For about seven to eight months of the year, California is the leading supplier of strawberries to the U.S. market. Salinas/Watsonville in the north and Santa Maria in the south are the two main producing regions in the spring, summer and fall. “At this time of year, in September, Salinas/Watsonville is still the largest producing region, shipping about 750.000 trays of strawberries daily, twice as many as Santa Maria,” explains John Wilkinson of BlazerWilkinsonGee, Inc. While the crop, which was planted last fall, will continue to do well through the end of October, Santa Maria will take over after that until the season shifts to Florida, central Mexico and Baja California for the winter.

In Santa Maria, the summer crop, which is usually planted in late May, will grow in volume over the next six weeks.

Daily volume in Santa Maria is about 375.000 trays. “In both regions, the weather has been favorable and the quality is very good,” says Wilkinson. In addition to these two growing regions, Oxnard has a summer-planted crop that is just beginning to be harvested, but volumes are relatively low.

Buyers combine loads

Although Santa Maria's strawberry volume is important to extending the California season, buyers stay in the Salinas/Watsonville area as long as possible. "Salinas grows about four times the vegetable acreage that Santa Maria does.

As a result, many buyers load their vegetables in the Salinas area, combining their loads with those of other berriesIt is more convenient if the shipment requires both vegetables and berries«.

What is helping California strawberries this fall is the lack of blueberries in North America. Production in the U.S. and Canada is declining rapidly and Peru will not be up to speed until November. “This will help the strawberry market.” Prices are normal for the time of year and Wilkinson expects business to be good this fall as long as promotions continue. “It is particularly good for blueberries.” berries quality," he says.

Availability for winter

Florida, Central Mexico and Baja California are now in planting season and will begin picking around Thanksgiving, with January being when peak volumes will be reached. After that, both Salinas/Watsonville and Santa Maria will begin picking their fall crop. In the winter, BlazerWilkinsonGee has a major program in Florida, as well as smaller programs in Central Mexico and Baja California from November through April. “We would like to be a one-stop shop for buyers and offer strawberries year-round.”