California Giant Berry Farms forecasts a strong fall strawberry crop for both organic and conventionally grown strawberries, leading with the Santa Maria growing region on California’s central coast as early as early to mid-October.
“Plant development and production cycles were off to a great start, trending to be an above-average production season before we ran into the recent heatwave,” Kevin Dwyer, district manager at California Giant Berry Farms, said in a news release. “Despite the heat — and the recent rains changing our production curve — we’re still on track to deliver strong volumes of the high-quality fruit California Giant is known for.”
Giant’s strawberry production is currently located in Santa Maria, Watsonville and Salinas growing regions. Salinas and Watsonville regions are expected to continue harvest through the end of October. Peak volumes of conventional and organic strawberries from Santa Maria are expected this fall pending unforeseen, extreme weather events.
This prediction is in line with California Giant’s mission and goal to produce a year-round supply of sustainably grown, high quality fresh berries.
In addition to year-round strawberry supplies, California Giant grower partner, Satsuma Farms became the first strawberry grower to achieve a Sustainably Grown certification from SCS Global Services in 2020. The Sustainably Grown certification addresses a broad range of issues related to economics, environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Satsuma Farm’s Sustainably Grown pilot program has inspired other California Giant growers to become Sustainably-Grown certified with the strategic goal to increase sustainability certifications by 50% of California Giant acreage in the next few years.
