OXNARD, CA - You and your shoppers can now have it all when it comes to berry purchases. Relishing in the consistent climate of California, Bobalu has worked to successfully evolve its strawberry prowess into a year-round operation and is reveling in its increasing steadiness.
“We decided that ‘Fall is the new Spring!’ It’s so fun to see a brand-new strawberry field in mid-September. The plants are all healthy, full of fruit in every stage, and it is setting itself up to be a great fall season in Santa Maria,” Cindy Jewell, Vice President of Marketing, reflected. “We recently stood in the middle of a very foggy morning just steps from the sandy bluff that leads to the beach on the other side—the perfect growing conditions for strawberries in California.”
Walking the fields with the team, Jewell reported how the new fall season is unfolding, sharing excitement for what is to come as key industry calendar events like the International Fresh Produce Association’s (IFPA) Global Produce & Floral Show (GPFS) precede the busy holiday season.
“This fall peak really serves as the optimum bridge to supply our program customers, similarly to how spring too has lower overall volume from mid-summer, when all our acreage is in full production. Ultimately, we are very excited about providing our shared consumers with fresh strawberries from California all year long. With the fall holidays coming up, we want to make sure our berries are in the shopping cart for all those celebrations on the horizon!” Jewell shared.
In fact, as we recently reported, Bobalu has been seeing a steady increase in daily and weekly strawberry volume, having just celebrated a September peak that is on track to keep volume and quality steady, with the Oxnard fall crop ready to kick in and keep strawberry supply going into the holiday season ahead.
“We have a strong commitment and loyalty to those customers that partner with us every day of the year, and we develop annual programs for them. They are the reason we have a fall crop in both Santa Maria and Oxnard every year. We are committed to providing year-round fruit to those very important program customers that stick with us,” Jewell concluded.
Like spring, with fluctuations in the weather, fall can also have changes that can affect the forecast on volume. However, for now, Bobalu expects all the green fruit of the past couple weeks to turn red, followed by all that bloom also on the plants currently.
Oxnard will kick in mid-October, just as IFPA’s GPFS gets underway, and help carry the strawberry wave through to the end of the year.
