April 19, 2021

Strawberries

Oxnard: 

Quality: Good quality. A small number of green tips, but improving. Good shape and sheen with 90-100% color. 

Volume: Volume steadily increasing as we approach peak for the next two weeks before the season wraps in late May. 

Pack Counts: 16-20 

Santa Maria:

Quality: Very good quality strawberries. Some soft skin and bruised fruit reported; uniform size is improving. 

Volume: We’re seeing strong and steady increases. Volume is climbing into its peak in about 3 weeks, which will provide large promotable volumes for the month of May. The organic crop is estimated to peak in May.

Pack Counts: 

Conventional: 10-12; 14-18; 18-20 depending on variety

Organic: Spring Crop: 12-14

Organic: Fall Crop: 22-24

Watsonville/Salinas:

Harvest Status: More ranches began their first harvest last week, and more are expected to start this week and next.

Quality: Quality is good. The dried and burnt calyx currently present looks to be phasing out sooner than originally expected. 

Volume: It has been a slow start so far. However, growers expect strong increases in the next few weeks then a very large spike in production by the end of May, which will set the stage for a strong, steady summer supply from the area. 

Pack Counts: 12-14

Blueberries

Mexico

Quality: Quality is good with good bloom, flavor, and firmness on both organic and conventional product. Sizing is starting to decrease some with mostly medium size berries.  

Volume: Harvested volume exceeded estimates for week 14; however, these same growing regions have been experiencing very warm weather recently. Estimates have been slightly reduced for the rest of the season due to the warm weather. 

Oxnard

Quality: Quality of this all organic blueberry crop is good with mostly firm berries and good bloom. 

Volume: Ranches have reached their production peak and will be starting to gradually slow through the month of May. 

Central Valley, CA

Quality: Very good.

Volume: Production of the organic crop is building and is expected to reach from mid-May through mid-June. The conventional crop opened with its first pick from one ranch last week with a light harvest. The rest of our Central Valley ranches are projecting a start date in week 17-18. Peak production from this area will come in weeks 19-23.

Florida:

A recent rainstorm brought 1.5 inches to our Florida blueberry growing region. Some growers are reporting that the overall Florida crop will be down by about 25% this year due to this storm.  

Quality: Quality out of Florida is good with good size, bloom, firmness and flavor.  

Volume: We’ll see a continued slow start as a result of the recent rain. However, growers expect peak to hit during weeks 15-17. 

Georgia:

Harvest Status: Georgia growers will begin their first pick harvests this week. Volume will start out light and is expected to increase significantly in week 17. Weeks 18-20 are forecasted as the peak for Georgia highbush. 

Raspberries

Mexico:

Quality: Organic raspberry quality is good. Some conventional growers are reporting some challenges with overripe, broken and irregular fruit and are working hard to maintain clean packs. 

Volume: Overall volume has reduced slightly; however, will remain steady for the next several weeks. 

Blackberries 

Mexico:

Quality: Good quality 

Volume: Steady