Oxnard 2/29/08

Gentlemen,
Reporting from the Oxnard district, we are beginning our second round of harvest since the last storm, the fruit is looking real nice, we had a couple of nice warm and breezy days to begin to dry things up. You can see the plants loading up with bloom and fruit. The size and condition of the fruit continue to be excellent. One issue we still need to work with is the consistent harvesting schedule, as the days get longer and the temps stay mild 70-75 degrees days and 50-55 degrees at night we will be able to harvest a full week without taking days off in the middle of the week, but we strive to keep the color full, as best as possible. Looks like we will have dry week coming up, need to keep an eye on the following weekend, still calling for a possible wet pattern developing.

Sincerely
Steven Yamamoto

Oxnard 2/25/08

Gentlemen,
Reporting from the Oxnard district, we received just under 1.50 inches of rain from the storms that passed through over the last few days. There is some damage to the fruit, anywhere from 20% to 25% depending on the location of the fields. The conditions are again muddy and sloppy, but the fruit coming out is in good condition, we are unfortunately throwing away some nice fruit, but with weather in our favor for the next ten days, we should be increasing in numbers as we make our second round after the rain, with very little throw aways. The forecast is for warmer days, but the nights will still be on the cool side. As each week goes by, we are seeing the fields beginning to show a strong and clean crop.

Sincerely,
Steven Yamamoto

Blacks 2/25/08

Blackberries continue to arrive in Oxnard on a regular basis.

Strawberry Volume Summary

CALIFORNIA STRAWBERRY COMMISSION
Daily Report for 02/20/08

Cumulative Fresh Volume Weekending
02/16/2008: 2,562,015 Trays
02/17/2007: 3,668,066 Trays

Total CA Volume for week ending 02/16/2008: 1,001,377 Trays
Total Week's Volume from 02/17/2008 - 02/18/2008
Orange-San Diego-Coachella District: 29,075 Trays
Oxnard: 195,372 Trays
California Total: 224,447 Trays
Florida: 465,655 Trays
Mexico Crossings Thru Baja Ca: 41,383 Trays

Average price as of 02/19/2008 for Flats 12 1-Pint baskets
Orange-San Diego-Coachella District: $14.90 (Conventional)
Oxnard: $14.90 (Conventional)
Florida: $9.90 (Conventional)

Average price as of 02/19/2008 for Flats 12 8-oz containers with lids
Oxnard: $27.00 (Conventional)

Average price as of 02/19/2008 for Flats 4 1-Lb containers with lids
Average price as of 02/19/2008 for Flats 4 2-Lb containers with lids
Oxnard: $12.90 (Conventional)

Average price as of 02/19/2008 for Flats 8 1-Lb containers with lids
Orange-San Diego-Coachella District: $12.90 (Conventional)
Oxnard: $12.90 (Conventional)
Florida: $9.90 (Conventional)
Mexico Crossings Thru Baja Ca: $5.95 (Conventional)

Oxnard 2/18/08

Gentlemen,
The weather has been somewhat erratic lately, a couple of nice days, windy days, cool days, a little of everything except rain. There is now RAIN in the forecast for next week, we may have some showery periods Tuesday night into Thursday, but the real rain is being forecasted Saturday(23rd) into Monday(25th), they are calling for rain amounts above 1 inch, we will have to follow this early next week. Meanwhile, the fruit has been looking good, the color full, shape and size also good. The fields are coming along nicely, we have all stages on the plants, barring any "bad" weather the increases will steadily begin each week.

Sincerely,

Steven Yamamoto

Oxnard 2/4/08

Gentlemen,
After the rain/showers we had on early Sunday morning(.25-.50), the fields are still very saturated from the previous storm, as you can see the roads and furrows are very muddy making things a little slow to move around. The day temps have been in the low to mid 60's, and night temps in the low 40's. The fruit is making a very nice recovery from the heavy rains, after cleaning off most of the rain damaged fruit last week, we are beginning to harvest some nice fruit this week. This week's forecast calls for mostly sunny days with a slight warming trend and no threat of rain until sometime end of next week. The plants will benefit from all the rain(pushing down the salts), we just have to be a little patient until the fertilizers and nutrients all kick in. The volume will begin to increase across all the fields.

Sincerely,

Steven Yamamoto