California strawberry growers are in the midst of what one long-time grower describes as “an incredible year."
Daren Gee, who farms with his older brother, Dale, and younger brother, Chip, on 680 acres near Santa Maria, describes this year’s production numbers as “off the chart.”
“It’s not so much that the production numbers are so incredible, but the fact that the berries are moving through the system,” Mr. Gee says. “People have responded by buying these berries and they have been buying them at a very good rate. So we have been able to keep the market moving and keep it on a solid foundation.”
Market statistics maintained by the California Strawberry Commission support Mr. Gee’s assessment. Despite cooler weather earlier in the year that caused harvest to start slowly before gaining momentum over the last several weeks, California harvest volume as of last week had reached about 62.7 million trays, compared to last year’s 63.9 million trays during the same period, according to Carolyn O’Donnell at the strawberry commission.
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