From the Fields - Neil Nagata

By Neil Nagata, San Diego County farmer 

Strawberries are at the end of the season. The strawberry crop was pretty good. The season was late, just like everything else. The weather was cool all the way through. The temperatures started to get warm two weeks ago, so everything has been delayed pretty much four to six weeks.

Now, things are starting to catch up. Most of what we do is done for the season, and then we’ll get ready to plant again. We will plant probably at the end of September for strawberries. Strawberries should be ready at the beginning of December. Blueberries have been done for almost a month now, so we just have to maintain them and clean them up. Cherimoyas are blossoming now. We need to hand-pollinate those. Fruit for those will come out in November.

For us, finding enough employees hasn’t been an issue. I understand some crops have had an issue, but we haven’t had any shortage of employees this season, so it is unusual but has been good for us.

I understand that the Mexican fruit fly quarantine was just officially ceased in Valley Center, so that’s good news. We weren’t affected directly, but it is within several miles, so it could have affected us.

Cherimoyas are definitely impacted. Citrus is impacted, and a whole bunch of different types of fruits can be impacted, so you have to go through a quarantine period and a protocol to treat. After you maintain that protocol for a duration, then you are allowed to ship. You have to handle everything protected differently, which adds an additional layer of cost and an additional burden. San Diego County always has something going on because of our proximity to the border. We have a major port here in San Diego, which can bring in other things.