July 3, 2017

Happy Monday!

It's officially July and we are soaring through summer. That means warm weather, cool drinks and outdoor barbeques. With our berries looking this good, you won't want to miss out on making them a part of every recipe and summer gathering. 

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

Crop Updates

Watsonville - Salinas: 

Weather in this region is mild with temperatures ranging in the high 60s low 70s with heavy fog in the morning hours. The biggest quality challenge we are facing with strawberries is soft fruit, but with temperatures back down this week we should see quality improve significantly. Strawberry volume should stay consistent for the next 3 weeks. Our bushberry’s are on a 3 day cycle – with both raspberries and blackberries down in volume for the next few weeks. Blackberries should make a good push mid-August on, with raspberries anticipated to make their push in late August - mid-September. Four types of Salinas raspberries were planted in late March, and will begin harvest at the middle of August.  

 

Santa Maria

Weather in this region may creep up into the 80s toward the end of the week as another subtle warming trend emerges. The mid 70s weather leading up to it should help fruit as far as quality goes. Quality issues include bruising from the long, hot days we have seen. Counts are from 22-25, but overall quality and size should stabilize with some weather improvement this week. We are slowly declining in volume and can expect strawberries in Santa Maria to go until mid-August at this rate. Blackberries are looking great and are expected to peak mid-August.


 
Blackberries:
 

Weather in Georgia is still hot with scattered thunderstorms. However, despite weather hurdles these blackberries are holding up nicely in their peak and look excellent in quality. Our Santa Maria blackberries are also in good condition, and will continue to increase weekly in volume with a peak expected sometime in August.

Blueberries:

Today marks the start of our British Columbia blueberry harvest. This Duke variety is off to a great start. This variety will be concentrated in both Oregon and British Columbia, and we will have an abundance of fruit stemming from these two regions through September. 

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

Georgia

Reaching Consumers

Today’s hottest ingredient: transparency. Nowadays, consumers are demanding more information on the food products they buy – the who, what and where. Tesco's packaging is a prime example of providing accessible information on their clamshells for shoppers regarding the grower, growing region and berry variety. This type of transparency helps build brand trust, which leads to brand loyalty. Cal Giant does its part to build brand transparency with its shoppers by providing a 16 digit traceback code on all your favorite berry clamshells. With this, consumers can type in their code and Follow Us to Our Farm to see exactly where their berries came from! Did I mention you can win up to a $250 grand prize and $100 each month? How do you influence your consumers purchases?

Pick of the Week
Head over to this Gilroy Smart & Final for all the Cal Giant berries you need for your 4th of July celebrations!
 
 
Send us your own "pick of the week" and we will feature it here!

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