“Everybody is saying it is going to be a good quality year,” said Clint Lucas, an inspector at RJO Produce Marketing Inc. in Fresno, CA, in interview with The Produce News, with regard to the 2014 California grape season.

But there has been some variation in yields early in the season, with generally early start dates followed by lower volumes in the early harvest than expected and considerable variance in grape size.

On the Flame crop, for example, “it seems like a lot of guys are experiencing about a ring size off this year,” Lucas said. Are there large sized Flames available? “Absolutely, but it has caused almost a two-tier market” with the larger grapes holding a premium.

In greens, “I was talking to a supplier today, and on their Princess crop, he said … their bunches were a little bit erratic, which will affect their Princess volume this year,” Lucas said.

That type of variance in the available grape supplies out of California underscores why the services of a company such as RJO are valuable to clients.

“Our core competency is being on ground representing our customers, whether it be inspections or category management or procurement or whatever the customer needs us to do, just focusing on making sure they get the product they need,” Lucas said.

RJO offers that range of services for many types of fruit. “In terms of grapes, we are out there every day” throughout the California season, he said. “Our bird dogs are looking at the fruit, making sure what [customers] are ordering is what they are getting, and just being out there on the ground for them. We continue to make that our main focus.”

All of RJO’s inspectors are equipped with “hand-held devices with the Bird Dog Quality Scoring System,” he said.

As RJO President John O’Rourke told The Produce News in a previous interview, using that system enables customers to “see exactly how the commodities are trending, and they have a score, real time. Our bird dogs are out in the field on a daily basis, and our customers have the ability to have a score right there in front of them 3,000 miles away. That accurate timely information helps them to handle their business, I think, in a much more efficient, more knowledgeable manner.”

“We can adjust the scoring system and customize it to any customer’s wishes, so it reflects those customers’ specifications and what they are looking for,” he continued. “It allows them to see trends and see what is happening and get a real clear understanding of the marketplace, especially given the abundant amount of varieties that are available, so it is a great tool. We are excited that we can use technology, along with our field-based team, and put our customers in a position where they can leverage field knowledge,” helping them to make “timely, accurate decisions for their business.”

“It is pretty impressive” how far the industry has come in just the past 10 years in terms of inspection technology and the way “we rely on technology now to get our job done, and the instant feedback,” said Lucas. “If one of my bird dogs calls me and tells me they think they see a problem in the fruit — or, vice versa, that something is really nice,” the bird dog can do an inspection using the hand-held and “upload it to our database, and I can see it in 10 seconds.”

That is “great for customer feedback as well,” he added. “Everything is instantaneous now.”

The objective is to match fruit to customer specifications or, if the best fruit available from a given vendor on a given day does not precisely meet those specifications, to make sure it meets customer approval before it is shipped.

If the largest size available, for example, is under a customer’s 12/16 inch specifications but “the fruit is very good,” in some cases a customer will approve a shipment “if that is the best they have today.” Others will say, “We need to change the order. That is not going to work,” Lucas said. “That is critical. You’ve got to keep the customer happy, and that feedback is key.”

At times, shippers will offer deals on fruit that may be good quality but a little smaller than ideal, and that can be an opportunity for some customers who are in a position to take advantage of the situation. “As long as they know what is coming and it either meets their specifications or they approve it, there are opportunities,” he said. He expected to see “more opportunities like that” over the next few weeks as volume builds.