March 8, 2021

Strawberries

Oxnard: 

Quality: Good quality with nice shape, sheen, and taste. Coloring is at 95-100%. Wind continues to cause issues with dust on the fruit.

Volume: The plants are loaded with fruit of all stages. Alas, the cooler weather is holding back the significant jump in volume. Growers eagerly await the longer days and warmer temps which will ripen more fruit and drastically increase volumes. 

Pack Counts: Conventional: 14-18 ct.

Santa Maria:

Weather: Up to an inch of rain is expected this week. Plants will benefit from the rain and most varieties will withstand the extra moisture, although some will require extra clean up once the weather passes through.

Quality: Great quality with nice size, shape, and color. Some bruising due to size and some green shoulders. Organic: averaging 95% on color.

Volume: Gradual and steady increase of volume for the next few weeks, especially with the cooler weather. However, once the weather warms up, growers expect a big increase.

Pack Counts: 14-16, some 18-ct. depending on variety

Mexico:

Quality: Very good quality and flavor.

Volume: Steady

Pack Counts: Conventional: 24-28 ct. depending on growing location and variety

Florida:

Quality: Very good quality and flavor.

Volume: For Organic there will be a big spike in volume for the next few weeks. Overall, volume will hold steady for next few weeks and wrap up the season strong.

Pack Count: Conventional: some 12-14 ct. / mostly 18-24 ct. depending on variety – in general fruit is starting to size down.

Blueberries

Mexico

Quality: Quality is very good with good size, bloom, flavor, and firmness on both organic and conventional product. The only minor defects present is a small percentage of attached blossom and redback berries found in some packs.

Volume: Production is ramping up in both conventional and organic fields, with growers harvesting over forecast last week.

South America:

Quality: Quality on recent container arrivals has been mixed with occasional fair and poor-quality lots, mostly due to delays with vessels, ports, customs, etc. Quality control is working hard to ensure only the best packs make it to market.

Volume: Chilean growers will complete their final harvest and will pack their final container of the season this week.

Oxnard Organic

Quality: Quality is good with firm berries and good bloom. We continue to see larger, more uniform fruit size.

Volume: Production has been increasing as they are getting into new blocks.

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.

Florida/Georgia:

Harvest Status: One grower has begun harvesting very light volumes from an early producing field. 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: Good quality and flavor.

Volume: Steady

Blackberries 

Mexico:

Quality: Quality is very good. Nice taste, firmness and sheen.

Volume: Growers report there will be a slight dip in volume over the next few weeks, before rebounding to increased supply beginning in April.