December 28, 2020

Strawberries

Oxnard: 

Quality: Oncoming fruit looks superb; full color and ideal shape. The plants are loaded up with fruit in all stages: flower to ripe and ready.

Volume: Crews will walk the fields for the first this week; volume will uptick the first week of January and increase through April.

Pack Counts: Conventional: 14-16 ct

Santa Maria:

Weather Update: Sunday night brought approx. 1-inch rain to the fields. Crews will stay out today, assess the crop and resume harvest tomorrow morning. 

Quality: Organic - Quality looks really good, with nice shape, size color. Overall plants are healthy and look good.

Volume: Conventional fields are a bit slow moving right now with not a lot of fruit. 2nd week of January will bring on new ranches and volumes will pick up by early February.

Pack Counts: 22-24 ct 

Mexico:

Quality: The strawberries are of good size, color and firmness. The fields are full of flower, green and red fruit. 

Volume: Volume will keep increasing with very good quality fruit.

Pack Counts: 14-20 or 20-26 depending on ranch

Florida:

Quality: Plants are healthy and quality looks great.

Volume: This current week’s volume is slightly down, however the Florida fields are full of flower and green fruit, set for a spike in harvested volume early/mid January.

Pack Count: Depending on variety: low 20’s / mid-high 20’s

Blueberries

Mexico

Quality: Very good quality with increasingly good size, bloom, flavor and firmness. Fruit size is around 15-18mm, with some up to 25mm. 

Volume: The Spring crop is beginning to ramp up and growers expect large volumes by week 8. 

South America:

Quality: Recent high temperatures have accelerated ripening in the field, increasing volumes in south-central areas. Growers report great appearance, taste and consistency at origin, foreseeing great arrivals in US.

Volume: We are receiving container shipments this week from Chile of both organic and conventional packs. Volume is expected to ramp up for weeks 52-9 – great promotable volume!

Oxnard

Harvest: Expecting a small first pick of this organic blueberry crop this week. Full harvest will begin in early January and continue until early June with March and April being the peak harvest window.

Quality: Growers are reporting great quality.

Raspberries

Mexico:

Quality: Good quality with nice size and flavor.

Volume: The outlook on volume continues to be steady for the next several weeks.

Blackberries 

Mexico:

Quality: Great flavor and full dark color - these berries look fantastic! 

Volume: Volume is steady