Posts Tagged “vegetables”
As expected, there will be a record number of cherries shipped from 
Washington state this season by produce haulers.
Washington state had shipped 18.7 million boxes of cherries as of August 22nd. If you include the Northwest, in other words, mostly Oregon, as of Aug. 22, 22.8 million boxes of cherries had been shipped, which also is a record. By the end of August most of the fruit will have been packed and shipped, and total volume will likely top a record 23 million boxes.
California table grape shipments are ahead of schedule this season due to the warmer-than-normal weather. The primary concern is if the San Joaquin Valley heat eventually starts taking a toll of the vineyards, which could lead to quality problems, something we’ll watch out for as it could impact claims or rejected loads for produce truckers.
It appears this year will be the first time California hits 100 million or more boxes of grapes.
In the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, watermelon shipments continue. Quality appears good enough that you should be able to avoid unfair claims or rejected loads – depending of course, upon whom you are delivering to. There also are steady shipments of Mexican citrus, tropical fruit and vegetables crossing the border into South Texas.
In the Hudson Valley of New York, various vegetables such as sweet corn are being loaded in light to moderate volume. The new apple harvest has just started and volume is very light, but increasing.
South Texas produce loads – grossing about $220o to Atlanta.
San Joaquin Valley grapes – grossing about $4300 to Chicago.
Late summer shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables continue in steady 
volume from around the country.
In New York state, onions have started from Orange County, while cabbage is coming from several areas in both the central and western parts of the state.
Michigan shippers continue to load a variety of vegetables, led by cucumbers and squash, particularly from the western half of the state.
It is a relatively short shipping season for red potatoes from the Big Lake, MN area. Those loadings will soon be giving away to the Red River Valley, which should move into volume shipments after Labor Day.
In California, stone fruit, grape and vegetables loads remain steady for the most part. A similar situation exits for vegetables from the Salinas Valley.
Tabulations for the outlook of national apple shipments have been issued at a recent outlook and marketing conference. The forecast predicts the smallest apple crop since 1986. This would amount to 192 million bushels, ranking it as the 31st biggest crop that will be shipped.
While the forecasts for the East and Midwest regions declined this year, the forecast for the West increased by 6 percent. And although some of its crop was damaged by hail, Washington state is still forecast to produce 135.7 million bushels, 5 percent above its 2011 production.
Washington state apples and pears – grossing about $5600 to New York City.
Michigan vegetables – about $900 to Chicago.
San Joaquin Valley produce – about $6000 to Atlanta.
California continues to work its way through the peak summer shipping season 
as much of the middle part of the country stays in the weather’s frying pan. While this may not be good for crops and livestock in the Mid-west, it is contributing to strong, steady shipments off of the West Coast.
For example, tomato shipments from USA areas such as Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina have been hit hard by the heat wave. This is resulting in more demand and better California loadings, whether it is tomatoes from the San Joaquin Valley, Ventura County, San Diego County, or even from Mexico’s Baja California.
Meanwhile, California should be shipping 4 to 5 million trays of strawberries weekly right on through August — mostly from the Watsonville District. During September, loading are still expected to remain strong — in the 3.5 to 4 million-tray range. While quality of strawberries has been a little up and down this year, some observers are predicing the berries will be much better the latter part of the season. That would be great not only for strawberry lovers, but for the guys and gals hauling them. Better quality should mean fewer claims or rejected loads.
There also remains mostly steady shipments of Salinas Valley vegetables, plus fruits and vegetables from throughout much of the San Joaquin Valley.
Salinas Valley produce grossing – about $7500 to New York City.
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.
The Salinas and San Joaquin Valleys continue to provide your best loading 
opportunities in California.
Head lettuce may be producing the biggest volume from Salinas and is averaging around 1700 to 1800 truckload equivalents a week. However, there remains significant tonnage coming with other types of lettuce, as well broccoli, cauliflower, celery and many other items….The nearby Watsonville area is shipping a lot of strawberries….
The relentless heat baking much of the USA this summer makes it paramount you take precautions to protect your load (check out the TransFresh ad on this website that provides “in-transit warming” information).
The Santa Maria district has much lighter volume than Salinas, but it also is shipping many of the same vegetables.
The San Joaquin Valley has both fruits and vegetable loadings occurring from many areas. In the central valley around 500 to 600 truckload equivalents of mature green tomatoes are being shipped each week….Table grape loadings continue on pace to what could be record shipments this year, with heaviest volume currently coming from the Arvin and Delano areas.
Shipments from the California desert of cantaloupe (and some other items) has mercifully come to an end as some product was looking pretty rough at the end of the season.
California supplies for refrigerated equipment generally remain adequate, but you shouldn’t face signficant delays for loads in most cases because of the seasonal volume.
Salinas vegetables are grossing – about $7700 to Hunts Point in New York City.
San Joaquin Valley fruits and vegetables – about $5000 to Chicago.
New York ranks among the top five states in shipments of fresh fruits and 
vegetables. Produce shippers are located in many different regions of the state. Since New York is over 300 miles wide from East to West this covers a lot of territory. We’ll be covering apples soon, but right now we’ll focus on vegetable shipments, which are underway.
For example items are available for hauling such as cabbage, beans, squash, cucumbers and potatoes from shippers in the Rochester, as well as Buffalo, NY areas. Such operations are located near small agriculture communities such as Elba located just west of Rochester, as well as Marion just east of Rochester, and Eden found south of Buffalo.
Cabbage is a big item near the towns of Holley and Stanley, NY.
Orange County New York has a number of large onion shippers. Shipments are expected to get underway around the third week of August.
A primary destination for New York produce shipments, of course, is the Hunts Point Terminal Wholesale Market in New York City, although loads are also destined to a number of other major cities ranging from Boston to Philadelphia and Atlanta, among others.
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.
Vegetable shipments out of Ontario province are gearing up. Sweet corn gets 
underway the first half of July, quickly followed by bell peppers, zucchini, cabbage, beets and tomatoes.
Ontario’s apple shipments will be pretty much non existent this season due a devastating April freeze. Nearly half of the asparagus also was wiped out.
Some of the major vegetables shippers are located around Windham Centre, Scotland, Bradford and Oakland Ontario. Many shipments to the USA are to mid-western markets.
In Quebec province, apples were hit by the same storm that visited Ontario, but losses were not as severe. The province is now shipping vegetables ranging from celery, to cauliflower and broccoli.
While a majority of the shipments remain regional in Canadian, there are loads moving to New England and as far south as New York. The Canadian vegetables are made even more attractive to some Northeastern USA receivers because of the savings over freight rates from the West Coast
While 90 percent of Michigan apple shipments for the upcoming season were 
lost to freeze, the state should have more loads of blueberries this summer, plus a near normal volume with vegetables. Blueberries should be up over 10 percent from last year (81 million pounds is forecast). However, cherry shipments are pegged at only 1 million pounds, down over 70 percent from a year ago.
Otherwise, volume with vegetables have been increasing during June and should hit peak shipments in July. Veggies, which avoided the freeze damage to apples, started in early June with radishes and turnips. Since then various types of leafy lettuces, zucchini, and cabbage have become available. There also are greens and cilantro. Warm weather is expected to bring on grape and roma tomatoes in mid-July, followed by sweet corn in early August, two weeks or more earlier than usual.
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.