Mexican strawberries squeeze Hillsborough farmers

Mexico is exporting a record number of strawberries to the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Through Jan. 28, Mexico exported 20 percent more of the fruit than the same period a year before, which also was a record-setting year.

"Mexico is importing more and more each year over past four or five years," said Carl Grooms, owner of Fancy Farms in Plant City. "Anytime another country brings in an agricultural item and puts it on a shelf, it takes away opportunities of American farmers."

The problems that come with importing goods is a double-edge sword. Competition is good, and should always be seen as such. Competition is what keeps prices down and controls the market. If we only had one strawberry farmer, they would control the prices, making a huge profit and no one to say otherwise.

But when you’re losing American jobs because of it, then that becomes the problem. I think a lot of this can be changed with better marketing schemes. American consumers like to purchase American products. We feel like it’s our duty to support the local farmer, so I believe there could lie the solution. Along with Americans enjoying the idea of domestic made goods, they could expand on that idea and show how little time is spent between the farm and the store shelf. The product is fresher when grown locale versus produce that comes from across the border.

All in all, the farmers need to do something to try and squeeze the Mexican farmers out of the market here, because they certainly aren’t going away.

To read more on the topic, click here.

Citrus greening funding effort advances

Legislation designed to aid the fight against citrus greening disease has cleared a key U.S. Senate hurdle.
In the national effort to fight the disease, the Senate Finance Committee passed legislation introduced by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., establishing a trust fund dedicated to discovering cures for citrus diseases and other threats to the industry.

The bill provides funding to be primarily used to support national research and development of citrus greening cures.

The trust fund is designed to be funded by tariffs importers already pay shipping citrus into the U.S., according to a release from Nelson.

That money is sent into the U.S. General Treasury but the legislation designates a portion of it to be diverted into the greening trust fund and dedicated specifically for disease and pest research and development, according to the release.

Read the full story here.

ReedTMS community service

ReedTMS has recently partnered with the Southeast Produce Council (SPC) to join their initiative to assist RAMP America, a non-profit organization which aids poverty-stricken families in the Appalachian region of the United States.

Martin County, located in rural Appalachia, is home to some of the most impoverished people in the United States and continues to face many challenges. Access to healthy food and economic opportunity is scarce. Moreover, the county’s isolation makes it difficult to access federal and other assistance programs: currently there are little to no human or social services available in the area.

RAMP works with the Martin County community to identify critical needs and create solutions focusing on nutrition, economic development, and emergency relief intervention, with a special focus on children and families. They also connect resources locally and nationally to address basic human needs where other resources are limited or inaccessible. For more information on RAMP, click here.

RAMP has partnered with the SPC to collect donations from their members and ReedTMS has joined the cause and will help with the efficient delivery of resources.

ReedTMS has pledged to send our drivers and pick up donated goods from various locations and deliver them to the Appalachian region on our trucks at no charge, and currently we have moved one load from the Washington, D.C. area to Martin County. We are all proud to be involved with such an honorable project and look forward to moving more loads in the future!

Freeze cuts Michigan apple crop by more than 50%

I wanted to give a produce update for those of you who follow the industry or you’re like me and you just really love apples and get upset when they’re out of season…

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — More than half of Michigan’s apple crop — possibly much more — could be lost due to late-April freezes, and the state’s southwestern fruit production is a near-total loss.

The damage to that part of the state applies to apples, peaches, plums and cherries.

“Essentially, there is no tree fruit in southwest Michigan,” Barry Winkel, general manager of Greg Orchards & Produce Inc., said May 16. “We’ve been saying we need to wait and see. Well, we’ve waited. In this business, you don’t want to face the reality. You want to hope there’s something out there, but there isn’t.”

This year’s losses are unprecedented, Winkel said.

“My uncle, who is 81 and still a partner here, said he can’t remember anything like this,” he said.

Grower-shippers in the Fruit Ridge region of Michigan, where the majority of the state’s apples are grown, said they should have a much better handle on the extent of damage in June. What isn’t in doubt is that it will be substantial.

“We’ve been telling our customers not to expect more than 50% (of normal volumes), and that may be very optimistic,” said Tom Pletcher, vice president of sales and marketing at BelleHarvest Sales Inc., Belding, Mich. “We’re going to have fruit, and it’s going to be a reduced amount, we’re just not sure what that amount will be.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Michigan shipped the equivalent of nearly 4.8 million 40-pound cartons of apples last season.

By June 1, Sparta, Mich.-based Riveridge Produce expects to know the extent of damage, said Don Armock, president.

“I thought we’d know by now, but we didn’t start to get warm weather until the last three or four days,” Armock said May 16. “We have some side bloom that appears to be viable. But we got some pretty significant damage.”

In some areas, temperatures dipped to 22, but in others, they never got below 32, Armock said.

At Hart, Mich., northwest of the Fruit Ridge region, losses are also heavy, said Tyler Hodges, sales manager of Hart-based Todd Greiner Farms.

“There may be 5% left,” Hodges said May 16, referring to all tree fruit in the region. “It’s going to hurt a lot of people.”

Story from thepacker.com

Georgia vegetable crops could begin early

Georgia grower-shippers plan to begin harvesting traditional Southern vegetables such as bell peppers, cucumbers and squash earlier than normal for the spring season. Shippers say they hope prices strengthen as the deals transition from Florida to south Georgia. Grower-shippers are looking to a stronger-than-normal bell pepper market leading into Georgia. Raleigh, N.C.-based L&M Cos. Inc. plans to begin harvesting in late May, as normal.

“Pepper is short now and the market is strong out of Florida,” Adam Lytch, operations manager, said in mid-April.

“Demand exceeds supply. There’s not enough pepper coming out of Florida anytime soon to hurt the deal before it gets to Georgia.”

Lytch said L&M, which grows and ships from south Florida, plans to begin its north Florida pepper harvest in early May. He said central Florida likely won’t have enough supply to affect prices. In late April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 1 1/9-bushel cartons of green jumbo and extra large bell peppers from Florida selling for $20-20.85 and large for $18-18.85, with medium at $16.35-18.35.

That’s higher than last season in late April when the USDA reported $12.85 for jumbos and extra-large and $10.85-$12.85 for large from Florida districts.

South Georgia Produce Inc., Lake Park, Ga., expects to begin its bell pepper harvest mid- to late May toward the first of June, said Shannon Vickers, salesman and quality control manager for Manwell Produce Inc., Valdosta, Ga., which markets for South Georgia Produce. Vickers said early spring prices from south Florida are low.

Read the full story here at thepacker.com

Inside sales associate needed at Reed Transport

Reed Transport is currently seeking applications from self-motivated, dedicated personnel with experience or interest in the diverse transportation and logistics industry. Primary duties include: Assisting in lead identification, initial lead contact and qualification and development of lead throughout process up to closing of new business.  Heavy phone based sales position with potential to grow into multiple roles within growing business (outside sales, operations coordinator/manager, inside sales manager or account manager).

Our employees are part of a growing, dynamic, entrepreneurial business that offers above market compensation packages including:

·         Competitive base pay

·         Incentive driven bonus plans

·         Company performance bonus plans

·         Retirement plan

·         Health, dental, vision and other benefits

·         Lunches and beverages

·         Employee outings

For more information on Reed Transport: www.reedtms.com

For information about the position: http://www.reedtms.com/Careers-ReedTMSLogistics.php

Problems with Brazilian Orange Juice Concentrate

Recently, the U.S. began rejecting Brazilian orange juice concentrate because of their use of carbendazim in concentrates which is banned in the U.S. Brazil is currently the world's largest exporter and they plan to accelerate efforts to phase out the use of a fungicide banned in the U.S. after losing about $50 million from rejected shipments this year. Although Brazil requested the US Food and Drug Administration raise accepted levels of the fungicide in concentrate, they were rejected.

What this means for consumers – essentially it means the FDA is looking out for us and we can expect safer products from Brazil. This makes me feel better that they are catching these kinds of things before something bad happens, and not after. On the other side, consumer can probably expect to see a rise in the price of orange juices from concentrate as the demand will remain steady and the supply will drop. But for many, we'll gradly pay the small price increase knowing it went up for safety reasons or simply switch to nonconcentrate orange juice.

Read the full article here