March 4, 2019

Happy Monday, 

We hope everyone is staying dry out there. We have more storms on the forecast this week in our California growing regions, with a cold front moving in to Florida as well. Despite the ongoing wet conditions, packs are being kept clean and fields are being harvested as weather permits. We look forward to a few warm, dry days to bring on the volume, as fields are loaded up with fruit just waiting to be picked!

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

Crop Updates

Santa Maria

We ended up close to 1.5 inches of rain over the weekend and are seeing a decent amount of damage in the field this morning. This weeks forecast is showing 2.5 inches of rain tomorrow with another half inch Wednesday. Crews are dropping any damaged fruit and are doing a good job of packing a clean pack. Overall, quality is good despite the rain we have received, and we will continue to assess damages following the rain on the forecast between tomorrow and Wednesday. Be sure to contact the sales team for updates regarding weather and packing schedules.
 IMG_2821
 
IMG_2860
 
IMG_2861
IMG_2862

 

Oxnard:

Weather looked nice today, but we have more rain on the forecast that kicks off tomorrow. We were able to take advantage of a full day of picking today into tomorrow morning  - and are able to make a complete round on all the fields. The fruit looks clean and dry, with very little moisture in today’s pack. There is an occasional water-damaged fruit in some baskets, but very minimal - the workers are doing a very diligent job of picking and packing clean fruit. Once we get a break in the weather there is a lot of nice fruit on the plants that will be ready to go. The upcoming storm is scheduled to bring us 1.5-2.5 inches of rain starting Tuesday into early Friday. Our picking schedule will vary depending on when we can get back into the fields - be sure to communicate with our sales team this week on weather and packing schedules.

 

IMG_7149

IMG_7147

IMG_7146 

Mexico:

Weather looks to be nice this week throughout Central Mexico with highs in the 80s during the day, and the low 50s at night. Zamora and Irapuato may be even warmer in the 90s early this week, with no rain forecasted at the moment. As usual this time of year we are experiencing strong winds in the afternoon depending on location. As for berry quality, our raspberries have similar defects to last week due to warm weather - minor broken fruit, thrip damage and green fruit. Overall, despite minor setbacks quality is looking very good - flavor is sweet, and size is big. We have a lot of green fruit on the way and plants are vigorous. Because of this, fruit is taking slightly longer to ripen but we anticipate a spike in volume in 2 or so weeks. Overall, our blueberry quality is looking good with no problems or rejections at the cooler, however, some growers are short on labor. In Irapuato and Zamora a few growers are beginning to prune plants to start back up in August-September, where volume will remain steady and increase. In Jalisco, numbers will continue to increase in both organic and conventional. Our blackberries look good, with some minor red cell here and there but nothing significant. We anticipate volume to increase by April-May.

2019-03-04_12-53-55-953 
2019-03-04_12-54-09-155

2019-03-04_12-54-05-391
 
2019-03-04_13-33-24-380
 
2019-03-04_13-33-24-225
2019-03-04_13-33-24-067
 

Blueberries:

Our South America blueberry growing region will be coming to an end this week due to volumes decreasing and rain on the forecast. As the season comes to a close, we are wrapping up with decent quality and great size and bloom in our south zone origin.

Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 12.55.46 PM
Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 12.55.54 PM  

Florida:

Fruit quality is decent in Florida with counts 20-24 on 1lb. 40-50 in the 2lb. A cold front is moving in tonight with temperatures in the low 60s and low 40s at night. The ranch’s should have enough fruit to get us to the end of March - first week of April.

fl1 fl2

fl3  

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

 

News

We have big news that we are excited to share with all of you! Just last week we implemented our new Destini Product and Store Locator feature onto our web site, and we can't wait to see how it performs. The Destini locator will specifically guide consumers to where they can purchase California Giant berries when looking for a store nearby - they will simply enter their zip code on our site and see where our berries are being scanned based on UPC codesNot only will this platform be able to showcase to consumers where and what type of berry is available at their local retailer so they can look for the California Giant brand, but this will also give us valuable insights to share back with retailers about where shoppers are searching for berries.

Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 3.00.37 PM

That's not it! In addition to the product-store locater platform, we are simultaneously launching California Giant coupons in conjunction to serve as a brand-building tool and to drive trial and repeat purchases alike. If a specific retailer is currently on ad, we can insert current promotions, coupons, and other incentives to consumers to buy our brand, and ultimately collaborate synergistically with our partners to help drive berry sales. 

Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 3.03.22 PM

These two initiatives were top of mind when strategically planning for the 2019 year with each of our partners in mind, and we look forward to working with you all on our research and findings, and most importantly, leading the way through the path to purchase.

Reaching Consumers

This just in: we received the 2018 Fresh Facts on Retail report from the United Fresh Produce Association and we’re sharing the top insights that stood out to us!

Produce in 2018 generated 60 billion in sales and represents 34% of total fresh – second to the meat category. These insights excite us in knowing that shoppers are choosing fresh when filling their shopping carts.

Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 1.30.15 PM

We are seeing a slight increase in household trips to the store to buy  fresh produce versus last year.  The average basket size when fresh produce is included is $60 versus $47 when no produce is in the shopping basket. However, 50% of trips to the grocery store do not include produce. That said, we realize we still have a long way to go on building consumption and sales with our shoppers in terms of berry consumption, and overall fresh consumption.

It was reported that fruit volume decreased marginally this year when compared to the corresponding period - this suggests that merely offering healthy products may no longer be enough to drive consumer purchases. However, rapidly growing categories like blueberries, avocados and mandarins helped stabilize overall dollars. Strawberries are up 1.6%, blueberries up 9.3% and raspberries up by 6% over 2017 sales.  Apples, grapes and bananas all declined, and watermelon was flat in sales.

Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 1.31.00 PM

The report also suggests that consumption of berries has increased within the last year as they benefit from health claims – blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are all in the top 10 versus Q4 of 2017.

When taking a look at the organic category, we quickly notice that organic produce currently represents a $6 billion industry. Both fruits and vegetables increased sales as more and more organic items are sold. Increased awareness on organic offerings has changed the conviction of buyers about the superiority of the product over the conventional one. Interestingly, retail price is not up at the same rate as sales and volume, which shows that there is a threshold for consumer value on organics.

Organic insights:

  • Organic during Q4 2018 surpassed 1 billion in sales – up 11% versus Q4 2017
  • Organic strawberries were up 18% in sales and 31% in volume with a 10% decline in average retail price
  • Organic blueberries were up 49% in sales and 74% in volume with a 14% decline in average retail price

We always look forward to serving up our partners with the latest insights, and ways in which we can work together to drive the fresh category, and more specifically, the berry category. Stay tuned for more Fresh Fact insights to be updated on our official Trade site this week!                                                                                                                                          

Consumer Spotlight
                                               
Our dedicated team of growers do their best to deliver top quality - that means flavor too!           
                                                                        Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 1.47.10 PM
 
 
Pick of the Week
 This Target is heading toward spring with California Giant strawberries.
 
Target1
 
  Send us your own "pick of the week" and we will feature it here!
 

Leave a Comment

Subscribe

Recent Posts