Longtime produce veteran Christopher (Chris) Gardella, who has been in the produce business since 1977 and was most recently director of business development for Unifrutti of America Inc. in Philadelphia, has joined R.B. Sandrini Inc. in Delano, CA, as director of sales and marketing. He started in April.

“We’ve got increases in varieties really across the board” for the latter part of the season this year, said Louie Galvan, a partner in Delano, CA-based Fruit Royale Inc.

The early part of the company’s grape program, basically the months of July and August and the first part of September, will be “pretty much status quo for us,” he said. But “our fall program is going to increase by about 30 to 40 percent” due to new vineyards coming into production and some vineyards that have been grafted over to new varieties coming on line.

“This will be our first year with Autumn Kings,” said Justin Bedwell, a partner in Bari Produce LLC in Madera, CA, which was formed in 2009 as a marketing arm for Logoluso Farms, also in Madera. Logoluso Farms is a grower of stone fruit and grapes packed mainly in the “Logoluso” and “Bari” labels.

The company will have a good volume of the Autumn Kings this year, and “each year we should have more and more production” as new vineyards come into bearing, Mr. Bedwell said.

Historically, most produce from the United States going into China “has gone through traders in Hong Kong and Taiwan,” said Jim Provost, managing partner in I Love Produce in Kelton, PA, who has been doing business with China for eight years, mostly importing Chinese product into the United States.

For Columbine Vineyards in Delano, CA, the 2011 grape season will be “almost a mirror image of last year,” according to Keith Andrew, who is on sales with the company.

Planted acreage and the variety mix this year is “all the same” as the year before, he said.

But there are changes coming.

Because of new plantings not yet in production, the 2012 season will see new grape varieties coming into bearing including two new patented varieties, as well as increased volume on some varieties Columbine is already growing, he said.

Green Tree International Inc. in Visalia, CA, handles an assortment of products, with a strong focus on California-grown fruit, fresh grapes from the San Joaquin Valley being among the most important.

“Out of the San Joaquin Valley, we don’t represent any growers,” said Cary Crum, vice president. “We do mostly brokerage. We work with probably 10 to 12 shippers on a very close level” and also with a second tier of about that same number of shippers as needed. “We try to concentrate on a core group of shippers as much as we can and be supportive of them,” he said.