August 21, 2020

Regarding COVID-19: California Giant is working hard to make every effort to ensure the health and safety of our colleagues and coworkers, while maintaining SAFE business and supply continuity of fresh berries to our customers. All areas of our supply chain continue to emphasize thorough sanitation practices and social distancing protocols. Thank you for being a valued customer of California Giant - We are all in this together!

South America:

We will begin to receive light volume from Peru and Argentina in September. Growers continue to report positive remarks about this season’s harvest. These early picks look great and the berries are firm and flavorful.

Strawberries
Watsonville- Salinas:

The Monterey Bay saw record heat last weekend, hitting triple digits in many areas for several days. This long stretch of warmer than usual temperatures during both day and night will have an effect on the fruit and plants. The large leaves of the strawberry plants did a good job of creating a canopy over the fruit during the heat wave; however, we still saw dark, overripe and soft fruit during this week’s harvest. The plants will certainly show signs of being stunned by the heat in the weeks to come. Only time will tell when we will see a decline in volume. Our Watsonville/Salinas fields are located in between the Santa Cruz County and Salinas/Carmel fires. The air quality is poor, and as such field crews are taking extra precautions by wearing masks, taking extra breaks and reducing their total daily hours in the field. The health and safety of our people is of utmost priority.

Santa Maria:

Last weekend’s record heat led into a warm week with temperatures in the mid to upper 80s and mid-60s overnight. We expect this weekend and next week’s temperatures to decrease slightly and be milder than what we’ve been having. The smoke from the California fires is dense. Growers are reporting soft and small fruit, all result of last week’s heat. Summer Crop Counts: Conventional: 24-26+; Organic: 18-20. The new fall crop continues to come in nicely. Good color and flavor. The plants have a strong flower set and lots of green fruit. We may see a variance on size due to last week’s heat; time will tell. Fall Crop Counts: Conventional: 14-16+; Organic: 18-20

Raspberries
Watsonville-Salinas:

Because of the high heat from last week, quality is on high watch. Crews are working hard to keep the packs clean; however, they struggle with dark, soft and leaking raspberries.

Mexico:

Quality is excellent and increased volume projections look to significantly increase around week 36.

Blackberries 
Watsonville-Salinas:

Same as with the raspberries, it was too hot for the blackberries last week. Soft and leaking fruit is common with this weeks harvest, and crews are working hard to ensure a clean pack.