Posts Tagged “Washington potato shipments”
There has been a tremendous increase in Washington state blueberry shipments in recent years. We’ll also look at some potato loading opportunities in the Western half of the United States.
Washington Blueberry Shipments
Blueberry shipments have increased nearly five-fold over the past eight years. Check out these numbers.
2006 18.4 million pounds
2007 28.5 million pounds
2010 60 million pounds
2013 80 million pounds
2014 projected at 90 million pounds
Washington is fourth in U.S. blueberry production with 10,000 acres of berries from 175 growers The state’s blueberry season runs from June through August while processed ‘blues’ are available year round. Washington blueberries are grown in Skagit, Clark, Lewis, Snohomish, Thurston, Whatcom, Chelan, Yakima and Benton, Franklin, Walla Walla, and Grant Counties.
Washington/Oregon potatoes
The majority of Washington potato shipments are now underway with a similar time frame as last year.
Oregon potato shipments will suffer due to an expected a decline of about 700 acres this season, but water concerns will likely affect even more shipments. Water availability is a concern in both Malheur County and the Klamath Basin, and yields most likely will be affected.
Colorado Potato Shipments
In southeastern Colorado, San Luis Valley potato acreage is up 8.5 percent this season. Total acreage is 54,200, compared to 49,700 last season. The harvest and shipments will start in earnest around September 10th.
Colorado potatoes – grossing about $1650 to Dallas.
Washington produce – grossing bout $1050 to Los Angeles.
Total potato loadings from U.S. shipping areas are expected to be down five percent for the 2013-14 shipping season, but spud haulers shouldn’t really notice a difference, since it is such a large crop. A similar sitution exists with Canadian potato shipments.
Overall, the two countries combined means there are only three percent fewer potatoes for loading in North America. The total is still a huge 501 million cwt. (per hundred weight).
Of that amount, about 398 million cwt. of the potatoes will be shipped from U.S. production areas than the previous season, according to USDA statistics. Canada will provide about 103 million cwt. of loads, two percent more than the previous year.
The U.S. had about 942,000 acres of potatoes planted, down from about 1 million acres the year before. However, yields rose from 423 cwt to 427 cwt per acre. Acreage also was down in Canada but yields were up significantly, rising from 274 cwt to 292 cwt per acre.
Here’s a glimpse at a few of the major potato shipping states.
Idaho Potato Shipments – The state ships a lot of spuds by rail, but trucks still transport the majority of the loads. Most pick ups orginate from the Upper Valley and the Twin Falls – Burley District. Idaho is averaging around 1,650 truckload equivalents of potatoes being loaded each week.
You should gross about $4350 to Atlanta.
Colorado Potato Shipments – The San Luis Valley is averaging nearly 700 truck loads of potatoes per week.
You should gross about $4100 to New York City.
Wisconsin Potato Shipments – Most loads are originating from shippers within a 50 mile radius or so of Stevens Point in the Central part of the state.
You should gross around $1400 to Cleveland.
Washington Potato Shipments
Spud loadings are originating out of the Columbia Basin and just across the state line in Oregon’s Umatilla Basin. There’s about 325 loads of potatoes a week soming out of here. They are also shipping even more onions than spuds – about 800 loads a week.
You should gross about $3000 to Chicago.
There still will be a lot of potatoes for hauling this season which will extend into next summer despite the fall crop in the United States being down 5 percent compared to 2012.
Here’s a glimpse of the leading potato shipping states:
Idaho 132.9 million hundred weight (cwt)., down 6.3 percent; Washington 96 million, up less than 1 percent; Wisconsin 27.9 million, down 5.2 percent; Oregon 21.6 million, down 5.9 percent; Colorado 20.3 million, down 1.5 percent; Michigan 16.8 million, up 5.4 percent.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5400 to New York City.
Washington Potato Shipments
Year to date, loadings have been running a little ahead of schedule compared to recent years.
Most of this is due to early season shipments in July and August when potato supplies were very short across the country. Washington’s fresh producers account for 26,000 acres of the 160,000 acres of potatoes in the Evergreen State. About half of that total are russet potatoes, and the other half is a mix of reds, yellows, whites and other specialty potatoes.
Washington state, Columbia Basin potatoes – grossing about $4800 to Atlanta.
Red River Valley Potato Shipments
The North Dakota potato crop will come in at 22.6 million cwt. down about 10.1 percent from last year. Some folks were forecasting shipments to be down 25 to 30 percent at one point.
81,000 acres were planted in North Dakota compared to 88,000 last year, and harvested acres dipped from 84,000 last year to 78,000 this year.
Potato production in Minnesota dropped from 18.8 million cwt. in 2012 to 17.5 million this year, a drop of just under 7 percent. All but 2,000 of the 47,000 planted acres planted in Minnesota were harvested.
Red River Valley potatoes – grossing about $1900 to Chicago.