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As the California strawberry market continues
to push north, there are still a lot of quality
berries produced south of the border. San
Diego’s Andrew & Williamson Sales Company
grows about 1,000 acres of berries in San
Quintin and Vizcaino in Baja California, and,
according to A&W’s Mark Munger, the company
is set to expand its market share in the future.
“We start producing in mid-December,”
Munger said, “and our berries are easy to promote
in January and February. However, some
of our best berries are available now through
the end of May.”
Baja California, Munger said, has a completely
different weather pattern than California.
“Many people think that when it gets hot
in Southern California that it is blazing down in
Baja. In reality, the weather in Baja is more
stable, and we are able to consistently grow a
great quality strawberry.”
A&W’s berries are grown in the north district
of Baja, only a couple of miles from the
beach, so the weather patterns are much more
similar to Oxnard and Oceanside.
In El Nino years, this has been a great asset
for A&W. Munger said retailers who bought
the Baja berries were “astounded by the great
quality and very pleased with the competitive
prices.”
Vice president of Sales John King said that
it is a competitive race with California strawberries
to get A&W’s berries to the retailer. “The
California Strawberry Commission does a very
good job promoting their fruit, and with Santa
Maria and Watsonville getting early starts on
their season, it is definitely a challenge. But we
have a great quality berry that we feel is the
same or even better than the California berries.”
King is very proud that A&W was one of
the first strawberry production facilities to be
“primus.com certified. We formalized our food
safety program in 1997. It meets the retailers
highest criteria, and I believe it is the best food
safety program in Baja California.” Munger
added that the firm sells its product to
Albertson’s, a company that scrutinizes food
safety programs. He said that A&W meets
Albertson’s “good ag practices.”
King and Munger said that there is a misconception
that as the California strawberry deal
heads north that the number of Baja berries
decrease. “Quite the contrary,” Munger said.
“Our peak volume is actually in April and you
can get some of our best quality berries up until
the end of May or, sometimes even into early
June.”
Competitively speaking, this high volume
of quality fruits affords A&W some positive opportunities
in expanding its market. “Los Angeles
is a big and important market for us,” Munger
said. “We would love to see our business grow
there, especially with its convenient location to
us. Los Angeles is the number one berry consumption
area in the United States, if not the
world, and retailers in Los Angeles could benefit
greatly by purchasing our Baja berries.”
Munger added that the quality of the berries
they grow is the same or better quality than
those grown in California. “The only thing that
makes our fruit Mexican berries is the border.
The farming is the same, and the weather is
actually better for growing berries than many
places in California.”
King said that the firm also has access to
proprietary varieties and is a member of the
Berry Genetics Institute. “All varieties of berries
eventually run their course, so we are constantly
searching for something to differentiate us from
the rest of the group. Currently we have a proprietary
brand under the ‘Strawberry Magic’ label,
and it is about 10 percent of our sales. It
has a more traditional strawberry shape and is
larger with more flavor than a Camarosa.”
He added: “The weather in California during
the spring months is not stable which means
there might not be consistent volume. Baja’s
more stable climate conditions means we can
fulfill orders throughout the spring months.”
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