Click here to read this week’s farm report.
Air and soil temperatures were reported to be:
o The average minimum air temperature rose to 23.6°C (74.5°F)
o The average air temperature rose to 26.7°C (80.1°F)
o The average soil temperature also increased to 27°C (80.6°F)
o Solar radiation was mostly low to very low with overcast days.
o Very low risk of causing sunburnt and corky fruit.
o The relative humidity jumped slightly to 90.9%.
o Large fruit (4,5 and 6 count) made up 52% of our harvest, but size 5 decreased to 18.8%.
o The 20 WAF fruit continues to be the majority with 78.5% of the harvest. The balance corresponded to 16.9% fruit from 21 WAF and 4.7% very young fruit from 19 WAF.
o Crownless fruit volume increased to 10.3% of the total packed.
o The sugar content of our fruit remained quite high. It is important to mention that during sampling, no fruit was recorded below 13.5 Brix and the volume with a Brix level above 15.5 remained quite high: 47.3% of the sample. The variability of Brix readings remained high on most of our farms.
o The average firmness of our fruit remained like the previous week. However, a higher percentage was detected with psi less than 2.7 (7.7% of the samples). The minimum was 2.5 psi; the average reached 3.3 psi and the maximum was 4.2 psi.
o All fruit quality characteristics were reported according to our standards.
o Expect supply to be limited for the remainder of the year. Most national retailers will be on promotional volume for the holidays.
o No vessel delays reported this week. Although it’s a short holiday week, containers will be worked on Tuesday rather than Monday.
o Weather patterns were like those of the previous weeks, with an increase in weekly precipitation, several overcast days, but contrary to what was expected, with an increase in air and soil temperatures. As mentioned above, prevailing climatic conditions could favor new natural flowering events.