January 2, 2018

Happy New Year!

We hope you had a great holiday. This week marked the beginning of a fresh New Year with a lot of exciting initiatives planned for 2018. With much in store for the New Year, we look forward to taking a more consumer-focused approach in our marketing efforts, while honing in on the experiences that our berries take part in everyday, in every household, and aim to be more in the moments that make our shoppers smile. In order to bring value to our customers, we will continue to strive to be data-driven, and a top berry-resource for our trade and foodservice partners, and an evangelist for the produce category in bringing more fresh fruits and veggies to more tables. We count on another great year with our partners, and wish you all a safe and prosperous 2018.

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

Crop Updates
Watsonville - Salinas:
 

We have wrapped up the season in this region, and continue to prepare for the next with planting and tending to our new crops. Strawberry plants are looking advanced, and some scattered showers this week should help nourish these crops. We anticipate some light showers this week beginning tomorrow and again on Friday, with more rain in the forecast for the first half of next week.

Santa Maria

Rain is on the horizon for our Santa Maria region – along with much of our other California growing regions – with rain predicted for this Friday and beginning again next Monday. Strawberries look good, but our conventional fruit has experienced minor damage from cold weather and frost from last week. Because of this, volume has decreased. Our fruit under hoops continues to look good with new blossoms still underway. We will continue to push forward as long as weather and quality permits.

Mexico:

Zamora, Maravatío, Los Reyes, Ziracuaretiro and Irapuato all have temperatures in the steady 70 range, with lows fluctuating in the mid-high 40s. Most regions are warm with sunshine and scattered clouds. Strawberry counts in Irapuato are increasing in size due to the warm days and fresh nights – most counts range from 18-24. Minor defects include the occasional green and white shoulders, but this is being rigorously checked for and taken care of at our cooler. Overall, quality is improving significantly. Blackberries have minimal regression issues due to warmer weather and sunny days – and look good in both size and flavor. Raspberries and blueberries have minimal quality defects and look great in size, flavor and quality.

Oxnard:

With a dry December under our belt, we look forward to seeing some rain in our forecast beginning next week on Monday and lasting through Wednesday. There are up to 50% chances of rain with a half inch anticipated for next Tuesday. According to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District, air quality watch due to the Thomas fire has been cancelled throughout the county as the Thomas Fire is nearly contained, and air quality has been good-to-moderate for several days. Crop quality remains good – with most strawberries at counts between 14-16 and 16-18. Stems look good, and we see little wind scarring from the Santa Ana winds that blew through in weeks prior. We anticipate late January-early February being a heavy pick period weather permitting.

Blueberries:

Most of our main producing regions are experiencing warm temperatures. In our North-central region the harvest of the Duke variety is coming to an end, with the full harvest of our Legacy, Bluecrop and Brigitta varieties in effect. Our South-central region is in full production of these varieties as well, with our Brightwell variety also beginning to mature in some locations.

Florida:

A cold front moved in this week, with highs in the mid 50s and rain on the horizon for tomorrow. A warming trend will start to develop beginning the 7th lasting through the 10th with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Counts are in the low 20s among all varieties, with quality looking good and minor defects except for the occasional green tip. Volume is on the lower side this week, but expected to double in 2 weeks with warmer temperatures. Volume is expected to increase from here on through the first week of February.

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

Mexico

Florida

Oxnard

Reaching Consumers

Have you checked out our latest addition to our Trade Page yet? With a plethora of relevant, timely produce information all across the Web, we have now included an "Insights from the Web" section to our Trade Page to make gaining access to this information that much easier. Search and browse no further, we have a one-stop-shop for industry related resources, and will continue to update this data frequently for your reference through out the year.

  

Consumer Spotlight

Thank you to our shopper Susan from Maine! Susan emailed us some feedback over the weekend. Our blues are looking mighty, and are packed with mighty flavor.

Pick of the Week

This Philadelphia Walmart has a California Giant strawberry tower!

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

Stay tuned for updates every week!
 

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