Sales Manager Marc Marchini of J. Marchini Farms in Le Grand, CA, wears the fig marketing hat for his firm and likes the distinction.

“It’s a fun item to be a part of it,” he said. “It’s sexy to be a fig shipper. Everyone remembers the tree their grandfather had in the backyard.”

For J. Marchini, fresh figs are a limited time niche item that the firm got involved in about a decade ago when it bought an adjacent ranch that had fig trees on it. “We were going to tear them out and put almonds on the land, but we decided to sell them and have done pretty well.”

He explained that the company had many buyers for its radicchio, which, like figs, is a Mediterranean crop. They started pushing the figs to these same buyers and grew their program. Marchini said much of the marketing material promoting figs includes picture of radicchio so there is a natural tie in. Both are high-end items for specific consumers.

“We just concentrate on putting out a quality pack and filling the needs of our customers and are hoping to continue to grow the market,” he added.

The firm packs mostly in the traditional one-pint basket, as he said that is the preferred packing method for foodservice customers, which make up the bulk of its fig business. All of the Marchini Farms figs are grown in the northern district of the San Joaquin Valley, and the company typically has figs for about a four-month period through the summer months. “I’m the fig guy here on the marketing and sales end. My brother takes care of the growing and tries to get us a good crop, and I am involved in harvesting, forecasting and selling the crop. What I do is try to figure out when we are going to have good supplies and work on promotional pricing for those time periods,” Marchini said.

He said there is almost always of good supply of fresh figs during the middle of the season but it is more difficult to forecast the expected volume at the beginning and end of the deal. This year, Marchini believes the drought situation might come into play as the season progresses. “Fresh figs need water all year long and I’m not sure we are going to have it as we get to the end of the deal. That (situation) may result in early end.”

Long term, Marchini believes that California fresh figs can continue as a strong niche product because he does not expect supplies to increase in any substantial way. “Just driving around in my neighborhood, there are less fig trees than their used to be. Growers are concentrating on almonds, walnuts and pistachios in this area and you just don’t see them planting figs. In fact, many of the fig land now has pistachios on it.”

Marchini said the situation may not turn into a huge demand-exceeds-supply scenario, but it should allow the crop to be marketed at a profitable level.