CBS Farms ups organic strawberry acreage
CBS Farms ups organic strawberry acreage
CBS Farms LLC in Watsonville, CA, has expanded its organic strawberry program this year.
The company, which has strawberry production in both Oxnard, CA, and Watsonville, has added organic strawberries to its Oxnard program and has also increased its organic acreage in Watsonville, according to Charlie Staka, director of sales.
Charlie Staka, director of sales for CBS Farms LLC in Watsonville, CA, representing Beach Street Farms and Colleen Strawberries; Edward Ortega, co-owner of Beach Street Farms; Jerry Summers and Bobby Rigor of CBS Farms.The expanded organic plantings in Oxnard constitute a net increase in strawberry acreage for the company, he said, noting that CBS also has a slight increase in conventional strawberry acreage in Watsonville.
CBS handles strawberry sales for Watsonville-based Colleen Strawberries Inc. and Beach Street Farms LLC.
The company’s growers have been involved in organic strawberries for seven years, he said. “Every year we have been increasing” in production.
“We got off to an early start in Oxnard this year,” Staka told The Produce News March 5. With good weather from the latter half of December through late February, “we are at least two weeks ahead of schedule” and have “good quality and good volume” for the time of year. In Watsonville as well, “our production looks to be two weeks ahead of average.” He expects good production in April, on contrasts to last year, when “we had hardly any production in April.”
Last year the winter weather was much colder, “and it took a while for the production to ramp up,” he said. “This year, we are right on track, and we are through the periods that would really slow us down, so things are going well.”
Cold, wintry weather in the East has affected early season markets, however. The storms “have put a damper on demand for this time of year. But we are thinking that we are just a week or two away from better weather and better demand for berries,” he said.
“We have a new traceback system that we are implementing this year,” Staka said. It is “at the carton level” which is “basically where everybody is.”
On sales at CBS, along with Staka, are Bob Rigor and Jerry Summers.
