Produce Crops
The Packer is seeking input from onion marketers about their outlook for this spring and summer, to be used for The Packer’s May 10 Onion Marketing Section.
Salinas Valley vegetable commodities that enjoyed more than a double-digit increase in shipments in 2020 included broccoli, cauliflower, celery hearts and iceberg lettuce.
With big growth in berry output but declines in stone fruit, there have been substantial changes in summer fruit production in California in 10 years.
The long wait to expand U.S. potato distribution and sales in Mexico may soon be over.
As avocado demand continues to rise and retailers look forward to Cinco de Mayo and summer sales boosts, growing Mexican players in the marketplace offer additional options to meet supply.
Orlando, Fla.-based Kalera harvested its first lettuce at its largest vertical farm so far, with 77,000 square feet and an annual production capability of more than 10 million heads of lettuce.
Oppy acquired a 65% stake in Eco Farms last spring, and the duo is now bringing California avocados — branded in the new Eco Farms label — to the market.
California’s peach, nectarine and plums crop should offer good volume and strong quality this year, according to Levon Ganajian, retail relations director for Trinity Fruit Sales Co., Fresno, Calif.
Compared with earlier estimates, Argentina’s fresh apple production in the 2020-2021 season is expected to decrease 10,000 metric tons to 560,000 metric tons, according to a new report from the USDA.
Look for a bigger crop of Northwest cherries in 2021 and a nice-sized promotion window for retailers.
Nash Produce LLC supplies sweet potatoes 52 weeks per year and the Nashville, N.C.-based company is preparing for the start of cucumber packing around mid-June, said Thomas Joyner, president.
Chicago-based Hazel Technologies Inc. announces a partnership with Caldwell, ID-based Symms Fruit Ranch, one of the nation’s longest-operating and largest growers of apples, peaches, cherries and other fresh produce.
Cooler summer temperatures and hailstorms have cut expectations for the New Zealand apple crop, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Available now through June, there’s no better time to stock up on Sunkist Ojai Pixie tangerines.
Cherries did remarkably well during the pandemic year of 2020, and marketers have even higher hopes for 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic increased the importance of digital marketing, said Catherine Gipe-Stewart, communications manager for Domex Superfresh Growers, Yakima, Wash.
BC Tree Fruits had a beautiful cherry set this year with a heavy bloom, said Laurel Van Dam, director of media relations for the Kelowna, British Columbia-based company.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces a proposed rule to change the handling regulations issued under the federal marketing order for Irish potatoes grown in certain counties in Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon.
North Carolina produce shipments dipped slightly from 2019, U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics reveal.
Catherine Gipe-Stewart, communications manager for Domex Superfresh Growers, Yakima, Wash., said multiple studies show single-bag cherry sales are over 70% impulse purchases.
Retailers can promote cherries by maintaining off shelf displays with fresh product in key high-traffic areas to maximize impulse purchases/sales, Harter of CMI said.
Despite a shorter Northwest cherry crop and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of U.S. cherry exports grew 2% in 2020.
Rainfall in late January caused a marked decline in Chile’s exports of grapes, apples and pears in the 2020-21 marketing year, according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report.
Overall cantaloupe and honeydew volume for Firebaugh, Calif.-based Westside Produce should be similar to recent years, said Garrett Patricio, president of the company.
The ninth consecutive celebration of California Avocado Month in June has begun.
Keystone Fruit Marketing, a division of Progressive Produce, will start packing their famously sweet Walla Walla River Sweet Onions around June 15th and run until the third week in August.
This year could see relatively calm waters after the great stormy ocean of 2020, when some produce companies drowned and others kept treading water while the fortunate ones soared high on a wave of retail.
The nutrition of the cantaloupe will take on new focus in social media promotion efforts of the California Cantaloupe Board.
California melon shipments have come under pressure in recent years, with lower trending volume reported in the past five years.
The vast farmlands of southern New Jersey are not what people — those outside of agriculture, at least — think of when they think of New Jersey.