The Trade Buzz

CROP UPDATES

STRAWBERRIES

strawberry

Santa Maria

Quality: Conventional and organic fall crop quality is good, with some occurrences of bronzing and misshapen fruit. Organic spring crop quality is good with defects being small-sized fruit, bruising and soft skin.

Volume: Organic spring crop volumes will be steady for the next few weeks. Initial harvests of fall crop have begun, with production becoming steady as we enter late August to early September.

Pack Counts: Organic spring crop, 28-34. Organic fall crop, 16-20. Conventional fall crop 14-16.

Watsonville/Salinas

Quality: Quality is good with some occurrences of dark, small fruit. 

Volume: Production is steady and anticipated to incrementally increase in the coming weeks.

Pack Counts: Conventional 18-24; Organic 24-30 depending on ranch. 

BLUEBERRIES

blueberry

Mexico

Quality: Quality is fair. 

Volume: Production is decreasing and anticipated to be low until the season ramps up in October.

Pacific Northwest

Quality: Overall quality is good.

Volume: Production has returned to normal after a week of heavy rains. Organic production is beginning to enter a peak and will have good production through September. 

RASPBERRIES

raspberry

Mexico

Quality: Quality is fair. Rain is causing high humidity and increasing mold occurrence. Growers are doing their best to keep packs clean.  

Volume: Volumes for raspberries has passed their peak and will steadily decline throughout August.

Watsonville

Quality: Quality is good. 

Volume: Volumes are decreasing. 

BLACKBERRIES

blackberry

Mexico

Quality: Quality is good. High humidity is causing some soft fruit and pest pressure. 

Volume: Volumes are steady.

Watsonville

Quality: Quality is good, with nice color and size and excellent flavor. Minor occurrences of attached calyx. 

Volume: Volumes are increasing week over week. We are anticipating a peak in production around late August until late September

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SEPC Southern Exposure

March 6 – 8th
Orlando, FL

USHBC/NABC Blueberry Hill Climb

March 24 – 28th
Alexandria, VA

CPMA

April 8 – 10th
Montreal, Canada

IFPA Retail Conference

April 30 – May 1st
Dallas, TX

IFPA Washington Conference

June 9 – 11th
Washington, DC

Organic Produce Summit

July 9 – 11th 
Monterey, CA

IFPA Foodservice Conference

July 31 – August 1st
Monterey, CA

SEPC Southern Innovations

September 10 – 13th
Charlotte, NC

USHBC/NABC Blueberry Convention

October 8 – 10th
Seattle, WA

IFPA Global Produce & Floral Show

October 16 – 18th
Anaheim, CA

A berry nice note from a California Giant Berry Farms shopper:

“I’ve never written to a producer of any food, but I am compelled to let you know that your strawberries are consistently the best we’ve ever had. We’ve eaten so many that I’m surprised we haven’t grown stems. Thank you for making us believe again that fruit can be grown, packaged, and shipped and remain delicious.”

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