Giumarra Agricom International LLC in Escondido, CA, has “just recently hired an individual that will be working with our East Coast team to develop Midwest and East Coast wholesale, foodservice and retail accounts,” said General Manager Bruce Dowhan in an interview with The Produce News July 25.

Bruce Dowhan, general manager of Giumarra Agricom.James Paul, who was previously with Altar Produce LLC, an asparagus company headquartered in Calexico, CA, “will be starting here the end of July,” Mr. Dowhan said. Mr. Paul will be based in Stockton, CA, but will be working with the sales team in Giumarra Agricom’s Buffalo, NY, office.

Giumarra Agricom handles avocados from all major producing regions that serve the U.S. market. “We are currently marketing product from Mexico, California and Peru,” Mr. Dowhan said. “Right now the California product is coming in” from both the northern and southern growing districts of the state. “We expect to finish up with the southern fruit towards the end of August and continue with the north through October.”

Peruvian fruit was also “coming in now,” he said, “and we expect to wrap that up” around the end of August.

With regard to Mexican avocados, “we are currently wrapping up” the 2011-12 season, “and we will be looking to bring in Flora Loca here in about two weeks. The name flora Loca refers to an off-season crop that precedes the start of the main new crop, and this year the Flora Loca crop “is anticipated to be much larger than it was last year,” Mr. Dowhan said. “I would add that it is being harvested and marketed in a more condensed period, so we expect there to be ample supplies of Flora Loca between the beginning of August and the end of September when we start the new crop.”

Mexico’s new crop “we expect … to be slightly larger than last year,” he said.

The new Chilean crop would also be starting soon, but not as early as usual. “Traditionally, we see the first bulk arrivals from Chile coming in the middle part of August,” he said. “Now, with the global supply, certain regions have adjusted their time frames to come to the market, and the Chileans are certainly in that position. We will start to see some arrivals at the end of August or early September” with the heavier volume starting mid to late September.

Giumarra Agricom expects to market a similar volume of Chilean avocados to what it did last year, he said.

In its California program, the company opened a second California avocado packinghouse a little over a year ago. The new facility, located in Ventura, is designed to serve growers in California’s northern producing areas in the vicinity of Ventura and Santa Barbara. The Escondido facility continues to serve growers in the southern districts.