Investors have taken notice of the cold storage industry, and many believe the time to invest is now. With international tariff issues keeping more stock on hand and direct-to-consumer food deliveries increasing, facilities are testing their limits on storage. Cold storage spaces have become an integral part of the supply chain for perishable goods, and…
Details
Occasionally in this space, we take a look at the cold storage stock numbers provided each month by the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service. But this month, we thought it would be interesting to get a slightly different take, in video form, from Michael Nepveux, an economist with the American Farm…
Details
We’ve all seen the smoky skies this month, but what remains unclear for now is whether a similar haze will settle over Washington state’s farm yields thanks to wildfires in the region. Farmers have wrestled with lost sunlight and unhealthy air. Some farmers have had to send workers home due to dangerous breathing conditions. This…
Details
With the Trump administration applying tariffs on goods imported into the United States and several countries from China to Mexico countering with tariffs of their own on American exports, how might changing trade winds impact the cold storage industry? Certainly reporters and political pundits are looking for a story, as the Department of Agriculture’s monthly…
Details
When it comes to storing refrigerated and frozen goods, you might think it’s all about the temperature. And you’d be right — it’s the ability to maintain a consistent, chilled climate that puts the “cold” in cold storage, after all. But next to temperature control, lighting is, for us, one of the most important aspects…
Details
Let’s hear it for Washington cold storage — the state, that is. Cold storage capacity in Washington state increased by a mammoth 28 percent in a recent two-year period and catapulted Washington from No. 7 to No. 2 in the nation, behind only California, according to the biennial Capacity of Refrigerated Warehouses report released by…
Details
After seeing their crop pile up in cold storage facilities due to oversupply, cranberry growers in Washington, Oregon and other states are asking the federal government for help in balancing out the surplus as cranberry prices have fallen and remain below production costs. The US Department of Agriculture is considering a 25 percent reduction in…
Details
Cold storage facilities are slowly beginning to make industry shifts toward using automated systems and even robots to streamline the traditional storage and retrieval methods used for decades. This implementation of automation and use of advanced robotics is seen by many to be a perfect fit for an industrial system that has strict temperature requirements…
Details
At Washington Cold Storage, we’re pretty good at keeping products fresh on our end before they get to market. But what about after you’ve bought and bagged your groceries and brought them home? The modern convenience of the refrigerator has allowed individuals and families to be able to buy ahead and keep fruits, vegetables, dairy…
Details
Ever wonder what kind of refrigerated and frozen foods are being trucked and held for transport throughout the United States? Turns out, cold storage facilities ended 2017 with record levels of cheese, vegetables and poultry in stock. A end-of-year record 1.28 billion pounds of natural cheese, 2.63 billion pounds of frozen vegetables and 1.2 billion…
Details