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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 continues 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!
Blueberries
Oregon:
Harvested volumes of both conventional and organic blueberries remain steady and in accordance to estimate. We forecast August to maintain these high numbers. Growers are getting into the second and third picks of mid-season varieties like Legacy and Cargo. Our first pick of late season varieties will start this week; these include Aurora, Last Call and Elliott. Quality remains good overall. The late season varieties look great in the field and we’re expecting great quality in the pack.
South America:
It’s official: The South American blueberry harvest is underway! Our growers in Argentina and Peru began packing this week. The container is expected to arrive into the U.S. in approximately three weeks. Harvest out of Chile will begin soon. In general, it has been a rainy year with cold temperatures, excellent for the blueberry fields. As such, we have high expectations of delivering very good quality of fruit all season long. This includes a longer harvesting window (picking both earlier and later), earlier availability of organics and higher volumes overall.
Strawberries
Watsonville- Salinas:
The coastal California “June gloom” continues – and the berries love it! Temperatures have averaged in the mid to upper 70s, the fog rolls in for the night in the late afternoon, with overnight lows in the mid-50s. Next week, we’re expecting high 60s to low 70s. Quality has been really good. The wet morning fog has created some signs of decay, but this is minimal and crews are able to move past it. Berries are firm. Some dark in color due to last week’s warmer temperatures but maintain good quality. Counts: Conventional: 18-20 (some 14-16); Organic: 24-28.
Santa Maria:
Summer Crop: Next week will be the last week of the 2020 Summer Crop harvest. Growers are reporting some dark and bruised fruit as result of last week’s higher temperatures. However, the berry quality will be much improved for this last pass of harvest. Counts: Conventional: 18-22; Organic: 22-26. Growers are in the early stages of prepping the ground for the 2021 Spring crop.
Fall Crop: Crews are reporting seedy and crooked berries; however, each pass will get cleaner with time and as they expand into new blocks. The flower sets look strong and clean. We’re looking forward to another great season of strawberries. Counts: Conventional: 14-16; Organic: 16-18.
Raspberries
Watsonville-Salinas:
While volume is down, quality looks very good. We expect the fall crop to start in just a few weeks.
Mexico:
No change from last week. Volume is steady, quality is right. We expect this to be the case now through November.
Blackberries
Watsonville-Salinas:
The weather has been ideal for quality. Volume continues to climb now through early September.
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.
We celebrated National Avocado Day with our consumer audience by sharing a few recipes. Avocados and berries really are a match made in heaven!
A berry sweet message from one of our Walmart shoppers:
"My son and I LOVE your blueberries! Every box we have bought has been delicious!"
