HAMMONTON, NJ — For the 2014 New Jersey fall produce deal, Frank Donio Inc. will be offering its usual extensive lineup of items as in years past, but the big news is that the company is looking to handle twice the volume of fresh cranberries than it did last year.

The company, a longtime distributor of a full line of fresh fruits and vegetables from both domestic and offshore sources, has handled a small volume of fresh cranberries in the past, but last year it handled what company President David Arena termed “major volume” of the popular red berries.

“Last year we did about 300,000 pounds” of fresh cranberries, he told The Produce News Aug. 20. “This year we’re looking to double that.”

David Arena, president of Frank Donio Inc., displayed one of the plastic bags that the company will utilize this fall for fresh cranberries.Frank Donio Inc., headquartered here in southern New Jersey, is working with two New Jersey growers — William J. Poinsett of William J. Poinsett Farm and George Adams of Indian Mills Cranberry Co. — to provide what it terms “promotable volume of dry harvested, fresh cranberries from the historic bogs of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.”

“We’re trying to create a fresh cranberry market out of New Jersey which has previously not been promoted,” said Arena.

The cranberries will be packed in 12-ounce bags, 24 bags per case — what Arena termed the industry standard. The company will also offer special clamshell or bulk pack by request.

All of the bags will be labeled with Donio’s “Top Crop” label and with the state’s “Jersey Fresh” logo, he noted.

Fresh cranberries typically are harvested “beginning in late September and can go to early December,” said the Donio president, and “product will be offered at retail usually from early October through Christmas.”

As to this particular deal, “The big thing is the locally grown aspect,” he declared. “Our customers really do support locally grown. That was one of the driving forces to bring this to the market.” He added with pride, “We have the ability to pack cranberries to order for our customers for next-day arrival.”

The company is utilizing “state-of-the-art color and soft sorting technology” for the cranberries, product is “packed to order to ensure shelf life,” and Donio “will store and hold product until it is needed so you won’t have to,” according to the company’s promotional literature in what it calls, “The Donio Difference.”

Asked how the New Jersey vegetable deal was going this summer, Arena replied, “We really had nice seasonable weather. But we did see some markets fall.”

Quality, however, was not an issue at all. “Anytime the growing conditions aren’t stressed, quality is superior,” he said.

Arena said that at this point in time (Aug. 20), it was a little premature to predict exactly how the state’s fall vegetable deal would turn out. But he noted that “the main fall items for us are cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and now cranberries, as far as locally grown is concerned.”