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Pictured above: strawberries in Oxnard
Mexico - Temperatures have been in the high 80’s/low 90’s. Nighttime lows are in the 40’s. Quality is good, with counts around 20-28.
Florida - We are expecting good weather this week, with daytime highs in the 70’s and nighttime lows in the 50’s. There is a slight chance of rain today and tomorrow. If it does rain, there might be some slight rain damage, but only ¼” of rain is forecasted. Volume is increasing. We expect to peak at the end of February/beginning of March. Counts range from 14-16 to 18-20, depending on the variety.
Oxnard - Last week was incredibly windy, followed by record setting temps in the 90’s. It cooled down to the 80’s over the weekend. This week temps are expected to cool down to the high 70’s, with a slight chance of rain on Thursday. Quality is good with fruit showing full color and counts around 14-16. The extremely warm weather might increase size count to 18-20.
Santa Maria - Temps have been hot, with daytime highs in the 80’s and nighttime lows in the 50’s. It’s forecasted to cool down to the 70’s by the end of the week, with a slight chance of rain on Thursday. Counts are 13-16. We expect most of our growers to be picking by the end of February.
Blueberries - Our South American season is coming off its peak in production. We will continue to have blueberries stemming from our southern regions of Chile through March. Overall, quality has remained excellent. While we have begun harvesting our domestic organic blueberries in California, volume is light but volume will continue to increase. These organic blueberries will be available now through May 2016.
El Nino Update – Another El Nino storm is predicted to hit by the end of the month. The reports are, that once this storm hits, rain will continue through all of March.
Pictured below: blueberries in Oxnard
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 2016 blueberry program is well underway, as our South American blueberry season continues into March, and we start harvesting organic blueberries in California. You may be wondering who is the team behind our blueberry program and how has our program grown in recent years?
From 2014 to 2015, our domestic blueberry volume increased by 25%. And we expect to increase another 35% this year. Our Canadian blueberry program is expected to increase by 50% in volume. In Chile, volume didn’t increase as a whole between all growers and shippers, but California Giant’s volume increased by 20%.
Here in our Watsonville office, Nader Musleh is our Executive Director of Blueberries and oversees all of our operations, domestic and international. Jerry Connery is our Blueberry Category Manager, and he is your go-to guy for inquiring about pricing and setting ads. Markus Duran was recently promoted to Blueberry Category Specialist. Markus is the liaison between our blueberry growers (domestic and Canadian) and our sales team, relaying important information such a quality, pack outs, and monitoring daily estimates. We also have eight other members on our team stationed everywhere from New Jersey to Oregon, and Chile to the UK.
We are excited about our blueberry program growth as statistics show a whopping 69% of your shoppers consume blueberries. Please reply to this email to get more information on how we can grow your blueberry business together.
Pictured below: Markus Duran and Nader Musleh; freshly harvested organic blueberries in Oxnard
Through surveys we've conducted with your shoppers, and asking them about their dietary needs and preferences, we are able to nurture those contacts and send them content they actually want. Through eBooks, recipes, and blog posts, we are able to cater to that particular audience. For instance, if you responded you prefer vegetarian recipes, we would send you emails tailored with vegetarian inspired dishes.
In a recent survey, we discovered many of our readers want vegan inspired recipes. Recognizing that eating vegan is a rising food trend, we partnered with the queen of vegan, Kathy Patalsky from Healthy Happy Life to bring you and your shoppers two weeks of vegan breakfast recipes. Along with our friends from Sunset, Natural Delights and Dandy, we created these easy recipes that can be found by downloading our newest e-book.
Whether you're a full-blown vegan or you incorporate vegan recipes to live a healthy lifestyle, we've got just what you need to start your day! From blueberry baked donuts to berry quinoa porridge, we're bringing you 15 days of vegan breakfast recipes.
Check out our California Giant blueberries spotted at Whole Foods in Oxnard. Have you spotted our berries lately? Snap a picture on your smart phone and send it our way!
