Fruit Royale to have Summer Royals, Flames and Princess for early season
Fruit Royale to have Summer Royals, Flames and Princess for early season
With an anticipated start date the week of June 23 for the start of the company’s grape harvest in the San Joaquin Valley, Fruit Royale Inc. in Delano, CA, Louie Galvan, a partner in the company, expected a smooth transition from its Mexican grape program, with no major gaps despite the Mexican season winding down earlier than usual.
“We are almost half-way through our program out of Mexico,” Galvan told The Produce News May 29. The company, which tripled its acreage in Sonora, Mexico, for 2014, with production in Pesqueira and La Costa areas of Hermosillo but nothing in the later district of Caborca. While Caborca was expecting normal crops, Hermosillo was picking out lighter than anticipated. “The bunch counts were there,” he said, but it is taking more bunches to fill a box than usual. While he does not anticipate a major shortage, “it is going to come up a little bit short.” In Sugraones, the crop could be off 20-30 percent.
Despite that and an earlier-than-usual expected finish, “we don’t see any gap” because of the earliness of the San Joaquin Valley crop, he said.
By around July 7, Fruit Royale could have Summer Royal black seedless grapes available from the San Joaquin Valley, but “no greens until mid-July,” he said. “Typically our first one is a Princess.” The company does not have early Sugraones, “and Perlette is no longer.” Fruit Royale also has no Thompsons. “It was a fantastic grape. It was a grape that kept us in the deal for many years.” It eats well and stores well “if you get the right sugar in it,” and it is “a good-looking grape. It is just so expensive to grow” compared to some of the newer varieties.
Fruit Royale now goes from Princess to the late Autumn King in its green seedless program in the San Joaquin Valley. “That is quite a change,” Galvan said.
For the early deal in the San Joaquin Valley this year, there are no changes in the company’s program other than the early start, he said. “Our volume increases are toward the tail end of the deal.”
The company expects to pack 80 percent to 100 percent of the crop in the new stand-up pouch bags that most customers now prefer. “We are currently doing 100 percent of our Mexican program in the stand-up pouch,” he said.
