It’s easy for consumers to ignore the time and effort that it takes to get produce to the grocery store and into their refrigerators. Produce shippers, on the other hand, are well aware of the demands and intricacies of this process.
Let’s learn more about what it takes to ship produce safely and efficiently:
The Demand for Fresh Produce
There is always a demand for fresh produce. However, the pandemic increased the demand for fresh produce — leaving growers and shippers struggling to keep up. At the same time, demand isn’t predicted to slow down any time soon.
Instead, it’s predicted to increase 3.7% per year through 2024 for a total value of around $7 billion.
When you break it down, fruit makes up nearly half of all produce sales followed closely by vegetables. When it comes to fruit, berries reign supreme. When it comes to vegetables, bagged salad products hold the number one spot.
Some of the most in-demand fruits include bananas, apples, grapes, strawberries, and oranges. Some of the most in-demand vegetables are potatoes, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and lettuce.
These in-demand items aren’t expected to change. However, here are some trends to look out for in the produce industry:
- Increased demand for fresh produce sold in packaging, including things like pouches, bags, and rigid plastic containers.
- Increased demand for packaging that is easy to use and offers convenience to the consumer.
- Increased interest in environmentally-friendly packaging by consumers looking to improve their environmental footprints.
- Increased demand for ready-to-eat (RTE) produce items, including salads and pre-cut fruits and veggies like apples, melons, and carrot sticks.
What Is Produce Season in Trucking?
There are several different regions involved in the produce season. The two main regions are the Texas region and the Florida region. The Texas region consists of Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Colorado, Nebraska, and Arkansas with main crops like avocados, cotton, pecans, rice, corn, and soybeans.
The Florida region consists of Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee with main crops like oranges, soybeans, corn, peanuts, and peaches.
The produce season kicks off around March in places like southern Texas. In southern Texas, a lot of the produce is brought in from Mexico. As a result, border cities like McAllen and Laredo see a significant increase in volume that lasts until June.
The produce season in the Florida region begins later — around mid-April and lasts until July. As a result, coastal cities like Miami and Jacksonville see a significant increase in volume.
Peak seasons get later as you move farther north. For example, the peak season in Georgia is May to August, the peak season in Colorado is June to July, the peak season in Arkansas is June to August, and the peak season in Tennessee is June to September.
The busy season in produce begins in the spring and lasts throughout most of the summer. For this reason, it’s important for carriers to anticipate the various ebbs and flows in the production season and get trucks into position with smart planning.
How Produce Season Impacts the Truckload
Produce season impacts the truckload market in more ways than one. Let’s dive into some of the different ways that the produce season can affect the truckload market:
- Harvest: When crops are harvested by farmers, they then need to get to market as soon as possible while they are ripe and to avoid spoilage.
- Demand planning: Since produce shippers are dealing with tight timelines, they often have to pay high prices for the necessary equipment and speed needed to safely and efficiently transport the produce to market.
- Produce shipping demand: Since produce shipping isn’t the same year-round, regional carriers usually work with non-produce shippers throughout the year until produce season hits. With the higher demand, carriers will then transition some or all of their fleet to take advantage of the peak market.
- Produce region rate spike: As demand increases, market rates also increase — effectively incentivizing more carriers to enter the market to earn these higher rates. Conversely, rates going into produce regions decrease so that carriers can position their trucks in the most profitable locations.
- Ripple effect: These demand and supply changes impact different markets through a sort of ripple effect.
- Post-produce market flip: Finally, as demand begins to decrease again, market rates then begin to decrease whereas inbound rates will increase.
Transporting Produce Safely: Produce Temperature Matters
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of transporting produce relates to temperature requirements. These temperature requirements have little room for error — a difference of a degree or two can ruin an entire shipment. So what temperatures are required to safely ship produce?
It depends on the item. For instance, some items need to be kept around freezing at 32 degrees while others can be kept as high as 60 degrees. The good news is that you don’t need to figure out the right temperature on your own — the bill of lading should include information regarding temperature requirements.
Here are some of the different things that you can ship at different temperatures:
- 32 to 36 degrees: apples, blueberries, broccoli, cantaloupes, grapes, oranges, peaches, packaged salad greens, and strawberries.
- 38 to 40 degrees: avocados and cranberries.
- 40 to 45 degrees: potatoes, honeydews, and green beans.
- 45 to 50 degrees: cucumbers, watermelon, and grapefruit.
- 55 to 60 degrees: bananas and tomatoes.
<h2>The Logistical Challenges of Shipping Produce</h2>
There’s no shortage of logistical challenges when it comes to shipping produce. The good news is that with the right strategy, experience, and shipping partners, you can effectively tackle these challenges for a successful produce season.
<h3>Fresh Produce Has A Very Short Shelf Life</h3>
The biggest logistical challenge of shipping produce is that it has a very short shelf life. Trucking companies need to be well aware of the different shelf lives of produce items.
There are three shelf life variations: high-density, medium-density, and light-density.
- High-density produce has a shelf life of seven days or more and includes items like onions, potatoes, carrots, apples, cabbage, garlic, and celery.
- Medium-density produce has a shelf life of two to four days and includes items like oranges, broccoli, avocados, peppers, peaches, spinach, tomatoes, and watermelon.
- Light density produce has a shelf life of one to two days and includes items like melons, cucumbers, strawberries, bananas, corn, green beans, grapes, lettuce, and zucchini.
Timely Transport Is Critical To Ensure Freshness
Due to these limited timeframes, timely transport is critical to ensure freshness. For this reason, shippers often prefer to use a dedicated trucking service that ensures the timely delivery. If delivery is delayed or late, thousands of dollars worth of produce are wasted.
This is bad for the shipper and also negatively affects consumer supply. When stores cannot stock in-demand produce items, consumers look elsewhere for these products, and stores — as well as shippers — will lose business as a result.
Essentially, the pressure is on for transport companies to perform and quickly meet demand.
Produce Moves On Refrigerated Trucks
While some shippers use dry ice to ship their produce items, a better method uses refrigerated trucks. Refrigerated trucks offer climate control mechanisms to ensure that the contents of the truck are being kept at the ideal temperature. Again, just a few degrees negatively impact the shipment.
Restaurant Produce
Contrary to popular belief, not all produce ends up in the grocery store. A lot of produce ends up going to restaurants to be used in meals. Many restaurants require daily produce orders to keep their kitchens stocked with fresh and tasty products.
Additionally, restaurants are looking for top-quality produce products to keep their customers satisfied and coming back for delicious meals.
Shipping to Grocery Stores and Fresh Markets
Produce is also shipped to grocery stores and fresh markets where it is bought by consumers to prepare at home. On a similar note, consumers are also looking for top-quality produce products — so shippers must meet this demand. If shippers and stores cannot meet this demand, consumers will go elsewhere.
Conclusion
Shipping produce is a complicated and intricate process with a lot of different moving parts and considerations. Timing and temperature are extremely important factors in shipping produce safely.
RPM offers timely shipping of produce products with a 98% on-time delivery rate. We also offer temperature-controlled rigs to keep produce items at the best temperature to promote freshness and prevent spoilage.
Sources:
US Demand for Fresh Produce Packaging to Near $7 Billion in 2024 | Freedonia Group
Transportation of Fresh Produce | LSU Agricultural Center
How Long Does Fresh Produce Really Last? | Taste of Home
