The end of year numbers published by the Processing Strawberry Advisory Board of California show that freezer and juice stock volumes continued to increase throughout the fall of 2014. More fruit came in to processors in the months of November and December than would normally be the case. End of year totals for 2014 were ahead of 2013 for both juice and frozen.
A review of the volume of fruit delivered by area for frozen usage shows how much more fruit came from the Santa Maria area in 2014 than in 2013. The percent of fruit for processing from that district was higher in 2014 than in the previous three years. Northern California also had more processing fruit than usual, but the volume there is still very small compared to the size of the area. Just over 5% of the total processing volume for freezer grade came from that area, yet that district had 44% of the winter planted acres in 2014. That district did contribute nearly 33% of the juice volume in the state in 2014.
