Happy Wednesday!
It's officially the start to a new month, and soon-to-be our Watsonville-Salinas season. We have a lot of great quality fruit in our fields ready for the upcoming holiday's - so be sure to get your orders set with our sales team. Moving forward into the season, our partners can expect to see the weekly Trade Buzz newsletter and blog published at the end of the week - so be on the lookout for that beginning next week! In the meantime, we'll see you all at CPMA this afternoon - be sure to swing by booth #311 to say hi to some of our California Giant family and talk 2019 berries.
For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.
Watsonville-Salinas:
We have more rain and overcast weather on the horizon this week, with temperatures in the 60s during the first half of the week, and into the 70s leading into the weekend. Nighttime temperatures will remain in the 50s with next week looking to start off with sunnier skies. Despite some rainfall, fruit is looking good and fields should be ready to walk very soon.
Santa Maria:
Santa Maria has some wind and rain on the immediate forecast this week into next, but overall fruit is looking great and volumes are picking up due to the recent warm temperatures last week. Our San Andreas is 10-14 count, and Fronteras is mostly 12-14 count, some 16-18, with our organic fall crop 24-26 and in good condition. We have a big flower set, and volume is ramping up just in time for the upcoming holidays.
Oxnard:
We had a warm weekend as temperatures hovered in the upper 70s to low 80s. Starting off the week, temperatures were much cooler in the 60s but warmer temperatures will be back on the forecast over the weekend and into next week in the 70s-80s. The fields are approaching peak volume - both Fronteras and San Andreas plants are loaded with excellent fruit. We will increase in volume each week as we approach the Easter demand. Conventional and organic fruit is looking very good - color 95-100 percent and conventional sizing at 14-18 count, with organic sizing at 16-20 count.
Mexico:
Weather has persisted in the 80s-90s range with hot, sunny days and no rain in sight. Our raspberry volume is expected to steadily increase and quality is looking excellent as field personnel are doing a great job keeping packs clean. Many growers have listed the beds already and some others are doing ground preparation work. We are all excited to start the plantings for the 2019-2020 season. Blueberry quality has been very good and berries are firm with a lot of bloom. Some growers are starting to see size decrease slightly due to the warm weather, but overall quality is looking great. As for blackberries, quality remains consistent and field personnel are doing an excellent job of keeping packs clean.
For up-to-date weather conditions in all of our growing regions, click on the region below. Wunderground.com is our go-to weather resource for fast and reliable weather updates.
With spring also comes our 60th Annual Spring Lamb Barbecue taking place May 18th from 11-5pm. Have you contacted our sales team to get your tickets? Make sure to reserve your spot today and come hungry for a feast to support the American Cancer Society.
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