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Watsonville - Salinas:
Weather was warm and temperature in our Watsonville-Salinas regions last week, with this week remaining in the mid-high 60s and some heavy showers on the horizon for Friday and Saturday. It’s a slow start to the season over here, as it is industry-wide. However, ranches look good – plants look good, and flower are big. Once we start moving volume will pick up rapidly in May with a lot of great quality fruit on the way. Counts are large at 12-14 with our last round of clean up post-storm taking place last week. We are about a month out from our bushberry harvest approaching in May.
Santa Maria:
Last week warmed up significantly in this region with the end of the week creeping up toward the 80s. This week, temperatures are looking to range in the 60s-70s with chances of showers Friday and Saturday. As for quality, San Andreas looks nice at 16-18 count, and has passed all the frost and water damage we have experienced in weeks prior. Fronteras has large fruit and flowers at 14-18 count; good shape and color. Monterey is the strongest of our varieties with lots of blossom and green fruit just 2 weeks out. Sizes are 16-18 count with size to continue to increase. Organic San Andreas looks good at 20-22 count, with organic Monterey at 22-25 and slightly smaller. Labor continues to be a non-issue, and an expected ‘peak’ in production is predicted for the second week of May.
Oxnard:
We finally had some consistent weather last week with highs in the mid-high 70s, sunshine and clear skies. This weather pattern will follow us into this week with slightly lower temperatures until we approach Saturday where there are chances of showers. Fields have cleaned up well with very minimal rain scarring on fruit. Color is at 95-100 percent, and size is holding up well at 14-16 count with the occasional 18. Volume is slowly ramping up in the month of April, and piece rate is in effect starting today.
Mexico:
We have wrapped up the season for our Mexico straws due to excessive heat, and are continuing to produce bushberries. Ziracuaretiro and Los Reyes have remained steady in the mid-80s and 50-60s at night, with clear sunny days. Blackberry quality looks decent – with heat being the most significant concern. We have seen betters days for our raspberries due to heat, but quality is still maintaining our standards. Most mother plants have ended production, while young plants are starting to give us new fruit here and there. Sizes are mostly around 22-25mm making counts of 30-35, with the occasional counts at 25-28 in 6oz.
Blueberries:
Our Georgia blues are loaded and expected to start scratching earlier than anticipated with a start date of April 10th.
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.
Our 59th Annual Spring Lamb BBQ tickets are HERE. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to snag some to benefit the American Cancer Society – contact our sales office at 831-728-1773 to get yours, or visit the official Spring Lamb BBQ site here to purchase tickets through Pay Pal. See you there!
What better way to answer consumer questions than straight from the farmer themselves? Our marketing department receives questions every day from loyal shoppers that are interested in tips to better preserve berries, cooling and storing advice, harvest insights and more. We’re headed straight to our farmers’ fields this week to address some of our most frequently asked consumer Q&A’s to shed light on popular questions directly from the source. We’re headed to Santa Maria, California to talk spring berries, weather hurdles, and all the ins and outs of being a berry farmer with long-time conventional and organic strawberry and blackberry farmer - Tom Jones. Tune into our Facebook Live segment Friday, April 6 at 11am PST.
Cal Giant blues spotted in the Pacific North West at this Sherwood, Oregon Safeway.
