New cooling unit is the latest upgrade at Vineland Produce Auction
New cooling unit is the latest upgrade at Vineland Produce Auction
VINELAND, NJ — A new cooling unit was installed at the Vineland Produce Auction around the end of March, “just in time” for the 2015 New Jersey spring vegetable season, the auction’s Carol DeFoor told The Produce News Monday afternoon, May 11.
The new unit, which does hydrocooling, vacuum cooling and wetvac cooling, is in addition to the existing cooling equipment at the auction. “One of the benefits of this new cooling unit is that it shortens the cooling process,” she said. It has the capacity to cool nine pallets at a time.
Carol DeFoor, Gloria Schoppel, Debbie Forcinito and Jean Leibow of the Vineland Produce Auction. (Photos by Gordon M. Hochberg)The auction, which opened in the 1930s and currently sits on 30 acres, opened for business this year on April 29, a bit later than normal due to a very cold winter, although not as late as last year.
“Even with the cold weather we had over the winter, we had enough product to open” on April 29, she said.
Early items have included asparagus, radishes, all the lettuces, cilantro and leeks, she noted.
Quality has been “very good,” and volume also has been “very good,” she said. “And prices are doing well, too.”
Asked to assess the 2014 season, DeFoor stated, “It was a good year — one of our highest years in terms of sales [dollars].”
Asked how the auction was faring generally speaking, she stated that the auction was healthy “because of the loyalty of our membership to the auction. Our board is conservative as well as trying to grow and improve. You can’t be stagnant to thrive.”
She added, “The farmers and the brokers grew in the business together. They needed each other to grow.”
