Click here to read this week’s farm report.
Air and soil temperatures were reported to be:
o The average minimum air temperature dropped to 21.9°C (71.5°F)
o The average air temperature fell to 26.5°C (79.7°F)
o The average soil temperature was identical on average to last week- 26.7°C (80.1°F)
o Solar radiation was mainly moderate but decreased significantly over the weekend.
o Moderate risk of causing sunburnt and corky fruit.
o The relative humidity remained stable at 86.4%.
o Large fruit (4,5 and 6 count) declined significantly to 37.7% and 5 count was only 11.9% of our harvest.
o The week brought a significant reduction in age at harvest: 89.3% of the fruit was harvested at 10 WAS and the balance at 19 WAF.
o Crownless fruit volume decreased to 9.4% of the total packed.
o Despite the increase in harvest age, brix continued to rise. Worrying was the percentage of fruit with brix greater than 15.5, which exceed 50% of the sample. The standard deviation of brix readings was low on all farms.
o The average firmness of our fruit was identical to the previous week, however fruit with psi less than 2.7 was not detected by sampling. The minimum was 2.7 psi; the average reached 3.4 psi and the maximum was 3.8 psi.
o All fruit quality characteristics were reported according to our standards.
o No vessel delays reported this week. Although our vessel in the Southeast will start arriving on Wednesday, per their new arrival schedule.