OXNARD, CA - As a native Californian, it’s not hard for me to see how the weather affects our state, both for consumers and for growers. Bobalu is one grower I got in touch with as our state saw some showers a few weeks ago. As strawberries are a major crop for California, I was curious to see how these delectable berries and the grower fared.
“We knew rain was coming in, so we harvested ahead of the storm to get as much off the plants as we could,” Cindy Jewell, Founder of SCJewell and the marketing maven for Bobalu. “The following week, we focused on cleaning up the Oxnard and Santa Maria, California, farms after the rain. Because we were prepared, we were able to stay somewhat normal with good daily volumes from both regions.”
Both Oxnard and Santa Maria saw Mother Nature deliver some much-needed rain, but both areas were impacted from losing ripe fruit that were still on the plants. Cindy tells me that some volume was lost, meaning a potential gap in supplies until the plants catch back up.
Thankfully, the rain was a short-lived disruption, and the grower came through intact.
“The forecast moving forward was much better with mild temperatures and sunny skies, so we were able to get back on track,” Cindy continued. “Our outlook for Easter is good with volume expected to ramp up, but we will still be a bit behind. Most likely, demand will exceed the market based on holiday demand.”
With Easter just around the corner and spring holidays like Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day following close behind, Cindy assures me that late April and May should be great time periods to promote strawberries as multiple districts will be in production and quality will be excellent.
AndNowUKnow will keep an eye on the skies and the wire to report on the latest.
