The volume on organic strawberries in California continues to improve as does the demand for the fruit. “The weather caused a very late start for California organic strawberries. We’re in July and normally what we’d see crop-wise at the beginning of April-May, that all really didn’t start until the end of June. That’s how delayed we are on everything,” says Andy Martin of A&A Organic Farms. He adds that while there were quality issues on the front end of this crop, things are getting better and growers starting to hit their stride with supply.
Right now, supply is coming from Salinas-Watsonville in California following the transition from Santa Maria-Oxnard, California. A&A Organic Farms starts the year with production in Ensenada, Mexico and goes until early spring. “We have a big program in Mexico and that was delayed by the weather. We went longer than usual--through Mother’s Day--and we had a spectacular Mexican season. Then we weren’t really able to transition to California because of that weather and the lack of supply,” says Martin.
Production should stay in Salinas-Watsonville until the first frost, though with El Niño happening in 2023, there could be early and frequent rains on the crop. Then, while some Mexican production starts in November-December, the organic shipper won’t begin with Mexican strawberries until the start of the new year.
California and Mexican production
Meanwhile demand is starting to pick back up on organic strawberries. “When there weren’t any strawberries at the beginning of the season--there was low-priced Mexican fruit and high-priced California fruit--demand had been kind of off,” says Martin. “No one wanted to bring California in until it hit a groove so that made demand lackluster at the time. Now that Mexico is gone and California is going, it’s stabilized and everybody is pretty much buying California fruit so we’ve seen consistent demand in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada.”
"Now that Mexico is gone and California is going, demand has stabilized and everybody is pretty much buying California fruit so we’ve seen consistent demand in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada,” says Martin.
That has also helped improve pricing which was challenging last year. Low prices affected the number of growers staying in the organic strawberry market. “There are fewer units so pricing may be better and we’re seeing more stable pricing for growers right now. Last year we were probably in the $9 range and now we’re in the mid-teens which is better for growers,” says Martin.
For more information:
Andy Martin
A&A Organic Farms
Tel: +1 (831) 768-0300
https://www.aaorganic.com/