Strawberry fields in California’s central coast region were challenged early in the season with winter rain and cold temperatures, but spring and summer availability is looking strong, says Cindy Jewell, marketing director for Bobalu Berries, Oxnard, Calif.
She said strawberry plants are healthy and poised for bigger volumes.
“February and early March provided some challenges getting the season off the ground,” Jewell said. “The early Easter helped to build some momentum, but with the cooler temps we are still a little behind with volume, but the plants are extremely healthy. We hope to continue our harvest in Oxnard throughout the month of May, giving some extra time for Santa Maria to kick into gear following a cold and wet early spring.”
Bobalu is promoting and selling strawberries from Santa Maria and Oxnard this spring and summer, Jewell said.
“We have similar acreage to last year with both a spring and fall crop in both regions allowing us to be a year-round provider of premium strawberries from California,” she said. “We are currently focused on conventional strawberries but hope to have organic strawberries as we get further into the season.”
Jewell said consumer and retail demand is strong as the industry heads into May and June, which she said is keeping strawberries front and center in the produce department.
“We enjoy telling our family farming story along with the progress we continue to make in sustainability,” Jewell said. “This spring and summer we will be featuring some of our key employees that make a difference in our company every day. We have employees that are celebrating 25, 40 and even 50 years with our family company this year.”
Bobalu’s consumer engagement all summer will be sharing employee stories and how they each contribute to the company every day, Jewell said.
Bobalu has a great sustainability story, she said, featuring the company’s processing facility near farming property in Oxnard.
“By having this facility right next to our fields, we are able to divert fruit that doesn’t meet our fresh quality standards and deliver it directly to processing right after harvest,” she said. “This allows us to keep the fields clean by not throwing fruit into the furrows, reducing pest and disease pressure. It also provides an outlet for the lesser-quality fruit, allowing us to use every berry, and it reduces our carbon footprint with fewer road miles getting that fruit for processing to the facility.”
Packaging changes
Since last year, Bobalu has been using recyclable labels on its clamshells.
In addition, the clamshells have a QR code on the label directing consumers to Bobalu’s library of over 100 recipes, Jewell said.
She said that the company also uses a better box configuration to optimize space on the truck and get more strawberry packages per truckload.
