September 19, 2019

Happy Thursday!

It's been a week full of diverse weather - from extreme heat to some rainfall in our Watsonville-Salinas growing regions - we are navigating through the unpredictabilities of Mother Nature and cleaning up fields as necessary, and are pleased to find that quality at this time has remained consistent. Our QC team will continue to monitor quality and packs as we head into the weekend and into next week to assess any residual effects, but as of now - our crops across all regions are looking good and ready for fall.

For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.

Crop Updates

Watsonville-Salinas:


The last few days in our Watsonville-Salinas regions have gone from one extreme to the other. Last Thursday temperatures got into the mid 90s, hit 100 on Friday, and was in the 80s on Saturday. This week started with rain, which was a constant drizzle until about 10am. Some ranches got a tenth inch of rain, forcing crews to end harvest late in the morning. Weather is forecasted to be in the mid 70s this week, heating up in the low 80s for the weekend.  

As for quality, we are not seeing any heat damage on strawberries at the moment. One of our raspberry ranches was hit with some heat damage, with percentages still being assessed. Blackberries have minimal heat damage at this time, with the protective shade cloth on hoops making a huge difference. Rain earlier this week started the day with pallets coming in wet and damaged, and it was a team effort to replace crates and re-stack pallets. Quality on all berries looked good following the rain and crews did a good job keeping the packs clean. As we progress into the weekend and next week we should see a low percentage of water damage (spongy tips) and pin rot but nothing expected to be significant. Our QC team will work closely with doc inspectors and growers to keep packs clean. Labor has been tight and our picking rotation is not regular at this time. 

 

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Santa Maria: 

Temperatures in Santa Maria are similar to those in Watsonville-Salinas the next 7 days with temperatures ranging in the 70s-80s - and today being a bit more overcast. We are seeing fruit size drop on most ranches from last weeks heat, mostly on the early planted Monterey and Portola varieties. Early planted blocks are mostly 20-24 count, middle and later-planted blocks are still in the mid-teens. Most ranches picked ahead over the weekend, which kept this week's packs pretty clean. We still see some darker and overripe berries around due to the recent heat, and fruit quality is varying from ranch to ranch and block to block as plant dates are driving fruit quality.

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Blueberries:

Oregon:

Volume in Oregon is winding down, with our organic production out of the northwest finished for the season. About 95% of the production coming out of Tualatin Valley for the rest of the season will be coming out of controlled atmosphere storage - quality out of controlled atmosphere storage at TVB has been good overall. We have stopped packing the Elliott variety out of the field. We have about two weeks left of the Oregon season.

Mexico

Mexico is packing light volumes and is starting to pack a small amount of organics next week - with conventional volumes expected to increase next week as well.

South America

We’ve received a small volume of fruit out of Argentina/Uruguay in Miami this week. Small volumes will continue to arrive there through the next few weeks. Reports on quality are good. We will receive our first Peruvian fruit in Philadelphia early during week within the next few weeks as well.

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Mexico:

In general, the weather across all Central Mexico regions is mostly the same. We have cloudy days with scattered rains and storms during the night, and fluctuations in temperatures. Zones in Jalisco are slightly warmer with highs in the mid 80s, with Michoacan generally the same, and Maravatio a bit cooler with highs in the 70s. We are expecting rainfall over the next few weeks across all regions.

Blueberries -

We were expecting an increase in production this week, however, we want to assure the quality of the fruit so we recommended that our grower clean the ripped fruit and train the crews so they harvest the fruit correctly. The quality of the exportable fruit is just right -we have good weights, calibers from 12-13mm, good bloom and firmness. We are starting organic blues with a few pounds and increasing each week. Cooler mornings are delaying the ripening of the fruit, but this will result in larger fruit in the long term.

Raspberries -

The production in conventional fruit is increasing because of the weather. Volumes will be gradually increasing as well. The quality of the fruit is just right with good size, a salmon color, and good firmness.

The organic production had an increase because of the weather with a clear skies and warmer temperatures in the afternoon. The volume for the next few weeks will remain steady with a slight decrease after that due to the Maravatio crop finishing the first flower. However at that point, our Jalisco organic crop will kick off. 

Strawberries -

Strawberry production is expected to start the week after next with volumes to increase rapidly week by week. The fields planted on time are currently looking great.

Blackberries -

We started on time to receive this week, with production rapidly increasing each week. We have counts of fruit in clamshells from 20 to 30, black color, and good firmness.

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South America:

In Peru we have seen steady temperatures and sunny days that allow a normal advance of harvest. The Biloxi variety looks good in the field and in packs. Argentina-Uruguay's Snowchaser variety is the main harvested variety in shipments from this region, with high volumes from Salto-Concordia. We received some rainfall last week in this region that interrupted harvest, but fruit looks good overall. This week, we are projected to have sunny days and warm temperatures. Crops and weather look good in Chile with an early bloom of our Duke variety.

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Florida: 

Weather is hot and humid with small chances of rain every day. Ground prep and plastic is finished and we will begin planting the 25th of this month. Harvest should begin the 1st week of October. 

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Weather Conditions

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. 

Watsonville

Salinas

Santa Maria

Oxnard

Mexico

Georgia

Florida

South America

 

Reaching Consumers

Six Berry Recipes for the Tastiest Tailgate Party

It's officially football season and we have the recipes to pair. Grab your friends, the remote, and snack on some delicious football-favorites below - from berry-centric appetizers, easy desserts, to burgers, to jello shots (that's right - how else does one celebrate their winning team?!)

Enjoy!

Burger with Strawberry Ancho BBQ Sauce 

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Berry Bruschetta with Honey Yogurt Spread 

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Strawberry Jello Shots 

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Gluten Free Blueberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Strawberry Guacamole 

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Blackened Chicken Tacos with Strawberry Salsa

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Consumer Spotlight
Soaring through this week with smiles from consumer feedback like this.
 
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Pick of the Week

California Giant berries spotted at a DC that supplies stores around Walmart's Home Office. We love that hashtag, too!

 

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Send us your own "pick of the week" and we will feature it here!
 

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