CALIFORNIA - Walk with me through the strawberry fields for a moment. On March 31, Bobalu shared its most recent crop update, giving us an in-depth look at each of its California growing regions.
“We are very hopeful that April will be more kind to us and bring on some real spring weather,” the company said in the release. “We continue to see the entire state tracking a month behind our normal production curve. Weather looks to be improving over the next 10 days with sunny skies, but we still anticipate cooler overall temps in the short term.”
Starting in Oxnard, the grower shared an update revealing that the strawberry market is tight for the rest of the Easter pull; however, volume is currently picking up each week and is expected to for the next four weeks. Quality is looking excellent with great flavor, and the supplier’s quality control teams are following the harvest closely as crews cull damaged fruit from the adverse weather that has impacted California.
“We expect to continue to cull damaged berries for at least the next couple of weeks working through all the issues caused by so much rain, hail, and wind we have gone through," the release continued. “As the weather warms over the next couple of weeks, we hope to get on a daily harvest rotation as these plants finally get a chance to kick into spring.”
The Coachella region has received less rain, but is seeing cooler temperatures, which have also led to tighter volumes. Bobalu noted that it expects to be pulling fruit from this region for several more weeks since the quality and flavor are excellent and the mild weather remains favorable, and the team looks forward to continued increases in volume each week as the weather warms up.
The grower also shared insight into its Santa Maria production.
“Continuing with the ‘month behind normal’ theme, we are still way behind here in Santa Maria. The plants look really good, and we should start scratching some fields here in the next week or so, but don’t expect to see any measurable numbers until closer to the end of April. It has been cold here on the west side of town, but we do see warmer days ahead in the forecast,” the company noted.
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