“We are excited about the upcoming season. We have additional fruit,” George Kragie, president of Western Fresh Marketing in Madera, CA, said in an interview with The Produce News May 6.

“We are going to start California figs on Monday, May 9,” out of the southern desert, shipping out of Coachella, CA, he said. The variety will be Brown Turkey, and the fruit will be packed “only in half trays and full trays because the fruit is going to be too large” for clamshells or baskets.

REEDLEY, CA — Family Tree Farms Marketing LLC, here is one of just “two or three” California stone fruit shippers with “a full white-flesh program,” Dovey Plain, marketing administrator, said May 6.

“A lot of people are aware that we have been branching out into some yellow [peach and nectarine] varieties and increasing that every year,” she said. “But it is not in any way decreasing our commitment to white flesh” which “still remains … our number one focus.”

HANFORD, CA — The Flavor Tree Fruit Co. LLC, here, introduced last year a new label for its white-flesh peaches and nectarines, targeted to the Latin American market. The label, “La Californiana,” is finding appeal over a broader geographic area than originally expected.

The company is also expanding some of its food-safety certifications that have been in place for cherries into its stone fruit programs, including white-flesh peaches and nectarines this year, according to Maurice Cameron, managing partner.

A team of three Stemilt employees took home third place in the corporate division at the inaugural Live 4 Adventure Race, held May 21 in Wenatchee, WA.

In addition to earning bronze medals, the Stemilt Ladybugs earned $250 in prize money for Wenatchee High School, the local school that they chose to support prior to the race.

Rhonda Couch, Amber Rae Harris and Carrie Couch were the three Stemilt employees on the corporate team. The three work together at the company’s Miller Street facility.

“We have added hydrocooled green beans to our product list this year,” Tom Sheppard, president of Eastern Fresh Growers Inc., in Cedarville, NJ, told The Produce News. “We handled them several years ago with good success, but we moved away from them.”

Mr. Sheppard is also vice president of Sheppard Farms, the company’s farming division.

VINELAND, NJ — Some deals start early, some start late, and every once in a while, they start on time. The 2011 New Jersey spring vegetable season falls into the last category, with nice volume and high quality added for good measure.