“We continue to promote all of our berry categories throughout the fall,” said Cindy Jewell, director of marketing for California Giant Berry Farms, headquartered in Watsonville, CA. “Strawberries from California are plentiful all the way into the winter months from the central coast in Watsonville/Salinas and Santa Maria. We also have fresh blueberries from British Columbia, Canada, and will also be transitioning into South America in the fall. Blackberries will also transition at that time from California to Mexico production, which will carry us through the winter.”

California Giant Berry Farms are ‘giants’ in strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.California Giant Berry Farms is a family-owned operation that was designed so that company owners could control every aspect of berry production to ensure that its customers receive a year-round supply of superior quality strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. The core of the company’s business is focused on the environment, food safety, quality, service and its community. Today California Giant Berry Farms grows and ships over 20 million trays of berries annually.

The company’s website, www.calgiant.com is strongly targeted toward consumers.

“We also have a Facebook page, which can be accessed through the website,” said Ms. Jewell. “We receive consistent traffic onto the website with most consumers landing on our recipe section and individual berry pages as they look for care and handling information. They also watch the chef hosted videos on best ways to care for berries once they get them home.”

Based on the favorable weather the company has experienced on its berry farms so far this year, it is anticipating great quality and flavor berries for the fall.

“We have not — knock on wood — had the extensive fog and gray days we had last summer that really did affect the late California season,” Ms. Jewell noted. “So, we are very optimistic about our fall berry program here in California. We also hope those favorable conditions will hold true for the other berry varieties from other growing regions, but it is too early to tell at this point [late July].”

California Giant Berry Farms produces its own berries and it works with other independent grower-partners in each district that it farms in. Since it is also growing, it has the same equity and commitment in the ground as its partners in growing to ensure the best quality for the consumer every day.

The company ships nationally and into Canada, and it exports to off-shore countries.

Ms. Jewell said the company continues to increase its share in the fresh blueberry market by expanding its acreage in regions it already grows in, and by exploring new growing regions.

“We are also expanding our strawberry program to ensure more volume on the shoulders of the season to fulfill our customer demand,” she said. “Additionally, we are looking for more opportunities to expand our organic strawberry availability to cover more of the season and increase daily volume.“

Ms. Jewell announced a new key staff member at California Giant Berry Farms.

“We recently added Gary Bertone as our logistics manager, which is a new position at California Giant,” she said. “With increasing costs for fuel and transportation, we felt it was important to have a staff person focused on supporting our sales group with logistics. He has been with the company since May, and we are already seeing increased efficiencies and benefits.”

The company is also launching some fall promotions this year.

“The first will highlight our blueberry program partnering with Concord Foods,” said Ms. Jewell. “They have a blueberry muffin mix that calls for fresh blueberries that is very easy to prepare and a fun fall and winter addition for families. We will co-host a consumer promotion through social media offering weekly prizes of blueberries, muffin mix and cooking utensils.

“In October we will be supporting breast cancer awareness again and our packaging labels will turn pink overnight,” she added.