2008 could go down as one of the lowest processing years for strawberry in a long time. Both juice and freezer deliveries are off from where they have been over the past several years. California processors are concerned about covering existing orders for 2008. Inventory levels will be low going into 2009.

California Bartlett pear tonnage will be down in 2008 versus 2007 based on the estimate released by the California Pear Advisory Board in their meeting last week. The drop in tonnage is mostly due to the frost that occurred in California earlier this year. They expect to pack 58,000 tons of fresh Bartlett pears in 2008 versus 64,000 tons packed in 2007. Cannery demand for California pears may be down as much as 20% from 2007 levels due to a reduced cling peach crop in the state. Tons of pears for other uses may be up with greater frost damage amounts in Lake and Mendocino counties.

The California Canning Peach Association has reached a price agreement with Del Monte Foods for #1 grade peaches delivered to them for canning in 2008. The price of $321 is a 12% increase over the price paid in 2007. It represents an interest on the part of the cannery to keep growers from removing more trees from production in California. The grade standard has been relaxed in 2008 from where it was in 2007. The tolerance standards are now set to allow growers more room to place damaged fruit into a bin without an economic penalty. There will be less interest on the growers part to sort their peaches for juice in 2008.

California continues it's course of fresh market strawberry shipments in place of delivering fruit for processing. The current year is now the lowest processing year of the past five years for both freezer grade fruit and juice grade fruit according to the Processing Strawberry Advisory Board of California. The current week we are in may be slow as well.

Deliveries of freezer grade strawberries to processors in California continue to run at lower levels in 2008 than they did in 2007 according to the Processing Strawberry Advisory Board of California. It is unlikely at this time that total year production will reach the levels that they did in 2007. It is more likely that they will be closer to the range of 2005 or 2006 based on where we are to date with total freezer deliveries.

The fresh market continues to be strong for California strawberry growers. The trend is expected to continue through the Memorial Day holiday. The overall amount of fruit sent to the fresh market has kept freezer deliveries slower than last year. In years where the fresh market stays strong, there has been less freezer fruit overall. In 2006 there were 390 million pounds of freezer grade fruit delivered to processors. Most of it came in the month of June as field pricing increased. In 2007 California ended with 439 million pounds delivered to processors after a strong start to the season. In 2005 only 354 million pounds were packed as frozen after a slow beginning to the freezer season. It is unlikely that California will pack as much in 2008 as it did in 2007 given the amount of fruit delivered to date.

California deliveries of freezer grade fruit continue to run well behind 2007. It is slightly ahead of 2006 at this point in time, but could fall behind that year if the fresh market continues to take fruit at the record pace it has so far in 2008. In 2006 there was pressure to increase field pricing as the crop got later. There was a $0.06 increase from the beginning of the season to the end. Most fruit delivered that year came in after the price increased.

California continues it's heavy shipment of fresh strawberries. The past three weeks now rank as the highest shipment period in history for fresh California strawberries. USDA is reporting that California has shipped more than 2.5 million trays in the first two days of the current week with prices holding steady. There still seems to be heavy demand for strawberries from California, and this could continue for another week or more.

Final crop estimates for 2007 were reported at the North American Blueberry Council on February 28,2008.

Based on final estimates, a total of 356.8 million pounds of highbush blueberries were produced in 2007.  This is 24.5 million pounds more then produced in 2006.

Lowbush blueberry estimates for 2007 totalled 182.2 million pounds.  This is 21.9 million pounds down from 2006 production.

North American total production in 2007 ( both lowbush and highbush combined) is estimated at 539 million pounds with 173.5 milion pounds sold as fresh blueberries and 365.5 million pounds sold as frozen.  The 2007 total is slightly above 536.4 million pounds produced in 2006.

California fresh strawberry shippers have shipped more strawberries in the past three weeks than at any other three week period in the past five years with the exception of May 14- June 3, 2005. Even with the large volume of fruit being shipped, the fresh market price has increased over the past three days, and some shippers are reporting that they are currently trying to keep up with the demand from their buyers. The typical peak volume for California fresh strawberries is usually closer to Mother's Day. There may still be larger volumes of fruit shipped around Mother's Day this year above what has already been shipped, or the market may cool a little, but it is for certain that there has been heavy demand for fresh strawberries so far this year.

The graphs show current cold storage inventory as reported by USDA for strawberry and red raspberry. The strawberry graph indicates that IQF inventory is still at a five year high. Some processors relate that they are currently packing IQF to fill orders for this year. It appears that the demand is good for IQF strawberries even though the inventory number seems historically high.

California has experienced cold weather over the past few days. Some areas of the state have been damaged severely by cold weather. Yuba City has had temperatures in the 27-29 degree range. Pears grown in Lake and Mendocino counties have experienced serious damage from the cold weather. Peaches in the Modesto area have had some frost damage from the weather of the past two nights. There is some damage in the Modesto area from a frost that occurred on March 31. It has left some orchards with little or no fruit.

The cold weather has impacted the northwest pear, apple, cherry, and peach crops. It is too soon to tell how much damage has occurred, but there will be substantial damage to some acreage there. Estimates from the last frost indicate that the cherry crop was reduced by at least 20%. There could be another reduction of 20% or more after this frost passes. There is another chance for frost tonight in the northwest.

The California Processing Strawberry Advisory Board of California is reporting that California processors have received 17 million pounds of strawberries so far in 2008. This is behind the early start of last year, but in line with the average of previous years.

The strawberry fresh market in California shipped over 6 million trays last week according to the USDA. In 2007 California had only two weeks in which it shipped more than 6 million trays to the fresh market (April 5 and May 24). In 2006 there was only one week with over 6 million trays (May 17). It seems that the peak of the fresh season is here. Prices per pound paid to shippers reflected the increase in volume. USDA is reporting that pricing has increased a little at the beginning of the current week over the low prices paid last week.

California has had good weather for bloom. The bloom appears to be a little smaller than last year, but still very good. There have been a few cold nights in Central California over the past week, but it should not prevent the state from setting another full crop of fruit. Pears are nearing full bloom in Northern California. They look to have a strong bloom as well. The year is starting off well for fruit production in 2008.

California strawberry shipments to date still lag well behind the five year average. The volume so far to date is still behind the freeze year of 2007. Mexico has shipped 30% more to the U.S. this year than at the same time last year. Florida is slightly behind their shipment volume from last year.

The USDA Cold Storage Report issued today shows that current frozen strawberry holdings are high compared to the last five years. IQF holdings are the highest they have been in the past five years. Pails and tubs are the second highest, barrels and drums are the second highest, and juice stock is the highest it has been in the past five years.

The USDA has reported that apple processing use for Washington and California so far in 2008 is off by 90,000 tons over where production was in 2007. The current year is well below the past three years and shorter than the last short processing crop of 2004. As a result, prices still remain high in 2008 over where they have been in the past few years.

Fresh movement of California strawberries to date lags behind previous years. The weekly total for last week shows that volumes are beginning to increase to more average levels of where they should be for this time of year. In 2007 the frost set back the crop. The 2008 season so far has been cool and wet in certain weeks. Warmer and drier weather will help to bring fruit production along. Mexico and Florida are also behind in volume compared to 2007.