For about seven to eight months out of the year, California is the main supplier of strawberries to the U.S. domestic market. Salinas/Watsonville in the north and Santa Maria in the south are the two leading growing regions in spring, summer, and fall. "This time of year, in September, Salinas/Watsonville is still the largest growing region and ships about 750,000 trays of strawberries daily, which is twice the volume of Santa Maria," says John Wilkinson with BlazerWilkinsonGee, Inc. While this crop, which was planted last fall, will continue to have good volume until the end of October, Santa Maria will take over after that until the season moves to Florida, Central Mexico and Baja California for the winter.
In Santa Maria, the summer planted crop – generally planted in late May – is ramping up with full volume now for the next six weeks. Daily volume in Santa Maria is about 375,000 trays now. "In both growing regions, weather has been favorable, and quality is very good," commented Wilkinson. In addition to these two growing regions, there is a summer planted crop in Oxnard that is just starting to get harvested, but volumes are relatively low.
Buyers combine loads
While Santa Maria's strawberry volume is important in extending the California season, buyers stay in the Salinas/Watsonville area as long as possible. "Salinas grows about four times the vegetable acreage Santa Maria grows. As a result, many buyers are loading their vegetables in the Salinas area, combining their loads with berries. It is just more convenient should the shipment call for both vegetables and berries."
What's helping California strawberries this fall is the lack of blueberries in North America. Production in the U.S. and Canada is rapidly winding down and Peru won't be up to speed until November. "This will help the strawberry market." Pricing is normal for the time of year and Wilkinson expects business to be good this fall as long as promotions continue. "It is particularly robust on good quality berries," he shared.
Winter availability
Florida, Central Mexico, and Baja California are in planting season now and will start picking around Thanksgiving with volumes from these regions peaking in January. After that, both Salinas/Watsonville and Santa Maria will start harvesting their fall planted crop. In winter, BlazerWilkinsonGee has a significant program out of Florida, as well as smaller programs out of Central Mexico and Baja California from November through April. "We would like to be a one-stop-shop for buyers and offer strawberries year-round."
Gabilan Ranch.
For more information:
John Wilkinson
BlazerWilkinsonGee, Inc.
Tel: (+1) 831-455-3700
[email protected]
www.bwgberries.com