Easter’s relatively late date this year — April 20 — is welcome news for California strawberry grower-shippers. That day is only three weeks before another festive strawberry occasion: Mother’s Day.
That means momentum built up by Easter promotions may well carry through to the next strawberry-eating occasion.
“Easter and Mother’s Day are definitely big strawberry holidays,” said Tim Youmans, vice president of sales for Watsonville, Calif.-based California Giant Berry Farms. “During these spring celebrations, we see a significant increase in demand for strawberries, as they are a popular choice for desserts, brunches and gifts.”
Stem berries are particularly popular for chocolate-covered arrangements, fruit platters and decorative additions to holiday meals, he said.
Michelle Deleissegues, senior director of marketing for Santa Monica, Calif.-based Gem-Pack Berries, said that Easter and Mother’s Day rank with Valentine’s Day as top strawberry holidays. All of those occasions have strong stem availability and demand, she said, because it’s easier to find the extra-large berries in early spring.
Anthony Gallino, vice president of sales for Bobalu Berries, Oxnard, Calif., said he was happy with this year’s Easter and Mother’s Day timing.
“It keeps the flow moving because you’ve got back-to-back holidays,” he said. “It keeps everybody on promotion when Easter is later.”
Bakersfield, Calif.-based Western Veg-Produce Inc. expects to increase its strawberry production by 40% for Easter and Mother’s Day, said Grayson Ollivier, sales manager.
“Weather permitting, we’ll have some of our best quality in California for Easter and Mother’s Day,” he said.
Shippers got an early start on strawberry season because of mild weather in the Oxnard growing area, Gallino said. Oxnard was entering its peak picking season the last week of March.
Bobalu Berries expects to have a big crop this season, and Gallino said there was potential for 2025 volume to surpass last year’s.
The company also will expand its AgriFrost LLC IQF — individually quick frozen — operation when it opens a facility in Salinas, Calif., in mid-May, said Michael Cleugh, president.
AgriFrost will provide frozen strawberries in a variety of industrial packs and foodservice packs from the 38,000-square-foot facility. The company opened a similar plant in Oxnard in 2018.
California Giant Berry Farms will source its California strawberries from the Watsonville/Salinas and Santa Maria growing regions from early-April through the summer months, Youmans said.
The company is pleased with the Santa Maria harvest, despite an early-season rain delay.
“The quality has been good, with the fruit exhibiting uniform shape and a vibrant, natural sheen,” he said. “More importantly, the flavor has been outstanding.”
California Giant Berry Farms offers a range of strawberry pack sizes during the spring and summer, ranging from 1-pound packs up to 4-pounders, Youmans said.
“While larger pack sizes are gaining in popularity, 1-pound and 2-pound packs still prevail,” he said.
Gem-Pack will continue its winter harvest out of Oxnard and Baja California and start its new spring crops in Santa Maria and Watsonville/Salinas, Deleissegues said.
Weather in Oxnard has been “variable,” she said. “We’ve had off-and-on rain for the last month, and we recently saw temps soar into the 80s for a couple of days, then cool back down to 60s.”
Except for a few wet spells, quality has been consistently strong, though, she said.
“The size has been holding nicely for medium-large berries, even in the regions where the season is winding down,” Deleissegues said.
Gem-Pack cultivates Fronteras, Monterey, Belvedere, Victor, Adelanto and San Andreas varieties as well as proprietary strawberries, she said. Belvedere and some proprietary varieties are the most recent additions to Gem-Pack’s program.
Western Veg-Produce will be shipping strawberries out of Santa Maria and Oxnard in early April as it finishes up its Baja California deal, Ollivier said.
“Santa Maria will have the larger fruit at that time, but Oxnard quality will be steady as well,” he said.
The company grows its proprietary BG variety as well as Monterey and Fronteras varieties in Oxnard and Santa Maria.
“BG varieties are showing strong promise in production and flavor,” Ollivier said.
The company has had an organic strawberry program for two years and expects to have a 200% increase in organic production this year, Ollivier said.
Western Veg-Produce markets Short N Sweet brand strawberries in 1-, 2- and 4-pound clamshells as well as an 8.8-ounce package.
