The Trade Buzz

CROP UPDATES

STRAWBERRIES

strawberry

Santa Maria

Quality: Quality remains strong. Plants have strong flower and green fruit sets, which should maintain medium sizing with good appearance through the rest of peak production.

Volume: Production has entered the peak of the Spring Crop season.

Pack Counts: 18-26;

 

Watsonville/Salinas

Quality: Quality continues to improve.

Volume: Production is looking good for conventional and organic fruit, with our estimates doubling each week as we approach the expected peak of the season in June.

Pack Counts: Conventional: 12-18; Organic: 18-24;

 

BLUEBERRIES

blueberry

Mexico

Quality: Quality remains good, with good flavor, bloom and appearance, although we are seeing some issues with red berries, soft and leaking fruit, and shriveling from the high heat.

Volume: Conventional volume in Mexico is trending down each week, and we are expecting the conventional blue season to end towards July. Organic production will begin again around August.

 

Florida

Quality: Conventional quality is good.

Volume: Due to weather events the end of season is anticipated post-Memorial Day.

Central Valley

Quality: Quality is great, with great size, flavor, and bloom.

Volume: Conventional and organic production is peaking.

 

Pacific Northwest

Region Update: Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia production will begin around July.

RASPBERRIES

raspberry

Mexico

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

Volume: Volume for raspberries is in a dip, but volume should start increasing steadily from now through May.

Watsonville

Quality: Quality is good with nice shape and color. 

Volume: Volumes are light and will be limited until the end of June.

BLACKBERRIES

blackberry

Mexico

Quality: Quality is good with some issues of red cell regression, attached calyx, and some soft, leaking fruit due to the high heat in this region.

Volume: Volume for blackberries is consistent, but we are in a dip in production from pruning over the last week.

Watsonville

Quality: Quality is good.

Volume: Production is currently limited to a few pallets a couple days of the week, but we should have good load volume starting in June.

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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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