January 23, 2020

Happy Thursday!

We're making our way toward February in a dash and hoping everyone is sticking strong with their resolutions! Ours, to name a few, include dedicating this year and beyond to our sustainability journey, connecting, growing and learning from our database of loyal shoppers, and continuing to bring quality, consistency and value to our team of partners. Whatever your resolutions are, we hope you hang on to them, and stop to enjoy the berries once in a while - we know we sure will!

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

Crop Updates
Santa Maria: 
 
Weather in Santa Maria started off cool this week with temperatures in the mid-high 60s and nighttime lows in the 30s-40s. Today and onward, weather will be moving into a warming trend through the weekend with temperatures in the 70s and evening lows in the 40s-50s, with no rain on the forecast for the next 10-14 days. Quality is looking good, and our organic fall crop is 10-12 count and looking very nice. Our conventional Fronteras is 10-14 count and looking awesome - firm, great color, shape and excellent color. We plan to begin harvest on our San Andreas next week, counts are 14-16 count and no defects to report. Labor continues to not be an issue.
 
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Oxnard:

Weather last weekend was warm, then cooled off at the beginning of the week, and is about to warm back up into the weekend ahead with temperatures forecasted for the high 60s and nighttime lows in the 40s-50s. Conditions ahead look dry, with no rain on the horizon for the next 7-10 days. Fruit is looking great and about to be on a 3-day rotation next week. Quality is nice, with good sheen, shape and 95% color. Conventional Fronteras is 14-16 count and 16-18 count in San Andreas. Organics are 14-16 count with great quality. Labor is not an issue at this time.
 
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Mexico:

We do have rain on the forecast the first week of February in Jocotepec, but we will be monitoring conditions closely. We are down slightly in strawberry volumes the next few weeks due to cool temperatures that have slowed the ripening process of the fruit. Our blackberry fields did experience some wind recently, but despite those conditions quality has maintained. Raspberries will increase in volumes slightly in the next few weeks. Our blueberries are looking very good in this region and increasing in production each week.

(Stay tuned for more Mexico region photos next week from our field team).

 

Blueberries:

Quality in Mexico has been very good, with organic production starting to pick up between now and mid-February. In South America, we are currently in peak arrival period out of Chile with quite a lot of fruit forecasted for the next two weeks. We received our first load of Chilean organics to Commercial OBC this week. Oxnard organics look very good at this time, and production is expected to increase this week. 

 

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Florida: 

We have had a cold few days, with some mornings reaching the low 30s but luckily no damages to report. Moving forward, temperatures will be in the high 70s with lows in the 40s-50s and no significant rain on the forecast. Quality is really good and counts are 16-18 count, some 12-14. Organics are 16-20 and should continue this size through the Valentine's Day pull with large stems ahead for our fruit. Fields are loading up and we anticipate a lot of fruit ahead and a big push in volume over the next few weeks.

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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. 

Watsonville

Salinas

Santa Maria

Oxnard

Mexico

Georgia

Florida

South America

 

A Sustainable Resolution
Sustainability: a heavily talked about topic these days, and an important one nonetheless! We have our own sustainability journey we've been on for quite some time, but want to hear from our partners. What does sustainability mean to YOU? How do you define it? We've also asked our consumers via social media to answer this one-size-does-NOT-fit-all question - as we've learned as an industry that this definition varies drastically from one person to the next. So, in an effort to better educate our audiences and bring them along this journey with us, we're asking to hear from them!
 
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Here are some of the answers we received when asked: What does Sustainability Mean to You?
 'Everything' 
'Quality work' 
'Less plastic waste'
'Something that benefits the community' 
 
When asked if sustainability was important to consumers when purchasing produce - 82% of consumers voted 'YES'.
 
The Packer also released a consumer poll that asked a small pool of consumers what the most important value associated with the TERMS sustainable or sustainability were. Poll results are shown below:
 
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We are constantly trying to learn from our consumers and partners, so shoot us a note and tell us what sustainability means to you and how we at California Giant Berry Farms can help or contribute to your efforts at  thegreenteam@calgiant.com
 
And, if you haven't checked our new Sustainability section of our web site - please do so! We go into depth about our True Zero Waste Certification process and achievements as part of our partnership with Measure to Improve, our Bee Better Certification, ways we practice sustainability on farm and at our facilities and more
 
The journey doesn't stop here - let's all be better together in 2020!
 

 

Berries are Brewing

Our 2020 Chef Invitational Top Chef Ambassador Chef Travis Peters of The Parish, Tucson is brewing up something extra special as part of his collaboration with Tucson, Arizona brewery 1912 Brewing Co. Guess what their sweet ingredient is? California Giant strawberries!

A Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Gose with California Giant Berry Farms strawberries, rhubarb, Mexican vanilla, and hints of graham crackers can be expected of one of their tasty beer options. The collaboration, partnership and recipe development goes far beyond the Chef Invitational summer event - as Chef Peters proves to continue to wear his ambassador 'hat' with pride and encourage berry usage beyond the norm in all aspects of his culinary endeavors, and even introducing berries to other chefs and vendors. 

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Along with some decadent new beer flavors featuring California Giant berries - the chef also plans to offer four carefully curated dishes to accompany the 1912 brews, with tickets on sale now for their February 12th Dinner Pairing in Tucson. If you're in the Tucson area, we highly recommend checking it out and snagging your tickets quick.

Cheers!

And as Chef Peters says.. Rock on Tucson!

Consumer Spotlight
Making us smile all the way from Missouri - this sweet comment about our strawberries started our week off just right!
 
"Thanks for delicious strawberries in January! I have been hungry for them. Thanks again!"
 
Pick of the Week
 This Food 4 Less is nothing short of fresh! We love a clean, organized display that feature California Giant raspberries.
 
Food For Less
 
Send us your own "pick of the week" and we will feature it here!
 

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