Retailers often begin changing the sets of their produce departments around the first of September, switching over to fall fruit. In the process, stone fruit, which is generally regarded as a summer fruit, sometimes loses its place on the shelf.

The retailers do that because “they are so used to doing that. That is what history tells them to do,” said Doug LaCroix, a salesman at Family Tree Farms Marketing LLC in Reedley, CA.

But “our message to them,” he said, is that Family Tree Farms has stone fruit available in good quality and good volume in the late season “beyond what they may typically think is available.”

Included in that late-season lineup are some of Family Tree’s core commodities such as white peaches and white nectarines. “Those are available in strong promotable volumes through the end of September,” he said.

The company also has some late-season plumcots. One is “King Kong,” which is “a big, jet-black plumcot” with amber flesh that will be available probably through the second or third week of September, he said.

Additionally, “we have several red plumcot varieties” that will start about mid-September and continue through the end of October, he said.

The company also has a green plum called Emerald Beaut that starts around mid-August and continues through about the second week of September. It is “probably our sweetest fruit of the season,” LaCroix said.

For Family Tree Farms, the objective of having those late varieties is not just to extend the season into fall, however. “We do want to have continuous supply for our customers. But our primary goal — our mission statement — is to produce, package and market the most flavorful fruit in the world. We want to separate ourselves [from the competition] by having genetics that are superior, that have a flavor profile that drives demand and makes sure consumers are delighted with their purchases.”

To that end, “starting this year, we are … introducing some new varieties of late-season plumcots that will continue to raise the flavor profile bar for late-season stone fruit, LaCroix said. This year’s introductions are already commercially planted, but the trees are small and production this year will be limited. Volume will be “a little more sizeable next year,” and over the next two or three years, they will be in full production.

“There are probably seven years of research and development” behind each of the varieties, he said. “It is sometimes a painfully slow process, but we are excited to finally see them on the horizon.”

The fall introductions are just part of a season-long program. “We’ve been adding those types of exciting proprietary genetics to our mix all throughout the season,” LaCroix said. “We have some really exciting genetics” that will be introduced to the marketplace “this year and beyond.”