In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, we take a look at the California table grape season. Each week, the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic, visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

The 2025-26 California table grape season is off to a promising start; harvests began in the week of May 12 in the Coachella Valley under favorable early-season conditions. Growers in the region expect harvesting to continue through mid-July before operations shift north to the San Joaquin Valley, where early expectations also look strong.

“Early season conditions have been good in both the Coachella and San Joaquin valleys, allowing table grape growers to begin harvesting the week of May 12 in Coachella,” said Ian LeMay, president of the California Table Grape Commission. San Joaquin Valley is expected to begin as early as the week of June 23, particularly in southern areas like Arvin and southern Bakersfield. Green varieties will follow in early July, with harvest expected to continue through December. “All the preliminary signs that our growers are seeing... it all looks like it’s going to be a great crop out of the San Joaquin Valley in the beginning,” Spinelli noted.

Despite challenges like tariffs on Chinese packaging materials, which impact up to 70% of grape packing, labor availability has remained stable, and growers are confident about the season’s outlook. To support the supply, the California Table Grape Commission has launched a global marketing campaign targeting both domestic and international markets. The campaign spans the U.S. and 21 export countries and includes tools like bonus opportunities, digital promotions, RD-led retail programs, in-store sampling, and point-of-sale materials. On the consumer side, marketing efforts focus on health messaging, creative recipe content, influencer collaborations, and digital rewards to keep California grapes in carts and kitchens.

“With a promotable supply from May through January, and a campaign built to drive demand and inspire consumption, California grapes are poised for a successful season,” LeMay said. Last year’s harvest reached 91.5 million 19-pound boxes despite heat-related setbacks early in the season. With this year’s crop getting a head start under better growing conditions, expectations are high across the industry.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.

(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

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All pricing for domestic US produce represents the spot market at Shipping Point (i.e. packing house/climate controlled warehouse, etc.). For imported fruit, the pricing data represents the spot market at Port of Entry. You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 21 commodities we currently track.