The Trade Buzz

CROP UPDATES

STRAWBERRIES

strawberry

Santa Maria

Quality: Fruit quality is excellent, with occasional occurrences of green shoulders.

Volume: Volumes are increasing steadily.

Pack Counts: Conventional spring crop 12-14; Organic fall crop, 22-26.

Florida

Quality: Fruit quality is good.

Volume: Production is steadily increasing.

Pack Counts: 12-16.

Mexico

Quality: Fruit quality is good with issues of bruising, white shoulders and soft skin.

Volume: Production has passed its peak.

Pack Counts: 16-20, 22-28.

BLUEBERRIES

blueberry

Mexico

Quality: Conventional quality is good with minor occurrences of shrivel and leaky fruit.

Volume: Conventional volume in Mexico is ramping back up quickly, with volume expected to increase week-over-week until we reach a small peak in March for our conventional blues. We expect relatively steady conventional volume from Mexico through the remainder of the year.

 

Chile

Quality: Quality is good with nice size, shape, bloom, firmness, color, and flavor.

Volume: Chilean production of blues is greatly winding down and should be finishing within the next few weeks.

Oxnard

Region Update: Light production has begun. Peak volumes are anticipated to arrive mid-March.

RASPBERRIES

raspberry

Mexico

Quality: Overall, fruit is looking good with a strong red color, sizes and firmness. 

Volume: Volume for raspberries is staying at a consistent peak through the end of April.

BLACKBERRIES

blackberry

Mexico

Quality: Quality is good.

Volume:Volume for blackberries is staying steady at a consistent peak through the end of July.

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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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