California Giant Berry Farms is enjoying good seasons across two continents, with an extended strawberry season in the U.S. and blueberry shipments picking up from Chile.

Speaking with www.freshfruitportal.com during Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Fruittrade Latin America last week, owner Patrick Riordan said strawberry demand continued to exceed supply in the U.S.

"And we're still picking. We're going to pick longer because we've got no rain," he said.

Patrick Riordan (second from right) with the California Giant Berry Farms team at PMA Fruittrade Latin America.

"The rain usually comes in November, but in fact last year for the whole year we only had 3.75 inches of rain in southern California and that was it."

While the lack of rainfall is not healthy for fruit development, Riordan said his company was certainly not facing a "disaster situation" and had access to wells.

He said the Chilean blueberry season was also looking strong with expectations of higher volume than last year.

"Our volume is going to leap. We've got more acreage and we intend to keep getting more and more as the demand keeps going up and up.

"With growers we go into a business and shipping deal with them, then we export to the U.S., Europe or Asia.

"Consumption keeps going up, we keep producing more, and we're not stuck with anything. We're blessed - berries is a good category."

Riordan said he hoped to invest further in Chile, but the company did not yet have any concrete plans to do so.

"We want to be like we are in northern California down here," he said.

"In northern California we have our own plant nurseries, we have our own cold storages and coolers, our own sales, our own carton companies, we have our own frozen fruit company, and we either buy or produce it ourselves; just about every combination you could have."

www.freshfruitportal.com