While there were tight supplies of Southern California strawberries for Valentine’s Day shipments, growers expect improved volume leading up to Easter, which is April 21st.
Strawberry acreage in Ventura County is once again down this season — 5,300 acres compared to 5,518 acres last year — but production is expected to increase since farmers are planting higher-yielding varieties.
The California Strawberry Commission, based in Watsonville, confirms there has been reduced acreage during the past several years, but at the same there has been record-breaking shipments annually for the past 4 or 5 years.
Growers in the Oxnard area a year ago produced about 38.6 million trays of strawberries, up from about 37.2 million trays in 2017.
This year rains have hindered the start of the 2019 season.
As of the week ending February 2nd growers in the Southern California district, which includes Oxnard, Orange County, Coachella and San Diego, had shipped about 2 million trays of strawberries. A year ago, volume for the same period was about 3.3 million trays.
Easter typically kicks off the primary shipping season for California strawberries, when berries will be available from several growing areas in the state, including Watsonville.
Ventura County strawberries and vegetables – grossing about $3400 to Dallas, $6700 to New York City