Organic berry demand remains strong

Berry grower-shippers are reporting continued robust demand for organic berries.

“The market is still strong for organics,” said Jim Grabowski, marketing director for Watsonville, Calif.-based Well-Pict Inc.

Organic strawberries make up 10% to 12% of Well-Pict’s crop, he said, and the company usually sells out every day.

“Organic pricing has been pretty reasonable,” Grabowski added.

USDA reported that fob prices of eight 1-pound trays of small/medium organic strawberries were mostly $9-$10 on July 18.

The state has 4,584 acres of organic strawberries this year, according to the California Strawberry Commission.

“The organic market is here to stay,” Grabowski said.

But he did not expect the rapid growth the category has experienced for the past several years to continue.

“I think it’s going to level off,” he said.

Salinas, Calif.-based Naturipe Farms offers organic blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, said Kasey Kelley, senior director of business development.

Organic blueberry production was slowly ramping up in late July and will hit peak volume in August, he said.

“We’ve seen strong sales on all three of these organic berries,” Kelley said. “We’ll see another strong year of growth on our organic blueberry and organic raspberry programs.”

Naturipe also will have new summer-planted production on organic strawberries coming this fall through the end of the year, he said.

Oxnard, Calif.-based Bobalu Berries had its own organic program in Santa Maria for the first time this year and was finalizing plans to have a fall organic crop in Oxnard to complement its conventional program there, said Cindy Jewell, who handles marketing for the company.

The organic strawberry program had been performing well this year until a recall sparked by a hepatitis scare involving Mexican-grown fruit put a crimp in movement industrywide, she said.

Irvine, Calif.-based Gem-Pack Berries LLC also continues to see increased organic sales as consumers demand more organics, said Craig Casca, chief marketing officer.

“We have had steady increases in organic acreage and foresee that trend continuing,” he said.

That trend is reflected at Plant City, Fla.-based Wish Farms, as well, said Nick Wishnatzki, public relations manager.

The program grows every year and is expected to remain strong long term, he said.

But he expressed concern that the impact of high inflation could nudge consumers to buy nonorganic items and temporarily put the brakes on the growth of the organic category.