In its cherry program, The Flavor Tree Fruit Co. LLC, exclusive sales agent for Warmerdam Packing in Hanford, CA, is best known for its proprietary Sequoia cherry variety. The company also has other varieties, but the focus is on proprietary varieties, according to Maurice Cameron, managing partner.

“Predominantly, our trend for our company is to be in proprietary varietals,” Cameron said. Currently “we have a new one coming up the pipeline.” It has been planted and is expected to be in production in sufficient numbers by next year to be introduced to the marketplace.

Liberty Fruit Co. Inc. has earned the highest-possible food-safety rating, according to Scott Danner, the firm's chief operating officer.

"We have passed the SQF 2000 Level 3 certification," Danner told The Produce News April 21. "This is the highest food-safety certification one can achieve."

From the start of the summer fruit season to the finish, Homegrown Organic Farms in Porterville, CA, markets a full line of organic products in the various stone fruit categories, including several new varieties, “as we continue, as a company, to offer a full-service [program of] year-round offerings of organic fruit to customers,” said Stephen Paul, sales manager for stone fruit, specialty fruit and grapes.

Those summer fruit programs are followed by an expanding program of fall fruit.

The Reedley, CA, division of Giumarra Bros. Fruit Co. Inc., commonly called Giumarra Reedley, specializes in stone fruit, and this summer, the company is promoting its plums through a program called “Easy as Pie.”

According to a company press release, the promotion features plums packed in “Nature’s Partner”-branded two-pound zip closure pouch bags, which have a peel-off recipe label and a QR code linking to a YouTube cooking video.

“Our tree fruit program has been modeled to have it strong on the front end,” said Justin Bedwell, managing partner at Bari Produce LLC in Madera, CA. The focus is on apricots and on early-season plums, nectarines and peaches. “A lot of our volume is in apricots.”

Valhalla Sales & Marketing Inc. in Kingsburg, CA, is a grower, shipper and packer of a wide assortment of fruit, including stone fruit. In the stone fruit category, the company’s production is heavy in apricots and plums, according to David Stone, president and chief executive officer.

“I’m not heavy” in peaches and nectarines, he said. “We have some” throughout the season, “but that is not one of the major factors of our company.”