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According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), total imports of pineapple and pineapple products (fresh, canned, juice) into the United States were up 12% in volume during the first quarter of 2010 from imports during the first quarter in 2009. The growth in imports during the first 3 months was attributed to a 28% increase in pineapples coming into the United States for the fresh market. Imports of canned pineapples and pineapple juice were down 12% and 24% respectively.

Fresh pineapple imports have been up significantly from the United States’ top two suppliers – Costa Rica and Mexico. Sharply larger shipments have also been coming in from other leading suppliers such as Panama, the Philippines, and Thailand, and moderately higher quantities from Honduras, last year’s fourth largest supplier of fresh pineapples to the United States.

Approximately 80% of all fresh pineapples imported into the United States are from Costa Rica.

Domestic demand for fresh pineapples has been trending up over the past two decades and imports have made it all possible for meeting the growth in this market. Last year, domestic fresh-pineapple demand remained relatively unchanged from the past two years despite economic recession, with per capita consumption estimated at 5 pounds per person. The higher supply over the first few months of 2010 have driven down pineapple prices at the retail level. USDA data from January – April of 2010 show that pineapple prices were averaging 4 % lower than 2009 and down an average of 9% from the average prices in January through April 2009.

Costa Rican supplies in the U.S. Market in April (2010) while higher than earlier in the year, have fallen below levels of the same time in 2009. Consumers were paying less per pineapple than they did in 2009. The average pineapple retail price in April of 2008 was $2.95 each, down from the $3.20 average in April 2009 and while retail prices have strengthened in early May of 2010, prices are averaging about $ .19 cheaper per pineapple.

Source: Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook / FTS – 342 / May 28, 2010 … Economics Research Service, USDA – U.S. Department of Commerce. U.S. Census

The PMA research released last October shows that average Americans can get 4.5 cups of fresh fruits and vegetables (nine servings) for $2.18, and bargain hunters can get it for 88 cents. Fresh produce is the best “value meal” in many senses of the term.

And recently the USDA released its own research on getting 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables in a report: “How Much Do Fruits and Vegetables Cost?”

Read more…

And you can learn more about Fruits & Veggies-More Matters and the America’s More Matters Pledge at www.FruitsAndVeggiesMoreMatters.org.

For more information on the USDA’s Economic Research Service’s study, How Much Do Fruits and Vegetables Cost, click here.

For more information on PMA’s study, The Cost of the Recommended Daily Servings of Fresh Produce, click here.

For more information on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditures Survey, click here.

At least 700 people have been moved to temporary refuges as a result of heavy rains  that began Tuesday night.  The National Emergency Commission has declared a yellow alert in the entire sector of the Caribbean, the North zone of Costa Rica and several other Cantons. It is expected that the rains will continue the morning of today (Thursday, December 2). 

Flooding has been reported in the lower cantons of the Caribbean coast and is the principal cause of the evacuation of people living near these rivers. Some of the smaller towns remain isolated.  In Guatuso, Alajuela the river level increased 1.5 meters affecting some 4000 inhabitants.

Electrical outages have been reported in many sectors, including our farms and offices. The packing station was forced to generate power to operate yesterday as the result of a tree falling on the main electric line to the office/packing station area.

The principle problem reported at this hour is the damage to roads. 27 damages have been reported due to the flooding.  Land slides have closed the road from San Jose to Limon and difficulties in transport of products to the Port of Limon as well as movements of ships in and out of the port have been reported, but details are still lacking.

Dr. Lloyd

Winter begins early this year. At least that is the feeling at the moment in the pineapple farms. There were two cool nights in week 45. With air temperatures dropping to 19 and 18 degrees C. These temperatures are always worrisome as they could be the cause of naturally differentiated fruit (NDF) development. NDF is always a period of stress for the pineapple producers because NDF generates additional costs, creates a production peak in the entire industry and, even when managed very well, this fruit is not completely homogeneous due to the higher age variability at harvest. We trust we have escaped NDF in the first two cool nights mentioned as they were not accompanied by rain. So, the soil temperature was not significantly reduced and the day time temperatures were in the high 20’s. This means the growing degree days (GGD;s) did not drop significantly. GGD’s is simply defined as the heat units that are available for growth.

Up until week 47, the rains have been very favorable now for many weeks and as a result the fruit has had good internal color, firm flesh with brix above 14 and essentially no problems with translucency. However, in week 47 it appears that the period of heavier rains has begun with 4.2 inches recorded during the week.

This period of cloudy days, higher rainfall and lower night temperatures is a challenge to all pineapple producers. This is the period when NDF can occur. It is a time when harvest age must be increased to maintain good brix and good internal color. This is also the time it is very difficult to obtain good external color due to lack of sunny days. A combination of all of these factors can produce undesirable levels of translucency, so the neccesary increase in harvest age must be done with much precaution to avoid this undesirable defect.

You can believe that we will be looking each morning to see the temperature during the night. When it drops too low, we must begin sampling soon after to determine the extent of the NDF. If NDF is found we must ready the crews who must mark each NDF plant with a different color ribbon for each NDF week to minimize the age variability of this fruit at harvest time.

Here in our farms we now have 10 years of experience under our belt and we never stop learning. We now do many things to reduce the NDF potential which proved very beneficial in 2010. With the leanings from 2010 we feel that we are even better prepared for the NDF challenges in 2011 and the resulting effect will be less variation in the weekly fruit volumes.

Dr. Lloyd

On Friday October 29th an unannounced visit to our farm (Santa Clara) was carried out by the Costa Rican governments Environmental Tribune. These inspections are carried out in an effort to assure compliance with environmental regulations. The officials visited the plantation and inspected drainage canals, natural waterways, and the forest preserves which are maintained in all our farms to provide a home for the local wildlife. Thanks to our detailed sustainability program and our concerned staff, the farm received nothing but good remarks.

Our team in Costa Rica continues to do an exceptional job!!

Chestnut Hill Farms Vintage Truck

Chestnut Hill Farms Booth

October 16-18 2010.

The PMA was quite a success. Some of our staff arrived on Thursday the 14th to set up our booth. Between Thursday and Friday, they put together an amazing booth! The show began on Saturday and we couldn’t have been more pleased. We generated more traffic than we ever have before. People seemed to be very excited about what we had to offer (Pineapples, Melons, Asparagus and Plantains). Our amazing growers made a huge contribution at our booth, putting on a show of how to do a great pineapple cut. Our samples of Fresh Cut Pineapples were a hit. People were constantly coming back for seconds and even thirds, commenting on how sweet and delicious our pineapples were. Other than the samples, we introduced our brand new website to the world, and of course we had our vintage CHF truck that is always a popular photo-op. Overall, our PMA experience exceeded our expectations and we couldn’t be more proud of our team. We can’t wait for next year.