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Watsonville - Salinas:
Temperatures have been mild and temperate with most days ranging in the 60s-70s and mostly sunny. Overall, quality has remained strong. We are however starting to see some softer fruit being picked in the afternoon. Counts have also gone down to mostly 16-18, with some 20-22. Bushberries are on the rise with quality looking good as well.
Santa Maria:
Weather has been nice in the upper 70s - low 80s falling at night to the low 50s. Weather has been heating up, resulting in an increase in volume in our crops.
Quality is holding up nice with good size and firmness with counts at 18-22, however we have seen some minor defects with mildew, but no major issues here. We are planting our Portola variety through the first week of July. Our Santa Maria blackberry plants are looking good, and we are starting to see more flowers blossom - with a scratch date anticipated for the middle of July.
Blueberries:
Pacific North West
We have firm, beautiful, and sweet Pacific Northwest blueberries on the way this week. Both our Oregon conventional and Washington organic production will begin this Thursday June, 21st. British Columbia production is about 7-10 days behind with an estimated start date of June 28th. Quality and yields look to be excellent for the 2018 harvest season.
Georgia
Today will be the last day of the 2018 Georgia blueberry season. It was a great highbush season on price and quality. The rain came in the end of May through the first week of June and split most of the remaining highbush and the first crop of rabbiteyes. Overall, it was a successful season. We will continue on blackberries for the next 3 weeks.
Central Valley
Our Central Valley, Oxnard and Georgia blueberry production is limited this week. We are finishing our last picks in the field. Quality is as expected, we are on the last picks, fruit is soft and overripe. Due to this our supply is temporarily short.
Georgia Blackberries:
Weather looks to be warm with showers all week. We have been seeing better quality and expect it to improve as time goes on into the first week of July once weather clears, with the next few weeks looking to be peak weeks. We have plenty of labor around with H2A crews.
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.
Guess what's only a few weeks away?! Our annual Skirt Steak BBQ is right around the corner this July 17th at our California Giant Berry Farms Watsonville office. Can't swing by the office? That's ok! You are more than welcome to purchase lunches and donate them - just call our sales department to place your orders. Snag your tickets for this delicious, annual fundraiser with proceeds to help local organizations within our community. Come hungry, and come say hello to us in a few short weeks!
We couldn't be more excited to meet with our customers in just a few short days in Chicago at the United Fresh Convention. Aside from our new raspberry program and operational initiatives we are eager to discuss with you all, we are equally as excited to talk all things marketing! From our summertime Skinny Dips Sweepstakes still in full-swing, to our JAMberry social promotion, and our 'Everybody's Berry' campaign that we've taken into 2018 thus far - we have a lot in motion that we look forward to discussing with our partners. Come swing by booth #1236 - our 'Everybody's Berry' video below - says it all!
Time has flown by and our first annual Chef Invitational is only a few weeks away! We have selected our 5 chef finalists, and are so excited to try their dishes come July, that we already re-created them in our Cal Giant kitchen! We can't wait for our consumers to replicate these chef-crafted dishes at home in their own kitchens. Visit our newly launched Foodservice page on our web site to take a peek at timely foodservice insights, recipes, as well as additional details on our Chef Invitational to see which chef created each recipe... and enjoy our own take on the recipe recreations below!
Our organic blueberries are taking over this Marina Costco!
