Visit Our Other Sites
Happy Monday! We are back from Easter weekend with updates on the week ahead. We are looking forward to seeing the last bit of rain tomorrow from this wet season, with sunny skies and dry fields in the long term forecast.
For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.
Watsonville - Salinas: Rain, rain and more rain. From drizzles to downpours, Watsonville and Salinas have been hit hard with a very wet few months. With 1/2 of rain coming down last night and isolated showers into this morning – it is predicted that after Tuesday we should see some sunny days ahead. However, we do anticipate a good amount of damage and green fruit from the wet winter, making it a tough start to this harvest season. Volume is expected to increase significantly, and cleaning up fields, tending to our crops and making sure we get our best berries out is our top priority amidst these tough weather conditions.
Santa Maria: Last week Santa Maria experienced temperatures in the high 70s with nighttime lows in the 40s. With rain still in the forecast, this region experienced some morning showers late last week, but cleared up quickly with some spotted clouds. Frontal showers spread across the south-central coast late Sunday afternoon into Monday, with decreasing chances of rain today, and a final surge early tomorrow as rain finally starts to wane off. San Andreas is looking great and sized at 12-14 count with terrific color and shape. Organic San Andreas are currently as good as it gets - looking the best we have seen them. Monterey’s quality is looking to improve with slight discoloration - half red and half green - but this pattern is typically seen everywhere and should clear up soon. Fronteras, at 14-16 count, are looking a little darker and slightly soft, but are expected to improve in the coming weeks.
Oxnard: Quality in this region has seen a vast improvement with no rain forecasted for the remainder of April, and a warming trend expected to emerge in the middle of this week with highs in the 70s and 80s. Fronteras, currently our largest variety, are sized at 18-22 count, with Petaluma at 24 and Radiance at 22-28. All varieties are predicted to be in the high teens - low 20s in the coming weeks.
Here's a look at how our Mexico blackberries are doing:
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.
For the next few weeks we will be highlighting insights from the 2017 Packer’s Fresh Trends Report just released. This year the annual report highlights value added produce, and has an emphasis on ‘reaching consumers’ where they are and the need for marketers to give value in the produce department.
Overall, the report shows that produce is slowly finding itself at the center of the plate as consumer trends clearly show shoppers are eating more produce. In fact, this research shows that 68% of shoppers said they are eating more produce than they did five years ago. 46% of those shoppers say buying ‘local’ makes them feel good because they are supporting local farmers.
With specific produce item popularity, strawberries dipped in 2016 and ranked 5th in fruit purchasing but they once again have taken the #4 spot in 2017 edging out oranges (behind bananas, apples and grapes) and remain 8th overall in fruit & veg combined. Value added produce is very popular with consumers, and this research shows that 6 out of 10 consumers state that ‘convenience’ is the biggest incentive to buying fresh produce in pre-packaged containers, especially for snacking.
Next week we will talk more about value added and the continued increased popularity of the berry category.