Our Farmers

Did You Know

Farmers make up 2% of the population in the US and 97% of US farms are owned and operated by families. We are very proud to be among that 97%!

The family focus and sense of camaraderie at California Giant extends far beyond internal employees. Our farmers are a central tenet of our family that helps us achieve our mission! If there is one thing that has never been unclear around the office, from sales to operations to the marketing department, it is that our work would be impossible without the efforts of each grower.

There's nothing quite like seeing a field of berries in full bloom and ready for harvest. We only wish we could share the sweet smell of these berries ripening in the sun! Meet some of our farmers and tour our fields by watching the videos below.

Visit Us in the Field

Get to know who's growing your California Giant berries as they tell their stories in the videos below.

Meet our Chilean Farmers - Javiera

Chilean Blueberries with Joe Barsi

Who Is Cal Giant?

Timmy Wilson's Blueberry Fields and Honey Bee Pollination

Timmy Wilson's My Berry Story

John Navarro's My Berry Story

Jason Morgan's My Berry Story

Rocha Bros My Berry Story

Track Your Berries Back to Jason Morgan's Farm

Take a Tour of John Navarro's Blackberry and Raspberry Ranch

Blueberry Fields Close Up

Clamshell Packing

A Sunny Day In the Fields

Blackberry Planting

A Day in the Life of a California Giant Strawberry

Pat Riordan

Steve Yamamoto

Bill Moncovich receives chamber award

1 Planting Our berry’s life cycle begins in nurseries where plantlets are trimmed by hand, boxed and transported to our growers’ fields. Plantlets are planted each fall, allowing berries to grow and mature before shifting to the fruit-bearing stage.

2 Protecting While farmers wait for the annual harvest to begin, the fields are surrounded by deer fences to protect plants and young fruit. Plants are nurtured with regular hand weeding. Farmers also use special fertilizers to feed the plants as they shift into their fruit bearing stage. We even have bug vacuums to remove unwanted guests.

3 Picking Once the weather warms and days slowly get longer, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries are ready to be picked by hand and placed straight into the containers you see in store. Containers are loaded in trays and inspected thoroughly onsight before moving to cooling facilities. We move our berries quickly from the fields to cooling facilities to ensure the longest shelf life possible. Berries lose a day of life every hour they are left in the heat so we work diligently to protect our delicate berries.

4 Packing In cooling facilities, fans pull field heat out of berries and bring their internal temperature down to 32 degrees. Once berries have reached optimum temperature they are moved to holding rooms awaiting shipment. Before being loaded on to refrigerated trucks for shipment, trucks are inspected for cleanliness and to ensure temperature is held at 32 degrees. Throughout the trip to retail warehouses berries are kept at 32 degrees to provide the freshest and most delicious berries. Refrigeration is the key to keeping berries fresh until ready to eat!

5 Purchasing The final step in our berry story is you! Our berries travel hundreds of miles on refrigerated trucks to retailers all over the country. Our berry story is incomplete without you and we want to thank you for enjoying our strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.

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Visit Us in the Field

The Life of a California Giant Berry