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Mother Nature has provided consistent challenges in several growing regions as we continue harvesting, planting, and ending seasons in some areas while beginning new seasons in others. This time of year is known for quickly changing weather conditions and we aim to keep you as informed as we are, so please reach out to us if you have questions about volume, sourcing districts and long-term forecasts. Throughout the next several weeks we are encouraging shoppers to keep fresh berries on their shopping lists and in the shopping cart by providing seasonal recipes, blog posts and other inspirations for fall cooking. Scroll below for highlights!
For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.
Oxnard: We are finished with planting and ready for the season to kick in later this winter. As we approach December we will let you know how the crop is looking and when we expect that first harvest of 2017 to begin. We are happy to have new short day varieties in the ground and look forward to monitoring their performance this year along with your feedback as we consider expansion in future years.
Santa Maria: Time was spent last week cleaning up fields from the rain and short heat wave to ensure quality moving forward this week. This was true for both strawberries and blackberries in this district. Fall crop strawberries are still plentiful for the next few weeks but volume is dropping slightly each week as the weather cools and night time temps drop. Sizing is still averaging between 22-24 count. Some fields are being planted for 2017 now and that shift will continue for the next couple of weeks. Blackberries look great following field clean up after the recent weather and volume will be holding steady for the next few weeks in this district as well.
Watsonville/Salinas: The storm that blew through recently hit Watsonville harder than Salinas so strawberry shipments will be primarily from Salinas as most of our Watsonville ranches shifts into planting mode. The long term forecast for this entire region does show some rain in the next couple of weeks so depending on the severity of the rain, we may see more fields shifting toward planting and finishing for the season. Currently, we are shipping good quality with counts ranging 24-26 for the next couple of weeks.
Florida: Growers in this region are all planted up and ready for the season to kick in. We had a chance to visit the fields while at the PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando and took these snap shots. Stay tuned for this season to kick in soon and add to our winter strawberry volume.
Mexico: This region is just getting started and the fruit looks great. If all goes as planned, the transition from California to Mexico should be timed very well. We are expecting our first shipments in this week and as weather shifts to moderate daytime highs and cool nights, the volume is expected to increase each week for both strawberries and blackberries. Strawberry counts are currently at 26-28.
Argentina/Uruguay: These regions have gone through the peak but we still expect volume to continue for at least 2 more weeks and currently packing several sizes from 6oz to 18oz formats. These are shipping to both east and west coast ports. As these two districts decline in production, we are expecting Chile to start harvesting this week to help bridge the gap and provide a smooth transition between regions.
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.
The countdown continues on the Red State-Blue State promotion that has entertained our consumers during this election season. We are very pleasantly surprised at the engagement and overall success of this promotion that encourages consumers to vote for either red (strawberry) or blue (blueberry) before November 8th to help us determine which berry is more popular. To date we have had over 170,000 entries into our sweepstakes, and thus thousands of new consumers ‘electing’ to be added to our database for future communication as we build brand loyalty. For those of you that are interested, red/strawberry is currently polling ahead of blue/blueberry. It’s not too late to cast your vote or check on the latest results of this nationwide campaign.
We recently ran a nationwide test using the consumer shopping rebate app Ibotta. This mobile app allows consumers to access direct rebates on products in thousands of stores across the country. We wanted to see who is looking for rebates on our berries, where they are buying them, and which berry type they are buying the most when utilizing the rebate. Consumers received cash back on their California Giant berries and we gained many more shoppers in our database allowing us to continue to build brand loyalty after purchase. Here is a snapshot of some of the great information we received.
