Going back to its roots in Italy, J. Marchini Farms, which is headquartered in Le Grand, CA, is now marketing an heirloom plum tomato variety as a sauce tomato for both the retail and foodservice trades. The company offers the product in fresh form for about six weeks in late summer and also freezes the whole tomatoes for distribution throughout the year.

Eclipse Berry Farm is not a misnomer. The Southern California grower-shipper, with its farm in Ventura County and its sales office in Los Angeles, is primarily a strawberry operation.

“That makes up 90 or 95 percent of our business,” says Rick Hearst, longtime salesperson for the company. “But our grape tomato program is a nice little deal for us.” And it’s on the rise.

Mr. Hearst explained that fellow salesperson Stuart Gilfenbain, son of the owner, Norman Gilfenbain, “got a Florida grape tomato deal many years ago, and that got us started.”

Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce in San Diego marked its 25th anniversary Aug. 1, according to Mark Munger, vice president of marketing. “It came quietly,” he said. “We really didn’t do anything ... special” to celebrate the occasion, but it “was a nice milestone for us.”

A&W was founded in August 1986 by Fred Andrew and Fred Williamson, Mr. Munger told The Produce News Aug. 5. “Their initial vision for the company was to work with ... growers” in northern Baja California, Mexico, “to provide premium produce.”

The company has been around for about eight decades, has operated in many different areas and time zones, and has changed its name from time to time, but President Chuck Thomas of Thomas Produce Sales is content to stay put in Nogales, AZ for now.

“My grandfather started the company in North Carolina in the 1930s, and we worked tomato deals all over the country, including North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Mexico. I used to go from deal to deal,” he said.

Though the crop came in later than normal in 2011, there were plenty of namesake onions at the 27th Annual Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival held July 16 and 17 in downtown Walla Walla, WA.

Kathryn Fry-Trommald, marketing director for the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee, said Aug. 3 that the two-day event was a great spotlight for the onion, which is not only the region’s most famous crop but is also the Washington State Vegetable.

“Attendance was very good, and we estimate we had about 5,000 attendees over the weekend,” Ms. Fry-Trommald said.

Organic and sweet yellow onions direct-seeded in February and March are now being shipped by Sweet Clover Produce of Walla Walla, WA.

“We transitioned into our direct-seeded crop in late July,” said Bill (Sweet Willie) Brownfield, sales manager for Sweet Clover. Mr. Brownfield said July 27 that the new crop volume looks good, and supplies will run through April 2012.

“We’re shipping whites, reds, sweet yellows, sweet organics and yellow organics,” he said, adding that the organic volume is up significantly over last year.