan apples – $3200 to Dallas.
Central New York apples – $3150 to Boston.
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.
Produce shipments out of Southern California are entering decent volume for 
strawberries, but avocado loadings will be limited for awhile. Better weather conditions compared to a year ago have strawberries loadings more than double over 2011 volume. About 25 to 30 percent of California’s total strawberry shipments come from Ventura County and south. Overall, California is forecast to ship 176 million trays of strawberries this year.
As for avocados, Californa expects to move nearly 400 million trays. Loading opportunities from California have been less than normal as many West Coast shippers are holding onto product waiting for big volumes from Mexico and Chile to subside. Expect significant increases in California avocado shipments come April.
From the Bakersfield area, there’s about 300 truckload equivalents of carrots being shipped weekly….There also is fair volume with items such as lettuce, celery, cauliflower and broccoli being loaded from the Coachella and Imperial valleys of the California desert.
Southern California berries, citrus is grossing about $5500 to New York City.
Imperial Valley veggies – about $3600 to Chicago.
I’ve had plenty of disappointments buying fruit in the wintertime, but these fagile 
items just have a lot more obstacles to overcome, especially with a finicky Mother Nature. But I”ve got to say I’ve been pretty pleased with the winter strawberries and kiwifruit I’ve been purchasing.
Living here in Oklahoma I haven’t had any strawberries from California in a while, probably because of limited volume. However, I’ve been eating plenty of strawberries from Mexico. Latest brand is Fresh Kampo. I’ll give the brand a grade of B-plus. The Mexican berries have good color, quality, taste, and average size, plus have not had any break down for three days after purchase.
California is providing an excellent crop of kiwifruit now. Continues to be one of the best buys in the produce department, at least where I live — 3 kiwis for a buck. Happy shopping!
There’s been some freeze damage to fresh produce in the West this month, but overall it should not have a big affect on your loading opportunities. The biggest event will be the cold of January 16-17 slowing the growth of some items, which in turn reduces volume for shipping.
There’s been pretty good movement of Iceberg lettuce and romaine out of the Yuma District, but expect reduced shipments beginning in early Februrary….In the nearby Brawley and El Centro areas of the Southern California desert broccoli escaped freeze damage, but again, shipments will eventually decline for a period while the product rebounds from the cold.
As for strawberries, it looks like Oxnard and Orange County in California dodged the freeze bullet, but product out of Santa Maria will have lighter than normal loadings through the middle of February.
Yuma lettuce – grossing about $6000 to New York City.
In the San Joaquin Valley, oranges apparently escaped freeze damage, while mandrains were not so lucky, especially from areas north of Fresno.
Strawberry loading opportunities are now available from three regions, 
Florida, Mexico and California. Currently, the heaviest volume, which isn’t that heavy, is out of the Plant City are of Florida, averaging around 250 truck load equivalents per week. Volume is much less right now with strawberries crossing U.S. borders from Mexico, as well as from the Oxnard district of California. Volume is less than half of Florida’s from these other two areas. Strawberries from California’s Santa Maria District is at a trickle, but will be increasing in coming weeks along with its sister district at Oxnard. California shipments should be in good volume leading up to Easter Sunday (April 8), barring unforseen adverse weather. Strawberry shipments tend to pay better than many other produce items due to their perishablity.
Berry and citrus from Southern California – grossing about $6500 to Boston.
Strawberries are one of the coolest items on God’s green earth. They also are 
one the tastiest. Love ’em straight up, on cereal, ice cream, dipped in chocolate, or just about any other imaginable way. The berries in your local supermarket are probably a little pricey right now, but expect better deals as volume increases from California, which has the largest volume and the best quality on just about any given year.
Strawberries also are very healthy. These berries are supposed to reduce constipation and help prevent colon cancer as they enter the intestines and wash away harmful toxins. There are many other healthful pluses to strawberries ranging to improving memory to aiding better eye sight….You can get whiter teeth brushing with strawberries and baking soda by mashing the berries and mixing it with the baking soda!