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Finally in the home stretch leading into Valentine’s Day and thankfully we do have some stems to help fill the pipeline, even though weather has provided plenty of hurdles along the way. We do expect volume to continue to increase as we approach the end of February, so be sure to keep berries featured and on prominent displays leading into Spring!
For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.
Mexico: We continue to harvest strawberries and blackberries in this region with good quality despite weather disruptions with a combination of heat, cold and rain. Over the next few weeks the QA team will be focused on maintaining quality in the pack monitoring both white shoulders and overripe fruit in strawberries. Sizing is still between 12-14 count for radiance and 14-16 count for sensation variety.
Florida: We're expecting some rain Wednesday, which may disrupt harvesting but overall weather has been somewhat favorable for this time of year, ranging in the high 70’s and low 80’s. Fruit looks good and volume is consistent with stems being harvested daily to fulfill valentine’s day orders. Size in still large and the stem count is 14-16.
Oxnard: The fields continue to dry out from the rains last week and again over the weekend. The forecast is improving as we move into February and we look forward to temps warming up and less rain. The berry counts are 12-14 with stems being harvested for the holiday pull this week. The new short day varieties are performing well and have great color, flavor and firmness.
Santa Maria: We are already looking at walking the fields next week as fruit starts to come on in this district. Rain has impacted the region lately but the fields are drying up nicely and plants look very healthy so barring any major rain event, we should be harvesting in the next couple of weeks small amounts from this region to compliment other districts in production.
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.
Data from California Strawberry Commission shows the power of berries within the produce department. Berries continue to rank high in sales and volume. The year-end report shows that the berry category represents 20% of total fruit sales. We were also inspired by the data below showing the berry category breakdown and how they contribute to produce department sales.
