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Californian asparagus demand up supply shrinks
Demand for asparagus is going up, but farmers now say they're having a hard time meeting that demand.Growers say the asparagus crop is smaller than anticipated this year. Early this season farmers held back on harvesting asparagus because there was little demand.Now, farmers say they can't find enough.....
US (TX): Up to 90% peaches wiped out
The recent combination of severe weather event sin Texas may have reduced the peach harvest by around 90% in some places. This is the latest blow to the industry, which has suffered repeated bad harvests in recent years."The damage is pretty widespread," said Jamey Vogel, owner of Vogel Orchard in Stonewall.....
US (CA): Groundbreaking nitrogen research arrives for almond growers
New protocol developed under a multi-year, multi-disciplinary fertilizer management project funded in part by the Almond Board of California and led by UC Davis pomologist Patrick Brown, is refining the way almond growers and other farmers make decisions about fertilizing their crops.As a result of this.....
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California table grape growers award 10 scholarships
California’s table grape growers recently awarded 10 scholarships to students in the grape growing regions of the State. All recipients are 2013 high school graduates headed to higher education in California.Six scholarships are being awarded to children of table grape field workers: three $20,000.....
United Fresh 2013 donates more than 32,000 pounds of produce
United Fresh and Feeding America have long partnered to prevent fresh produce from going to waste. After this year’s show in San Diego, more than 30 volunteers helped collect donations from the convention floor to benefit those in need serviced by Feeding America San Diego’s partner agencies such as food.....
GMO labeling laws move to forefront in battle over food policy
Across the globe, 61 countries, including China, the European Union's 27 members and even Syria, label genetically modified foods.But in America, consumers are left in the dark when it comes to knowing which foods and products contain genetically modified (GMO) ingredients.That may change soon, though, as.....
Central America
New at Starfruit: bananas from Guadeloupe - Martinique
Starfruit already have bananas from Martinique in their assortment. The bananas from this country are sweeter than normal 'dollars' bananas from Central-South America. There are three brands in the assortment: Planteur, La Montagne (packed in a small bag of1 kg) and 'Pays'. The size of the last (Pays) is.....
South America
In the 2013/2014 season
Brazil: Estimated orange production 328 million boxes from Sao Paulo
The commercial production of oranges in the State of Sao Paulo (Brazil) for the 2013/2014 season is estimated at 328 million boxes of 40.8 kilos. Estimates are that 16.2 million boxes can be either lost or of a low economic expression.The figures are from the first harvest survey, conducted by the National.....
Oceania
AU: Gold Coast Convention to host United Nations of Horticulture
Delegates representing 11 nations have confirmed their attendance at the AUSVEG National Convention, Trade Show and Awards for Excellence and associated events, highlighting the increasing international recognition of the event, the biggest of its type in Australia. “Australian-grown vegetables are.....
Africa
Edward Out (OTC-Holland):
"Difficult to convince supermarkets to choose only organic grapefruits"
In the middle of April the harvest of organic Starruby grapefruit started in South Africa. OTC-Holland received the first Starruby's in the meantime and distributed these to their customers. The import season for organic citrus fruit from South Africa has officially started OTC-Holland. After the grapefruit,.....
World
Scientists sequence kiwifruit's genome
An international team of scientists, led by Zhangjun Fei of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) at Cornell University, New York; Yongsheng Liu at Hefei University of Technology; and Hongwen Huang of the Botanical Garden of South China, has sequenced and assembled the draft genome of.....
Catalyst keeps fruit fresh longer
Ripening fruit, vegetables and flowers let off ethylene which works as a plant hormone. Ethylene quickens the ripening process and causes fruit and vegetables to rot and flowers to wilt. Japanese scientists presented a completely new catalyst system in a trade magazine, that quickly and completely, breaks.....
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Click here for more information about our specials Europe
15% increase in volumes with respect to 2012
Italy: Solinda mini-watermelons available from May
It's called Solinda and it is thePevianimini-watermelon with excellent qualities.As company managers comment, "the campaign started on 4th May with early greenhouse productions in Almeria (Spain). Produce from Spain enables us to cover the period until 15th June. Then we start with the Italian production,.....
Pachino:
Italian company bets on Cora Seeds' Nikas F1 mini-watermelons
"The size difference between mini and traditional watermelons is of 65% and 35% respectively. This perfectly shows the conversion happening in the watermelon sector, which has been going on for three-four years in Sicily," explains Salvatore Dell'Arte (in the photo below), chairman of the Società.....
"Italians need to increase fruit consumption"
Some 75% of Italians have difficulty following a healthy diet, a report by the Centre for Study and Research on Obesity from the University of Milan said on Thursday. Italy's famous 'Mediterranean diet' alone is not enough to "fulfil the nutritional needs of the Italians," centre director Michele Carruba.....
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Azienda Ciuffreda (Foggia - Puglia)
Italy: "We want to transform our cherries into organic jam"
"This year we want to diversify, and we would like to transform all of our cherries into jam. We will harvest fruits at the end of May-beginning of June and, in the meantime, we are looking for operators interested in selling this product and that can assist us. I think we will manage to produce 4 tonnes of.....
Moreno Bonfatti (Fruttital)
Italy: Slight delays for imports of South African grapefruit
"Star Ruby, the sweetest red variety of grapefruit, is the most popular in Italy, whereas the White Marsh, which is more bitter, is consumed less. Ruby Red, the pink variety, has no market, while it is really popular in France and Northern Europe in general."Moreno Bonfatti(in the photo), manager of Verona's.....
Cjo:
Italy: Campaign of early nectarines in greenhouses started
"We have just started the campaign of nectarines with the first greenhouse productions (photo below) in the Salerno area. We deeply believe in early production, and in fact we have scheduled new plantings of early nectarines," announces Antonio Costantino, chairman of the Cjo - Consorzio jonico.....
UK: Cool weather could mean great strawberries
Homegrown strawberries are expected to be larger and sweeter this year because of the cool weather. Experts claim the colder conditions caused a delay to the start of the growing season and resulted in stronger plants. Farmers say this will help boost the size of the fruit and its sugar levels, making.....
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Rizziconi (Calabria)
Italy: UFO 4 Saturn peaches to be harvested in a month
Francesco Rodinò's company, located in Rizziconi, in the heart of the Gioia Tauro plain (Calabria), is expecting the harvesting of UFO 4 peaches, also known as Saturn peaches, to start in a month's time."This year, the trees planted in June 2011 are ready for an abundant and high quality production as they.....
Campaing about to start
Italy: AOP Armonia expecting 10,000 tons stone fruit
"Stone fruits represent AOP Armonia's most important product in terms of quantity and because of their value. This season, we are expecting to produce more than 10,000 tons," explains sales manager Marco Eleuteri."We have started harvesting peaches and nectarines at the beginning of May, with small.....
Spain: Melon and watermelon prices falling
The increase in melon supply is causing average prices to drop down to 0.60 Euro/kg. The average price of Galia melons has fallen to values close to 0.45-0.50 Euro/kg. Piel de Sapo melons reach the highest prices, close to 0.85-0.90 Euro/kg, while Yellow melons oscillate between 0.55 and 0.65 Euro/kg and the.....
First commercial location in Russia opened
Party week and symposium "Growing Together" in honour of 75 years of Enza Seeds
"The customer doesn't exist, neither does the consumer," said Jaap Mazereeuw yesterday at the Growing Together Symposium, organised to celebrated the 75th anniversary of Enza Seeds. He said that continual development is necessary to let a company continue successfully. During the symposium they did not.....
Dole Europe extends Dole Earth to pineapples
Further to the launch of its Dole Earth online platform on bananas a year ago, Dole Europe announces the extension of the website to pineapples. All Dole pineapples to Europe will carry on a newly designed hang tag the 5 digit farm code which will allow consumers to trace their fruit back to the farm where.....
CHEP collaborates with customers to cut transport costs and CO2 emissions
CHEP announced that its Collaborative Transportation program removed 2.9 million kilometres of truck haulage from Europe's roads in 2012, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2,340 metric tons - the equivalent of CO2 emissions from the electricity use of 350 homes for one year - while producing cost savings.....
Total Produce sticking to targets
Fresh produce company Total Produce has said it is sticking to its earnings target of 8 to 8.8 cent per share for this year.In a statement this morning, the company said that since the end of the year, it has agreed a deal to buy a 65% stake in the Oppenheimer Group, in two stages over five years.The.....
Agricola Don Camillo
Aromatic netted Pregiato melons directly from Sicily
They come from Licata, in the Agrigento province (Sicily) and they are of the long-life type, that is to say that they can be shipped even to those markets that are far away from the producing area and that, for this reason, they are preferred by mass retailers, who can plan their sales better.They are.....
F.lli Valcalcer (Campania), lettuce and vegetable specialists
Italy: Harvesting started for watermelons, peppers and cucumbers
"At the moment, we are only harvesting 15 tons per day of aubergines, though soon we will start harvesting watermelons, peppers and cucumbers and therefore we will reach 20 tons of watermelons and 15 tons of peppers per day."This is the assessment of "Amici della Natura", a company established in the.....
John Grootsdcholten, Daily Fresh Radish:
"Supply and demand - radishes in nice balance"
The continuing low temperatures have caused a considerably lower production of radishes all over Europe. "Traditionally the demand for radish increases when the weather is warm, but as the production is low everywhere, supply and demand are nicely in balance," according to John Grootscholten of Daily Fresh.....
Italy: Another weekend of bad weather jeopardizes crops
Since January, almost double the amount of rainhas fallen in Northern Italywith compared to 2012and there were 50 days more of bad weather. In addition, the violent storms of the last few days have once more impeded operations in fields, so the state of crops is on average one month late.According to the Cia.....
February 2013
Italy: FruitImprese data on Italian foreign trade
According to the latest data processed byFruitImprese, the trend was very much diversified in the first two months of 2013. With respect to the first two months of 2012, exports decreased (-10.9%) though value increased (7.1%).Imports increased both in terms of quantities (+6.1%) and of value (+11.5%). The.....
Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit, Beautiful Taxi
London taxis are part of the 2013 campaign to promote South African fruit, specifically apples and pears throughout the Summer.Five taxis can will be driving around London for the next eight weeks carrying the ‘Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit’ campaign logo.www.beautifulcountrybeautifulfruit.co.uk
Trayless flow wrapping machines
Redpack maximise profit margins and minimise packaging waste
Manufacturers of products that require overwrapping for protection and to retain freshness are faced with two significant challenges. One is to reduce their environmental footprint to a minimum and the other is to cut costs. Both of these challenges have to be accomplished whilst providing customers with.....
Asia
Turkey: Alara confident for cherry export season
Turkey’s top cherry grower-exporter expects a volume rise for 2013 despite rough weather conditions that impacted pollination.Beginning in late May, peaking around June 12 and running through to the end of July, Turkey has traditionally been one of Europe’s major sources of cherries, delivering high quality.....
Qatar: India, Philippines biggest fruit and veg suppliers
India was the top supplier of vegetables to the Qatar Central Market last month, according to a report released by the consumer protection department at the Ministry of Business and Trade.According to the report, the quantity of vegetables that was available in the market in April this year was 22,240.....
Retail
US retail sales up 0.5% in first two weeks of May
National chain store sales rose 0.5% in the first two weeks of May from April, according to Redbook Research's latest indicator, released Tuesday.The index's rise compared with a targeted 0.6% gain.The Johnson Redbook Index also showed seasonally adjusted sales for the period were up 2.6% from last year,.....
Sales growth returns at Morrisons
Morrisons has finally started to show signs of recovery, after a sustained period of weak trading.The Bradford-based grocer grew its sales by 2.1 per cent in the four weeks to 12 May, a marked improvement on flat or falling revenue for much of the last year, Kantar Worldpanel says.The performance put it.....
Tesco to launch drive to reduce food waste
The UK’s biggest supermarket is launching a campaign to tackle “breathtaking” amounts of food waste, which it says costs households £700 a year.Tesco will unveil its food waste strategy on Thursday when it is also expected to reveal chief executive Philip Clarke and 5,000 top managers missed out on bonuses.....
X5 Retail Group Q1 Profit Slips; Sales Up
Russian retailer X5 Retail Group N.V. (FIVE.L) posted lower profit for the first quarter, but net sales rose from last year.The group's net profit for the quarter slipped to $65.1 million from $66.3 million a year ago. Profit before tax slid to $86.6 million from $90.3 million.However, EBITDA rose 3.7.....
UK retail sales unexpectedly fall 1.3% on food
UK retail sales unexpectedly fell in April, led by the biggest drop in food sales for almost two years and indicating continued weakness in consumer spendingSales including fuel declined 1.3 percent from March, when they fell 0.6 percent, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median.....
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