March 12, 2010

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Well-Pict Berries

California Strawberries

Market Snapshot*

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was reporting the following prices on flats of medium-large California strawberries:

Oxnard: 12 1-pint baskets, $18-20; eight 1-pound containers, mostly $14; eight 1-pound containers, organic, $20-22; four 2-pound containers, mostly $14.

Orange-San Diego counties, Coachella District: Eight 1-pount containers, $12-14.

Santa Maria: Eight 1-pount containers, $12-14.

* Prices from the USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Market News, March 10.

The Shipping Scene

Early-season rains have resulted in lighter-than-usual volume of California strawberries, but as the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, grower-shippers are hopeful that supplies soon will start to catch up.

Light rain last weekend did little to interrupt the momentum of the crop at Watsonville-based Well-Pict Inc.'s fields in Oxnard, said Dan Crowley, sales manager.

The company's volume has been running lighter than previous years because of rain early in the season, but Crowley is optimistic.

"Longer daylight hours and slightly warmer temperatures are going to kick these plants into a higher production pattern," he said.

Crowley predicted "a good crop with decent volume" for Easter, April 4, but he said it will be a challenge to fill all the potential demand for the holiday.

Well-Pict already has workers walking the fields in Santa Maria, north of Oxnard, and Crowley said the company hopes to be under way there by the end of March with a supplemental crop for Easter. Watsonville should start about mid-April.

Well-Pict grows 100% proprietary varieties to ensure high-quality berries, Crowley said.

"We're always about breeding for flavor, appearance and aroma," he said.

The No. 269 variety out of Oxnard "has been absolutely outstanding this year," he said. "We're counting 10 to 14 berries per 1-pound clamshell, so it really has the 'Wow!' factor."

He also expects outstanding quality from the No. 4634 variety in Santa Maria and Watsonville, where the berries have been receiving the benefits of rain that has been evenly spread out over the past couple of months.

Craig Casca, director of sales for Red Blossom Farms based in Santa Ynez, was relieved this week that "the weather is finally smoothing out," and growers could expect at least a couple of weeks of dry conditions.

"Everything looks really good right now after the rain," he said. "We're shaping up in Oxnard again, and we're definitely shaping up in Santa Maria."

Casca expects good volume and good quality for Easter.

"We're hoping we don't have any more rain through the Easter holiday," he said.

Berry size is "exceptional," he said, and because of the rain, "the plants are very healthy in all districts."

Prices have been good, too, because a major freeze in Florida in January followed by cold weather has put a crimp in volume from that state, as well. Shipments from Florida were beginning to pick up again this week.

Jose Corona, president of Corona Marketing in Santa Maria, said prices have been averaging $12.95 to $14.95 per tray, compared to a usual price of $8 to $11 for this time of year.

If weather stays good, and volume increase, prices could drop to the $7.90-8.90 range right after Easter.

"If people are not committed with a lot of fruit, it could get weaker," he said.

This week, he said, medium-size berries are coming out of Santa Maria, and larger fruit is available out of Oxnard.

Corona expected significant volume by mid-April, but he said supplies might even pick up the week before Easter if good weather holds up.

Volume in California has been running a bit behind schedule, according to the Watsonville-based California Strawberry Commission. As of March 6, the state's growers had shipped 8,124,514 trays compared to 8,555,325 trays at the same time last year.

Again this year, author and nutrition expert David Grotto will promote the health benefits of California strawberries, said Chris Christian, the commission's vice president of marketing.

Grotto, who also served as a spokesman for the commission in 2009, is planning a five-city media tour from mid-April to mid-June.

(By Tom Burfield, Western correspondent for The Packer. The Packer and Red Book Credit Services are part of food360º, a division of Vance Publishing Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill.)

 

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