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Regarding COVID-19: California Giant is working hard to make every effort to ensure the health and safety of our colleagues and coworkers, while maintaining SAFE business and supply continuity of fresh berries to our customers. All areas of our supply chain continues to emphasize thorough sanitation practices and social distancing protocols. Thank you for being a valued customer of California Giant - We are all in this together!
Watsonville received about one tenth of an inch of rain on Monday and Tuesday this week. Salinas got a few sprinkles but overall, stayed dry.
Another chance of rain this Sunday and Monday. 80% chance as of right now, forecasting between a tenth to quarter of an inch.
The rain prevented Tuesday’s Watsonville harvest, but were able to get back into the fields on Wednesday. Crews were forced to drop about 30-50% of the fruit. We will continue to work hard to maintain clean packs and watch quality. Peak volumes for this area is expected early-mid June.
Weather this week has been warm and windy, with winds upward of 30-40 mph. We’re expecting a small chance of rain this weekend.
Overall, we’re seeing good quality, shape and color. Some small and soft berries getting dropped here and there. San Andreas variety: 16-18 count, good shape and color, still some minor bruising. Monterey variety: 16-18 count, this small size is result of the recent heat we experienced.
Organic Strawberries:
The cooler weather this week has been a welcome change as it will help the fruit start to size and firm back up. Fronteras is mostly 18-24 count and Cabrillo is mostly 16-18 count.
Raspberries
Watsonville-Salinas:
Raspberry harvest began last week. We’ll see very small volume to start, but beautiful color! Volume will increase every week and will jump in about a month.
Mexico:
The production continues to decrease. The quality is affected due to the changes in the temperatures, but growers are working hard to maintain quality packs.
Blackberries
Watsonville-Salinas:
We are still a couple weeks out from Blackberry harvest. We’ll start with the Ouachita variety which is expected to spike in volume around the middle of June. Prime Ark 45 is expected to start in July.
Georgia:
Georgia Blackberry harvest is expected to begin by the middle of next week! We’ll see very small volume to start, with a gradual increase to peak through early July.
Mexico:
Production will start to decrease now with the Spring season wrapping up at the end of June. Growers are doing their best to maintain consistent quality.
Blueberries
Mexico:
Temperatures in the high 90’s have been leading to smaller fruit size, but free of any shrivel. Volumes exceeded our forecast from last week; however, volume is gradually declining as the spring season winds down which is expected to wrap up by by early July.
Georgia
We’re seeing good quality as we pack the final picks of the highbush crop through the end of this week and expect to pick early rabbiteye crop next week. The rabbiteye crop is expected to pick up during week 22 as weather improves!
Central Valley California:
Conventional volumes were above forecasted numbers, and will continue increasing over the next few weeks until peak on week 23. Quality remains good and is grading well!
Oregon:
Still on track to begin harvesting mid-June.
Organic Blueberries
Oxnard Organic Blueberries:
Actual volumes for week 19 were slightly above forecasted and we’re expecting volumes to remain steady for the next few weeks as the season winds down by week 24. Quality is mostly good with some isolated leakers in the larger packs which are being packed on the packing line; we’re working hard to keep these clean. The smaller packs are being field-packed and are free of any issues.
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.
This week, we're still celebrating National Strawberry Month with sweet treats! Our easy-to-make pantry cake puts strawberries at the forefront of your sweet tooth, while a new take on a strawberry margarita is sure to spice up your virtual happy hours!
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A berry sweet message from a Harmon's shopper:
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"Absolutely delicious berries! So grateful for those who grow, harvest, and deliver such happiness in a container even during these strange times." |
California National Guard’s 144th Fighter Wing performed a special flyover this week in a salute to health care workers on the front-lines battling the Coronavirus pandemic - The Watsonville office and our growers in Santa Maria were lucky enough to have a great view of the planes.
From all of us at Cal Giant, THANK YOU to the essential workers who are working tirelessly to ensure our collective safety, health, consistent food supply and more!
