<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Watsonville, CA-</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">2.6.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Peak berry season is nearing. In anticipation, California Giant Berry Farms has increased berry acreage and year-round availability. The company is also undertaking new marketing initiatives.<img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/calgiant-acreage-expansion-2.jpg" alt="GalGiant Expanded Acreage Images" />Strawberry acreage at California Giant has increased by 12%, with the majority of the expansion taking place in northern California districts. Albion remains the dominant variety in that growing region. Santa Maria has had a slight shift in strawberry varieties, including the addition of the Monterey. Additionally, this region has variety berries gearing up for production in the spring and summer. All California strawberry growing regions have increased availability of organic strawberries with volume stretching from February to November. Year-round availability is complemented by sourcing from Mexico and Florida.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The company is continuing to expand its share of the fresh blueberry market by boosting acreage and volume from Chile in the winter and the Pacific Northwest and California during the summer. California Giant is proud of its expanded year-round blackberry program which has produced very positive feedback from customers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">A new marketing mission is on the table for 2013, aimed at connecting with customers on a more personal level.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“We are making a new investment in time and tools to learn more about who our followers are and why they are interested in us so we can better engage”, says Cindy Jewell, Director of Marketing. “There are some great new tools available to us that help us better target and communicate with our consumers in a way that is more valuable to them and in turn converts them into California Giant brand champions.” The company will also work with key promotion partners throughout the year that provide increased usage of California Giant brand berries and serve as incentives to build brand loyalty with new consumers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Trade focus in 2013 will continue to emphasize a proper cold chain management critical to profitability of fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. California Giant plans to keep the pressure on training by offering free usage of their cold chain video as an essential tool for trade customers in educating store level produce managers. The videos are available on YouTube, as well as by request on DVD or USB drive.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://calgiant.com/" target="_new">California Giant Berry Farms</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
