The Nipomo, Calif., company ships out of the Santa Maria, Calif., area year-round, and that business plan seems to be working out well for the company, said Will McCarthy, commodity manager.
“Volume in the Santa Maria Valley is increasing every year as confidence grows in the quality and the varieties,” he said.
Beachside Produce expects to increase its volume by 20% to 30% for the fall deal that officially kicks off around Aug. 1.
The company ships Monterey and Portola varieties and has adopted growing practices that include covered crops to enable year-round production.
“We’ve gained confidence that year-round production out of Santa Maria does make sense for us,” McCarthy said.
“The quality, yields and length of season are probably the best in the world,” he added.
As of July 9, the Santa Maria district had shipped about 49 million trays of conventional and organic strawberries this year, up from about 46 million trays at the same time in 2021, according to the Watsonville-based California Strawberry Commission.
Total Santa Maria volume last year was about 78.5 million trays.
