June 19, 2020

Pacific Northwest Blueberries are here! It's about to be peak Oregon blueberry season and consumers can't wait for our great quality berries!

In an effort to help build awareness and drive purchase intent for our peak of summer season berries, our "Sip, Chill, Repeat" summer sweepstakes launched last week. From coupons, ebooks, prizes, emails, social posts, and more - our consumer audience has a lot to get excited about this summer season!

The 2020 California Giant Chef Invitational launched this week. We are down to the top 6 finalists and are inviting everyone to vote on their favorite dish! Vote here now!

Don't forget to follow us on social media: @calgiantberries  to see the latest updates on our consumer engagements.

Crop Updates

Regarding COVID-19: California Giant is working hard to make every effort to ensure the health and safety of our colleagues and coworkers, while maintaining SAFE business and supply continuity of fresh berries to our customers. All areas of our supply chain continues to emphasize thorough sanitation practices and social distancing protocols. Thank you for being a valued customer of California Giant - We are all in this together!

Blueberries
Mexico:
Production will continue to decline in the coming weeks out of Mexico. The spring crop will finish during week 26 for organic fruit and week 28 for conventional fruit. We will receive some very light volumes of the summer crop from a couple of growers through July and August.

Oregon:
The Oregon conventional and organic blueberry growing region is about to be in full harvest mode beginning today and throughout the next several weeks. Initial quality on first pick of the Duke variety looks very good. The fruit is firm with good size and good bloom – a great sign and confirmation of our high expectations for this season’s harvest quality. This fruit is perfectly suited for premium merchandising displays, promotional opportunities and more. Also available from California Giant this year is a new corrugated package of 18oz. organic blueberries. Contact us today to learn more!

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Strawberries
Watsonville- Salinas:

This past week’s weather was ideal for strawberries! Highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the 50’s. It was nice change from the difficult weather patterns we saw in May. Availability and productivity of crews has started to get tight. While this is to be expected, it is happening about a month earlier than last year. Harvest schedules tend to get backed up as a result and we have to keep a close eye on quality. Overall quality of the strawberries has been good; however, we continue to battle bruising and overripe fruit. Conventional packs are averaging 20-22, and organic strawberries are averaging 28-30.

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Organic Strawberries
Santa Maria organic strawberries has seen improvement in both quality and sizing over recent weeks.  The fruit is more firm, less bruising, generally stronger overall.  Counts are mostly 24-26 count, with some occasional 30-32 counts from some ranches.  There are a lot of flowers in the field indicating we may see an increase in production in the coming weeks. 

Raspberries 
Watsonville-Salinas:
This was our first big week of raspberry volume harvested out of the Watsonville area. Quality looks very good, with color and flavor being ideal for each of the varieties.

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Blackberries 
Watsonville-Salinas:
Blackberries out of Watsonville are off to a good start with its first official week of harvest complete. We’re expecting an increase of volume week over week for the next four weeks.

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Santa Maria:
Growers are seeing good color in the fields and have been harvesting light volumes so far. We anticipate volumes to increase over the next 3 weeks. The fruit quality is very good.

Georgia:
The past several weeks of weather has been mild, with temperatures averaging low to mid-80’s. A warming trend is forecasted for next week that will heat up the fields to the mid-90’s, with lows in the 70’s overnight. As a result of the mild weather to date, the fields did not ripen as quickly as we originally projected. As long as the forecast predictions hold, we anticipate an extended harvest season of high quality blackberries through July. The fruit quality has been really good, with only an occasional red cell here and there. Color is gorgeous with a nice shine.

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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

 

Reaching Consumers

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Our summer sweepstakes, “Sip, Chill & Repeat” is here! Consumers are invited to enter for the chance to win backyard hangout giveaways, health and wellness themed prizes, and more! We’ve already had over 15,000 submissions and look forward to MANY more.  

Check out some of the cool prizes included:

  • Refreshing Sips - 10-piece Mixology Bartender Kit & Yeti® Cooler
  • Cool Treats - Cuisinart 2-Quart Ice Cream Maker
  • Outdoor Summer Activities - Big Waves Corkcicle Tumbler
  • Wellness Accessories - InnoGear Essential Air Diffuser

Plus, we’ve partnered with the iBotta app to offer $0.35 off California Giant strawberries– any size. 🍓 This is a great way to reach a new audience and continue to encourage consumer to enjoy berries from California Giant.

download-ibotta-now

Consumer Spotlight

A berry sweet message from a Safeway Shopper:

"Thank you for packaging these blueberries in compostable cardboard. I’ve been trying not to purchase items in plastic packaging so when I saw your box it made it easy to decide which blueberries to buy."
Pick of the Week

Chef Invitational-3

California Giant is excited to virtually host its 3rd annual Chef Invitational competition highlighting some of our foodservice industry’s finest. The Chef Invitational will run through July 8, during which time each chef and their creative, berry-inspired dish will be promoted individually on social media. This will allow ample time for voters to choose the People's Choice Winner and the Top Chef Award.

Both the winners and their selected non-profit will receive cash prizes: $500 each for the People's Choice Winner and $1,000 each for the Top Chef winner. The Top Chef winner will also become a brand ambassador for California Giant throughout the year.

Vote For Your Favorite Dish Now!

The 2020 California Giant Chef Invitational Finalists: 

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