California Grape Crop Climbs 7%
Last year’s California grape crush totaled nearly 4,7 million tons – up 7 % from the previous 2012 high of 4.38 million tons says USDA. Red wine varieties were more than half the volume with tonnage climbing 5%. White grape tonnage increased 6%.
Florida Oranges Down Again
On March 11 the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly forecast of the 2013-14 Florida orange crop decreased slightly to 114 million boxes. “Everybody in the industry understands fruit drop has been an issue this season with our earlier varieties,” Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual, said in a press release.During the 2012-13 season, Florida produced 133.6 million boxes of oranges.
Cheese Export Record
The U.S. cheese industry deserves to take a bow for its 2013 export performance. It took only 11 months for U.S. suppliers to establish a new cheese export record. Shipments broke the 600-million-lb. mark in November on their way to an estimated 680 million pounds.America’s cheese suppliers hold the No.
1 global market share with exports triple what they were in 2007.
Ben & Jerry’s Say No To GMO
Ben & Jerry’s, a Unilever brand, is re-launching its full line of flavors without bioengineered ingredients this year says an industry report. As of now 80% of the ice cream maker’s ingredients by volume in the United States and Canada are sourced non-G.M.O. The company said it expects to convert all of its ingredients by mid-2014. All of its products in Europe already are made without bioengineered ingredients.