Happy Monday!
We're almost halfway through March, and just a week shy of the first day of spring. Spring in of itself is a season we love to celebrate as berry growers - the temperatures begin to slowly warm up, our crops begin to blossom, and lots of berries draw near. This week is starting off sunny in our California growing regions and a nice push in volume should be on the way - we couldn't think of a better way to step into spring!
For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.
Santa Maria:
We had clear weather this morning and the rest of the week looks to be dry with mostly sunny skies. Moving forward, weather should be in our favor and volume should pick up. As of now, both San Andreas and Fronteras varieties have taken a decent hit from the rain, with San Andreas slightly worse off. Counts are 12-14 for Fronteras and 14-16 for San Andreas. Although there is some water damage out in the fields, we have a new flower set coming in and March may be slow, but come April and May volume will be booming. Our organic spring crop is 16-20 count and will size up in the weeks ahead once the new flower set comes out.
Oxnard:
Overall fruit and packs look very nice today. Color is at 90-95 percent, and size is 14-16 count in both Fronteras and San Andreas. Some of the furrows are still fairly muddy from the recent rains and for now, we are just waiting for them to dry out and maintaining any necessary clean up in the fields. There is a lot of fruit coming soon - the plants are really beginning to load up, and it looks like we may have a slight warming trend heading into the weekend, with 70+ degrees, which will help push the numbers for next week.
Mexico:
We are having generally the same weather pattern all over central Mexico with highs in the 80s during the day, and lows in the 50s in the morning with partly cloudy skies. We are seeing a minor hindrance in raspberry production in Jocotepec due to some thrip damage, but overall quality is looking good with the exception of some light colored fruit here and there. We plan to prune the fields following our seasons to have less pests and negative effects on our crops as we transition. As for both blueberries and blackberries - quality is looking great and we have no significant defects to report.
Florida:
Weather this week in Florida looks to be in the mid 80s with lows in the 60s, and rain potentially on the horizon for the weekend. Out in the fields we are seeing some white shoulders, but overall, we expect this to clear up with the sun and warm weather at the start of this week. We are picking good quality, two day fruit everywhere and sizing is 20-24 in Brilliance, and 18-20 in Sensation. Radiance is done for the season, as are organics. We have a few weeks left of the Florida season and and expect a strong finish.
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.
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