California table grape growers are offering three types of scholarships to graduating high school seniors from the table grape growing regions of California.

Western Growers is debuting five documentary short videos online today that give first-hand accounts of how the unrelenting historic drought is hurting Caifornia farmers.

Produced in association with the California Farm Water Coalition, the videos show the drought's impact on consumers via stories from Booth Ranches in Orange Cove, Del Bosque Farms in Firebaugh, HMC Farms in Kingsburg and Woolf Farming in Huron.

The California avocado season is drawing to a close. With nearly 263 million pounds shipped through Aug. 14, the crop is estimated to be about 97 percent harvested. The California Avocado Commission delineates crop years based on its fiscal year timing of November through October. The 2021-22 crop year was highlighted by strong market conditions, an early start to harvesting and more of the crop shipping in the spring than is typical.

Since its establishment in 1967, the California Table Grape Commission has assisted California table grape growers to create and expand markets for each season’s crop. The 2022 initiative continued the work to foster demand for California table grapes around the world through the fielding of a robust global marketing campaign targeting the U.S. which consumed 76 percent of the 2021 volume, and 16 foreign markets that together represented 95% of export volume June through December 2021.

The California Table Grape Commission bolstered its global marketing focus with the promotion of Alyson Dias to the new position of chief marketing officer.

For the California Avocado Commission, social media outreach is one of its most effective means of engaging with its target consumer audience. In its pre-season the commission uses social to build anticipation that California avocados will soon be available. In-season messaging works to build brand affinity and complement retail and foodservice custom marketing support, and post-season activity maintains brand awareness.