Do not reply to this email. Send your response to info@freshplaza.com.

Monday, May 10, 2021
	NORTH AMERICA

Our team

Marieke Hemmes
Email

Astrid van den Broek
Email

Corina van der Heiden
Email

Sander Bruins Slot
Email

Job Offers

Production Manager - Dubai, UAE

Supply Chain Coordinator - Kudelstaart, Netherlands

Plant Buyer - Kudelstaart, Netherlands

Hydroponic Grower - Livingston (Tennessee) USA

Assistant Grower - Chatham (ON) Canada

Director - Eastern U.S.

Commercial Specialist

Product Development Specialist Tomato

Customer Service & Supply Chain Seeds

Business Development Manager - Vietnam

Miky Suarez comments on upcoming Mexican season

“Weirdest grape growing season I’ve seen in 33 years”

Mexico’s Sonora region is getting ready for the start of the grape season. “I’ve been involved with grapes for 33 years and this is the weirdest growing season I’ve seen,”…

Could Indian mangoes still make it to the U.S. market this season?

Indian mango growers and shippers have hope that they may still be able to ship mangoes to the U.S. market this season. Last year, Indian mangoes were absent from the U.S.…

Oppy mourns passing of Cal Tribiano

Calvin Tribiano, a veteran Oppy sales executive, passed away on May 6 following a brief illness. He was 71. Tribiano joined Oppy’s East Coast sales team in…

United Potato Growers of Canada

'Demand for French fries, potato chips and table potatoes back to normal'

Potato acreage in Canada will not be officially reported until early July, so it is often helpful to take an early look at industry projections across the…

Price of imported cherries four times the price of domestic cherries

US cherries arrived on the Chinese market

The first US cherries of the season arrived in China by air freight in early May. US cherries arrive on the Chinese market around the same time as domestic cherries. Manager…

Apple committee announces 2021 research funding

The Michigan Apple Committee board approved funding for 2021 industry research projects at its March board meeting. Research funding is a part of MAC’s mission…

Analyzing consumer preferences for gene edits in the fruit industry

University of Delaware researches gene editing solutions to combat citrus greening

Citrus greening is still a disease that is fiercely attacking the U.S. citrus industry’s bottom line. Spread by the invasive Asian citrus psyllid insect, the…

USDA

U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement Seasonal Perishable Products Weekly Update

Common issue across the US is still the slow re-opening of restaurants and food service activities

This report provides trend analysis of the volume and prices of Seasonal Perishable commodities. Volume represents current week and prices represent open (spot) market sales…

USDA

USDA Fruit and Vegetable truck rate report - TUESDAY MAY 4, 2021

Still insufficient truck availability in California

The USDA has presented its Fruit and Vegetable truck rate report from Tuesday May 4th. It seems there are still shortages in California and the San Luis Valley of of Colorado.…

NASA

'Drought conditions in the west may be worse than the 2001 drought'

This year is shaping up to be a difficult one for farmers in southern Oregon. Producers at the California line have been told that they will only have access to a tiny…

Special Melons / Kiwifruit

CuteSolar

The first Spanish solar-greenhouse watermelons hit the European market

The European markets started to receive the first continental watermelons of the season at the end of April. This was possible because the fruit was grown in solar greenhouses…

Global Focus Machinery/Packaging

Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging

Bioactive paper coatings to replace plastic for packaging foods

The amount of plastic waste increases every year. Some of this waste is due to plastic packaging used to protect food. As part of the “BioActiveMaterials” project, researchers…

Retail

Dreamstime

Costco April sales growth surpassed 30%

HelloFresh plans to open a new distribution center in Phoenix

Gopuff acquires U.K. platform to expand internationallyGopuff is going global. The Philadelphia-based delivery platform is expanding beyond the U.S. for the first time with…

West Michigan fruit growers optimistic after frost scare

When West Michigan fruit growers braced for two nights of hard frost in late April, many in the industry feared a repeat of a disastrous 2012 season. And no…

University of Georgia Blueberry Research

UGA establishes new blueberry orchard near main Athens campus

Research at the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) is devoted to helping blueberries continue to thrive as a…

Gallatin Valley

Montana farmers weather COVID and potato viruses

In the US, COVID travel restrictions and lockdowns meant that people ate fewer French fries in 2020. This caused potato farms to reduce the amount of potatoes…

Arkansas peaches and muscadines hit hardest in 2021 freeze event

In the overnight hours of April 20, temperatures fell into the 20s across about half the state of Arkansas, causing the second historic freeze event in 2021.…

USDA

USDA noncitrus fruits and nuts 2020 summary

California and Oregon saw smaller crops due to wildfires

In Washington, the largest apple producing state, growers reported a smaller 2020 crop due to alternate bearing season with lower yield, a windstorm, and wildfires. Sizing was…

Chile leads the southern hemisphere's organic blueberry exports

According to iQonsulting's 2020-2021 Blueberry Yearbook, Chile exported more than 20,000 tons of organic blueberries in the previous campaign, a record volume…

Citrus producers from Buenos Aires, Tucuman, and Catamarca are included in the tax extension

The Government of Argentina incorporated the direct actors of the citrus production chain of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Tucuman, and Catamarca to the…

Chinese garlic export is more stable than last year

Fresh garlic entered the Chinese market, but has not yet affected the export market

Fresh garlic from production areas in Henan entered the Chinese market relatively early this year in April. The early-season garlic shoots from Jinxiang also entered the…

Market demand for organic ginger juice and quick-frozen vegetables is growing

Chinese organic ginger market is feeble

The period between May and July is the off-season for Chinese ginger. Add to this the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is not surprising to see that overseas market…

Dutch Wiscomex's been exporting onions, potatoes, garlic for more than a year

"With a super-efficient IT set-up, you can do a lot of solo trading"

There aren't many new businesses in the Dutch onion trade. But, Rinus Wisse has been running Wiscomex as an export office for more than a year now. Its slogan is 'Connecting…

Carlos Llambrich, manager of Llamfruit:

"Poor quality open ground cherries put downward pressure on prices at the start of the season"

The cherry campaign is starting slowly in the Aragonese region of Bajo Cinca with the earliest varieties, following a few months in which the spring's meteorological…

FOL race 1 is a critical issue for lettuce production in Norway

Lettuce is produced in Norway both in field and greenhouses. In Norway, greenhouse lettuce is one of the most important vegetables grown year-round. In winter 2018, wilting…

Perfection Fresh Australia acquires banana business Pacific Coast Produce Marketing

Perfection Fresh Australia has purchased banana business Pacific Coast Produce Marketing (PCPM) as part of a move to excite Australian consumers with new banana offers. Chief…

AU: Organic distributor warns national standard for sector is crucial

One of the nation’s largest organic distributors, which exports high-quality Australian products to global markets in more than 14 countries, has reiterated…

Export Congress to explore challenges and opportunities for Queensland horticulture

Queensland horticulture growers are invited to explore current trends, key challenges, and upcoming opportunities at the Queensland Horticulture Export…

A sustainable approach to integrated pest management

There is more scrutiny today than ever before regarding conventional herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, and regulations are tightening. “Complete…

Uganda: Minister asks Busoga farmers to switch from sugarcane to avocadoes

The Ugandan Ministry of Agriculture has started initiatives to shift the focus of farmers in the Busoga region away from sugarcane growing. The aim is for them…

Evergreen Marine Corporation back in the black in Q1 2021

The Evergreen Marine Corporation achieved a US$ 567.13 million net profit for Q1 2021, reversing the US$ 24.24 million net loss in Q1 2020. According to…

FreshPlaza Funny

Bouncing back