Visit Our Other Sites
We are seeing some changes in the air since our last report, as we now approach mid-October. As the days get shorter and temperatures shift this time of year, our growing regions for berries do, too. Because of that, below we are providing you with a much more comprehensive crop update. Please be sure to stay in touch with us about availability and growing regions over the next few weeks. Also, please download your own copy of our ‘Scary Berries’ eBook that consumers have been downloading for the last week. And lastly, if you haven’t voted yet, you still have time to join the fun and vote #berriesforpresident in our Red State or Blue State promotion!
For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.
Oxnard: We are well into planting for our 2017 spring crop in Oxnard. We have not had any issues yet with labor and getting plants in the ground. We are pretty much on schedule, despite some heat we had recently that required us to postpone some planting. The plants we are getting from the nurseries look very good and we are pleased with progress in this region. We will continue to share weather reports with you as we go through the next several weeks and provide a forecast of first harvest as timing gets closer.
Santa Maria: We are coming off another small heat wave that hit over the weekend, with highs in the upper 80’s - low 90’s. Thankfully, we are also seeing shorter days and cool nights that help maintain quality. This week, the forecast is to return to normal fall conditions, however, there is a potential for rain in the long term forecast at this point. The fall crop strawberries have great quality, color, and sizing averaging 20-24 ct. Volume should be steady throughout the rest of October on strawberries. Blackberries are also seeing very good quality and steady volume for the next few weeks, due to the QA group working closely with harvest crews to cull out and drop damaged fruit from recent heat in the region. There is still good availability of labor in this region and harvest schedules are staying on track.
Watsonville/Salinas: Both Watsonville and Salinas saw similar heat as reported in Santa Maria over the weekend and is expected to get back into normal temperatures for the rest of this week, with a chance of rain on Friday in the forecast. Quality is very good, showing fruit sizes that range from 20 – 28 depending on location within the region. Volume is expected to remain consistent over the next few weeks with the determining factor being labor, as we approach the end of October. This region has been affected more than others with lack of labor due to high pay rates and employees simply choosing not to work on weekends, in order to keep pay at a rate that still qualifies them for other subsidies and services. The lack of stable labor is affecting some ranches and harvest schedules at the end of each week and sometimes on Mondays. This uncertainty is also coming at a time when some ground must be turned for the next crop, so by the end of October this region might look different.
Mexico: The strawberry and blackberry season in Mexico is just now getting underway with some growers harvesting and weekly volume is increasing as weather shifts. The daytime temps are cooling slightly into the low 80’s and high 70s’, but nighttime temps are helping more as they dip into the high 50’s. Shipments into U.S. will begin in small numbers initially over the next couple of weeks, but increase as we get to the end of October and early November.
Argentina/Uruguay: With lighter blueberry volume we are still bringing in fruit by air, but boat shipments should begin within a week or two. Flights were disrupted into Florida due to Hurricane Matthew, but should be back on track by issue date of this email. Volume is expected to increase each week as we approach the end of the month and November. Quality is very good and currently we are seeing good size and flavor of the fruit coming in. From this point forward, we are going to see much more consistency in regular shipments coming into both coasts from South America with much more certainty on pack sizes and regular promotable volume.
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.
If you have not RSVP’d to attend our party at the PMA Fresh Summit this Saturday evening, please do so here! We would love to see you, even if you're just stopping by on the way to another event. Our party is from 5PM – 8PM so click here to sign up and bring guests!
In addition to the great recipes and photos we shared with you in our last issue, we've created a downloadable eBook for our consumers. This eBook has 10 different recipes and full color photography, to help inspire families to include berries in their Halloween celebrations. To date, we've shared this eBook with over 82,737 consumers in our database via email and have gotten over 7,432 impressions through our social media channels. Click below to download our Scary Berries for yourself - There's even a festive cocktail in the mix!
