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Watsonville - Salinas:
Weather patterns this week should be similar to Santa Maria – cloudiness and light drizzles in the morning with a coastal fog layer, with sunny afternoons that burn off into the high 60s – low 70s. Quality is good, counts are ranging at 12-14, with Salinas fruit sizing down slightly quicker than that in Watsonville. Overall, packs look good and volume is going up, with the last week of June predicted as our peak week for strawberries.
Santa Maria:
Santa Maria is experiencing some “June Gloom” this first week of June, with fog in the morning and then clearing up mid-day with some sunshine. Temperatures have been fluctuating in the mid 50s – 60s, and should reach the low 70s this week. Quality is looking relatively good – with San Andreas at 24 count and seeing a 3-4-day, and Monterey at 20 count. Fronteras are slightly smaller at a 22-26 count, however, it has great flowers and should recover soon into the high teens. Flowers are blooming across all our ranches and varieties, with counts expecting to stay consistent in the high teens, low 20s the next few weeks. Organic strawberries are looking great and quality is clearing up. They are decent in size, and not as soft as some conventional berries we have seen. Overall, these plants are staged for the next month to produce steady fruit.
Blueberries:
Georgia has experienced some thunderstorms lately, with more predicted in this week’s forecast. Aside from the rocky weather, there should be steady volume for the next 10 days for the remainder of the season. Temperatures have been hot in the central valley, but quality has remained excellent! Our pacific north west blueberries are projected for harvest come July 1st, with a late, beautiful, abundant crop on the way.
Blackberries:
Our blackberry quality is looking good in Watsonville – with our Prime Ark variety being harvested currently. However, with volume increasing over the next few weeks, our Ouachita variety will soon begin its harvest as well. Santa Maria blackberries have good size, color, and minimal leaking fruit. Blackberry season has just begun in Santa Maria, and volume will be increasing weekly as weather conditions continue to stay in our favor. Our blackberries in Georgia are looking good, with volume expected to pick up mid-week.
Field Days with Cal Giant:
Last week we had the pleasure of showing our friends from Sysco Calgary around our Salinas strawberry fields! One of the things we love most here at Cal Giant is being able to show our customers our field operations, and who doesn't love tasting berries straight from the field?!
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.
Ever wonder how berries stack up in the produce department? According to IRI/Freshlook data collected by the Strawberry Commission, berries are ranked number #1 in sales within the department coming in at $6.4 billion in annual sales as of the end of the first quarter this year. This number is up over 9% from a year ago. Additionally, when looking at the berry category as a whole, you can see on this chart exactly where those dollars are coming from. Strawberries are still the leader with sales increasing continually every year, but as the category continues to grow, so do the other berry types. Additionally, with blackberries at just 14% of the total sales mix, you can see by the chart that they showed the highest percentage increase in sales over the previous year at over 17%, perhaps due to increased popularity within foodservice.
This is all good news for us at California Giant as we continue to expand our acreage on all berry types each season capitalizing on consumer shopping behavior! It’s good news for you too, as consumers buy more berries and more berry types each year.
Marina Grocery Outlet is loaded with our best fruit!
Send us your own "pick of the week" and we will feature it here!
