August 29, 2017

Happy Tuesday!

We are just under a week away from Labor Day. You know what that means…our consumers are only days away from that long weekend. This week it is crucial to make sure berries have prominent floor space for last-minute party planning shoppers. Our marketing staff is also in full-swing with our Fresh Start campaign, and for the first time ever with this promotion we are tapping into the un-tapped, and targeting college students. After surveys and questionnaires to our fellow millennial generation, our data has shown that this niche does in fact grocery shop, care about eating healthy, and is interested in eating and purchasing fresh produce. 

For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.

Crop Updates
Watsonville - Salinas:
 

Weather last week was in the high 60s to low 70s with overcast, foggy mornings.  Beginning over the weekend, weather was in the high 70s and will be in the high 70s to low 80s all this week. We are being extra vigilant with our quality checks to ensure our afternoon fruit remains top-knotch quality. Counts on 1lb are ranging between 24 to 26, but as we head into September, fruit size will start to get larger each week. We will be going through our peak with blackberries in September with big volume, and raspberries staying steady. Labor is getting worse every week.  Mondays, a good percentage of people don’t show up.  Growers are behind with their harvest and try to catch up by the end of the week.  This continues to be an industry-wide struggle.

 

 
 

Santa Maria

We have had overcast mornings in this region, with the marine layer burning off mid-morning and warming up to mid to upper 70s with lows in the mid 50s.  This week we do anticipate a spike in temperatures, with potential highs hitting the low to mid 80s with nighttime lows in the 60s. Organic straws still look good, mostly 24-26 count, and seeing some light bruising in the afternoon.  Organic blacks look good on 3-day harvest, but can be soft and leaky if stretched to a 4-day pick. With that said, we are fighting to stay on a shorter schedule - possibly some Sunday harvest moving forward.  Conventional blacks look very good with minimal red cell or soft fruit.  We will see how it holds up with warmer weather coming this week.  Our conventional fall crop looks excellent, with counts mostly at 14-16 count. We have seen very minimal crooked fruit and green tips mixed in, but overall it looks like very good fruit.  Organic fall crop fields look strong and are still 2-3 weeks out from harvest. Labor continues to be tight, and most ranches are finished with ground prep and fumigation for 2018.

 

Blueberries:

Weather in our BC region is warm and sunny, with highs in the 90s this week and lows in the 80s. Oregon is reaching extreme temperatures this week with highs in the triple digits. As far as production, this week will be British Columbia’s last big push of production for the season.

Field Days with Cal Giant:

Last week we had our friends from Markon visit our strawberry fields. Not only were they able to learn about our field operations and meet some of our growers, but they were also able to try some sweet strawberries straight from the field! We always look forward to having customers visit our ranches to give them a behind-the-scenes tour of what makes California Giant what it is.

 

Weather Conditions

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. 

Santa Maria

Watsonville

Salinas

PNW

News

John Tietz is retiring!

After 16 years with California Giant John has decided to retire from the company and his longstanding career in the produce industry.  We are sorry to see him leave the sales team, but he will always be part of the California Giant family.  

If you know John, you know the timing couldn’t be more perfect.  His last day at the office will be September 1, 2017 and is excited about getting things ready for hunting season just around the corner, since there are many things on his ‘to do’ list to get the duck club ready for the Season in October. 

“We will miss John’s vast experience and knowledge of the industry and wish him nothing but the best as he enjoys life ahead”, says Vice President of Sales, Anthony Gallino.

Reaching Consumers

We are in full-swing with our Fresh Start campaign, and for the first time ever with this promotion we are tapping into the un-tapped, and targeting college students. After surveys and questionnaires to our fellow millennial generation, our data has shown that this niche does in fact grocery shop, care about eating healthy and is interested in eating and purchasing fresh produce, and the results from our promotion are proving this steadfast! With our Fresh Start College Edition eBook and Sweepstakes we are excited to offer our 18-25-year-old demographic easy, nutritious, berry-filled meals, dorm room cooking hacks, and the chance to win a $500 Visa gift card to start off the school year off right. 

Pick of the Week

We spotted some mighty California Giant blues over the weekend at this Monterey Trader Joes!

  

Send us your own "pick of the week" and we will feature it here!

Stay tuned for updates every two weeks for the remainder of the year.
 

Leave a Comment

Subscribe

Recent Posts