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Watsonville-Salinas:
Watsonville weather has been slightly cooler in the mornings with overcast and misty conditions. That said, skies clear up typically around noon with temperatures lately in the mid-high 60s. We should see temperatures increase next week into the 70s, but no significant warming trend is forecasted for the next 7-10 days. We had a small increase in volumes the last few weeks, with numbers projected to be steady the next 3-4 weeks. We are seeing a nice flower set coming in so we do anticipate another minor bump in numbers come August. Quality is looking good overall, and counts are 18-20, and 24-28 among organics.
Santa Maria:
Weather started off this week with temperatures in the low 80s with nighttime lows in the mid 50s. The marine layer has moved back in the last few days, keeping the temperatures cooler - with afternoons warming up into the 70s the tail end of the week. Next week looks average, with a slight warming trend towards the end of the week with highs in the mid 70s. Quality is good and packs still looks nice. We saw some softer fruit Monday and Tuesday afternoon this week with the warmer temperatures, but nice color and firmness this morning. Firm, clean fruit should stick around with more favorable weather. We are seeing mostly 22-24 count on conventional, while organics had some small, soft fruit early in the week that we cleaned up well, with counts mostly 24-28, with the occasional 30. Size and quality are still on the upswing with volume increasing slightly over the next couple weeks. Labor is still dicey, with crews only working 4-5 days per week. Fall crop planting is finished and plants look strong. Our Monterey fall crop is looking very good at this point - we have completed the first round of runners and de-blossoming and depending on weather, we could start walking field at the end of August.
Blueberries:
Oregon Blueberries:
Our Duke variety is finishing up. Mid-season varieties like Draper, Blue Ribbon, Top Shelf, Legacy, and Calypso are coming on strong. We have large volumes in our coolers and are forecasting another big week out of the farms next week. We are entering our peak weeks for organic blueberries out of Oregon with large supplies continuing through July and August. Quality is good - weather has been mild, which favors fruit sizing and firmness.
Washington Organics:
Our one organic grower in Eastern Washington will be finishing his crop next week.
Weather has been on the rainy side this week. British Columbia growers have been harvesting large volumes of Duke and Bluecrop. Quality is good for the most part - Duke is generally better quality with some soft berries in Bluecrop here in there.
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.
Have you heard? We are excited to announce that we will be implementing our traceability feature on our blueberry packaging with a launch date scheduled tentatively for next week. We look forward to allowing this functionality for tracing our blueberry crop within North America, Mexico and British Columbia, with South America next on our list for Chilean blues.
Now, consumers will be able to trace their blueberries back to our farms, and we'll be able to better collect consumer and farm-level intel for our blueberry commodity.
About this time last month we had our Brand Ambassador Fit Mitten Kitchen out to our California Giant farms in Watsonville, California for the Chef Invitational. We love hosting our partners and customers on berry field tours, and thought it was about time we had one of our very own influencers see the berry fields for herself!
We loved having Ashley share her influencer perspectives with the chefs in attendance, and vice versa. Not only did Ashley share the ways in which she connects with our everyday consumer with berry recipes she creates in her own kitchen, she also served as an official judge at the Chef Invitational, and has since shared tips and tricks for replicating these chef-inspired recipes at home to her followers.
Head over to Fit Mitten Kitchen to see how she incorporated bits and pieces of multiple Chef Invitational recipes into one!
Pictured: Paleo Friendly Fish Tacos with Berry Habanero Salsa
