From the Fields - Neil Nagata

By Neil Nagata, San Diego County farmer

We are finishing up the berry season, so both blueberries and strawberries are coming to an end. We are still picking the last of the strawberries and blueberries, but things are winding down. Everything is pretty much ending our season, and we are getting ready to do it again.

We are making plans for next season and slowing down in the berry fruits. Within a short amount of time, we will be knocking everything over—not the blueberries, but the strawberries—and then getting the fields prepared to be ready to plant in late September or early October. There is a lot more planning than actual activity as we get ready to prepare the fields for the next season.

The berry market was tough this year. Early strawberries were pretty good, but the rains that started in December and went all the way until April held us back. We had a lot of rain, so there were definitely challenges with disease and fruit quality. But overall, production was decent even in spite of those problems.

For blueberries, the markets weren’t as good. We had a lot of competition coming out of Mexico right in our window, so it has been more and more challenging for the blueberries.

For cherimoya, we are pruning the trees back and getting ready for next season.

This year, we didn’t have any problems with sourcing employees, so we were able to meet our needs.

Costs keep going up, which is a challenge. With all the rain, the conditions required a lot more weeding, so there was a lot more maintenance around the farm, which added to our costs.