California hit a volume record for the week ending April 27th shipping over 9.8 million trays of strawberries. The last time California hit even close to that number was back in 2018 at 9.7 million trays in late May, according to Bobalu Berry Farms of Oxnard in a news release.
The week ending May 11th there were still over 9.3 million despite a little rain hitting northern districts. Bobalu expects to see peak numbers for the next several weeks as the northern districts increase their weekly volume. This is all good news for providing a great opportunity for promotions nationwide as “Strawberry Month” reigns during the month of May. June volume will be similar and the company expects see another peak in strawberries from California during this coming month.
CROP UPDATE
Oxnard continues to see optimum weather keeping our fruit size and volume steady. We also benefit from our on-site processing facility keeping our fields clean and diverting lesser quality fruit to the freezer when needed. We will continue to ship from Oxnard during the month of May and focus on highest quality and maintain our three-day harvest rotation.
The fields still look great, the plants are very healthy, and the fruit has excellent flavor with these mild daytime and night time temperatures.
We have enough acreage in Oxnard allowing us to maintain our volume levels there as we wait for our Santa Maria fields to transition into peak by early to mid June. Our Santa Maria program is primarily on the westside of town so this region follows the same harvest trend as the Watsonville/Salinas region. The plants in Santa Maria are setting up to provide some excellent fruit.
Once these ranches in Santa Maria hit peak volume numbers, they will carry us well into the fall before our fall crop kicks in.
A bountiful harvest of California strawberries has arrived for California Giant Berry Farms of Watsonville, CA as the company shares news of giant volumes of its cornerstone product. The berry purveyor’s high yields and volumes of excellent quality fruit ensures peak promotable volumes of California strawberries throughout the coming months.
“Our season started off strong, with healthy plants from the beginning,” said Nick Chappell, director of sales at California Giant Berry Farms. “Despite some fruit culling due to rain early in our season, our plants have otherwise seen optimal growing conditions — which translates into the high-quality, sizeable, and flavorful fruit California Giant is known for.”
Out of the Santa Maria region, California Giant is reporting sizeable, high-quality conventional and organic fruit. The region is currently peaking and will continue to produce abundant harvests throughout the month. The Watsonville and Salinas growing region is seeing week-over-week increases in volumes, with estimates projecting substantial harvested volumes now and spanning to late-June. The region’s ranches are reporting excellent quality and flavor, alongside sizable fruit.