California is seeing a good organic kiwifruit season, as weather and general conditions improve. There are still a couple of months to go for the season, and supplies are currently steady. "All of our organic kiwifruit is grown here in Yuba County, while there is other organic kiwi grown in the Central Valley," said Cecilia Villalobos of Wild River Marketing. "For our organic green kiwifruit, we grow the common Hayward variety."
As far as the season goes, conventional kiwifruit in California is experiencing the first signs of the end of the season, with volume beginning to decline. Supplies of organic kiwi, however, are still strong and growers expect good supplies for another couple of months. "The California crop of organic kiwifruit runs from Early October and usually will run through the early part of May," Villalobos noted. "There is good volume of fruit and we anticipate to have California fruit available through April."
Organic continues to see good demand
As with other commodities, the demand for organic kiwi continues to grow. Wild River are also seeing this growth, both domestically and internationally. "We've seen demand for Organic Kiwi on the increase the last couple of years," Villalobos said. "Wild River has partnerships in place with a number of retailers across the United States. We also ship internationally to markets such as Asia with specialized packing styles suited for shipments to those regions."
"Our kiwi is typically packed in bulk packs (19.8lbs)," she continued. "There is also the option for a couple of consumer packs, a 1lb bag or a Clam shell which for us would typically be a 1lb clam. In the last couple of years we have started to ship more and more of the clamshells."
Strong commitment to organic
Wild River have been an organic grower for over 20 years, having switched most of their crops from conventional to organic. They have utilized a number of different strategies to ensure their commitment to organic practices is met as well as to look after the natural habitat.
"For over two decades, our organic crops have been certified by California Certified Organic Farmers," Villalobos said. "The Yuba River borders our farmland. It is a pristine habitat for wildlife and vegetation and we want to help protect this by minimizing any impact from our farming operations. We also use things like bird boxes in the fields to attract native birds which help control pests. There are also honey bee boxes located in the fields which helps the natural pollination process of our produce, next to our native pollinators."
For more information:
Cecilia Villalobos
Wild River Marketing
Tel: +1 (530) 749-9453