Pacific AgPak Inc. is currently celebrating its 30th year in business, and for three decades, has enjoyed a stellar reputation for providing top-of-the-line packaging for strawberries.

The company, which operates in Watsonville, CA, is dedicated to providing new innovations in packaging that protects strawberries and improves efficiency, and regularly warehouses and labels millions of clamshells for the strawberry industry.

As can often be the case, winter weather in California led to an uneven January and February with regard to strawberry production, but with spring approaching, the plants are loading up with fruit with the expectation that volume will start climbing.

Jim Grabowski, director of marketing for Well-Pict Berries, based Watsonville, CA, said “Oxnard (California) is the main production area for us right now. It should peak in the mid-March to mid-April time frame.”

In 2020 at this same time period there was much uncertainty about the spring fresh strawberry season. The coronavirus pandemic had hit the country and stay-at-home orders were announced just as the California crop was coming into typical spring holidays shared with family and friends. 

What a difference a year makes. 

Wish Farms, international grower and year-round marketer of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, has established a growing operation in Oxnard, CA.

“This is a move that aligns well with our strategy of smart, controlled growth,” said James Peterson, vice president of sales and marketing.

With its first season in Oxnard under way, Wish Farms began harvesting strawberries mid-January and expects volume to flow into May.

The U.S. International Trade Commission determined that fresh, chilled or frozen blueberries are not being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury, or the threat of serious injury, to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported article.

Building on its 163-year tradition of innovation, Oppy is set to conduct two independent trials exploring the viability of new technologies that aim to further advance strawberry production practices by offering solutions to persistent issues faced by the industry.