March 1, 2021

Crop Updates

Strawberries

Oxnard: 

Weather:  Strong Santa Ana winds have been blowing strong since last week and are projected to continue. The wind makes it difficult to keep the dust down, but crews are working hard to keep on top of it, while ensuring clean packs. 

Quality: Good quality with nice shape, sheen and taste. Coloring is at 95-100%. 

Volume: Production is starting to see an upswing in projected numbers. Picking schedule has increased and growers are working to anticipate this, with peak supply from the area in weeks 11 though 15. 

Pack Counts: Conventional: 14-18 ct.

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Santa Maria:

Quality:  Great color, shape, sheen. Fruit is very firm. Organic Fall Crop is a bit lighter in color, similar to salmon color. There's been some bruising visible and crews are dropping a decent amount in the fields to ensure strong and clean packs of this crop.

Volume: New fields are starting to come on quickly now. Growers are expecting a 20-30% increase in total volume week over week through March and will continue to increase before reaching peak volume at the end of May. 

Pack Counts: Conventional:  12-16 ct. / Organic Spring Crop:  12-14 ct. Organic Fall Crop: 18-24 ct. 

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Mexico:

Quality: Good firm, quality. Some bruising/overripe and green shoulders; crews are doing a great job of maintaining clean and consistent packs.

Volume: Steady

Pack Counts: Conventional: 19-28 ct. depending on growing location and variety

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Florida:

Weather: Floridians broke out the sunglasses last week and finally enjoyed some warmer weather, so did the plants!

Quality: Inspections are reporting perfect quality fruit as of late.

Volume: Growers expect a strong steady supply for the next few weeks thanks to good weather.

Pack Count: Conventional: 12-17 / 18-24 ct. depending on variety – in general fruit is starting to size down.

FL 2-2-1

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Blueberries

Mexico

Quality: Quality out of Mexico is very good with good size, bloom, flavor, and firmness on both organic and conventional product. 

Volume: Production will steadily increase week over week, thanks to recent warmer weather, now through mid-May.

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South America:

Quality: Quality on recent container arrivals from Chile has been mixed with occasional fair and poor quality lots. This is mostly due to delays with vessels, ports, customs, etc. 

Volume: Growers in southern Chile are in the late stage of their harvest. They are packing the final containers of the season this week. We do expect to receive significant volume from a container arriving this week, however.

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Oxnard Organic

Quality: Quality of this organic fruit is good with firm berries and good bloom. Growers are reporting larger, more uniform fruit size as well. 

Volume: Production is increasing as crews are getting into blocks that were not as badly affected by the freeze event a few weeks ago. 

Central Valley

Harvest Status: One organic grower is forecasting that they will begin field-packing organic blueberries around week 11. This will be in very light volume before the rest of the farms start in late-April / early May. 

Florida/Georgia:

Harvest Status: One grower will begin harvesting light volumes from an early producing field this week. The rest of the Florida production will begin harvesting around week 11-12. Georgia growers are projecting a start date of mid-April.

Raspberries

Mexico:

Quality: Very good. Crews are doing a great job of ensuring clean packs, as minor uneven ripening is being seen throughout the fields. 

Volume: Growers report the start of a slight upward trend in supply.

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Blackberries 

Mexico:

Quality: Very good quality  

Volume: Steady

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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

 

Consumer Spotlight

A berry sweet message from a Kroger Shopper:

"Excellent! These were the best raspberries I have tasted, so sweet. They didn't last two days."

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