Chuck Olsen Co. is in the grape business year-round
With grape deals in Chile and Mexico as well as California, The Chuck Olsen Co. in Visalia, CA, is “for all intents and purposes” in the grape business year-round, according to Jeff Olsen, president.
During the Chilean season, “we bring in some product,” Olsen said. Then the company has a small grower deal in Sonora, Mexico.
In the San Joaquin Valley, the company has production in various districts from Arvin and Delano to Visalia.
In addition, “we buy and sell if we need to,” he said.
Arvin district tracking for earliest start in Pandol Bros. history
Prior to the current season, the earliest start date for grapes in the San Joaquin Valley for Pandol Bros. in Delano, CA, was June 21. That was in 2004, and this year “we expect to beat that by two to three days,” said John Pandol, director of special projects, May 27. “We are tracking for the earliest start in Arvin in our company’s history.”
He attributes the early start to “basically an accumulation of heat units.” A “short, severe winter” was followed by a warm early spring.
Giant and Martin's customers support troops with $560,000 donation
Customers and associates at Giant Food Stores and Martin’s Food Markets recently showed their support for local men and women serving in the armed forces by generously donating $560,194 through the store’s annual Support Our Troops campaign.
Since the inception of Support Our Troops in 2005, Giant and Martin's customers and associates have donated more than $3 million to benefit regional USOs and the Wounded Warrior Project.
Earliest season start anticipated in Hronis Inc. 69-year history
“This will be our earliest season start in Hronis’ 69-year history,” said Pete Hronis, vice president of sales and marketing for Hronis Inc. in Delano, CA, a family-owned table grape growing, packing and shipping company, in a written statement to The Produce News June 4. “We are very happy to announce we will begin shipping our grapes 10 days to two weeks earlier than normal this year.”
California grapes are major summer commodity for Crown Jewels
Fresh grapes are “a big part of what Crown Jewels does in the summertime, along with melons and apples and pears and pomegranates,” said Atomic Torosian, a partner in Crown Jewels Produce LLC in Fresno, CA. “We generally do about a million and a half boxes of grapes out of California, and that number will be pretty much the same” for the 2014 season.
Central California onion deal starts early on down market, but prices expected to firm
Being early with a crop can be a desirable thing when it hits a marketing window, but not when it comes in on top of an already glutted market. That is what happened at the start of the Central California onion deal this year, but growers were confident that it was only a temporary situation and prices would soon firm.
Stevco’s early season volume in San Joaquin Valley continues to grow
Stevco Inc., which is headquartered in Los Angeles and has branch offices in Nogales, AZ, and in Coachella and Bakersfield, CA, will once again have an increase in production of both Flame seedless grapes and Sugraone green seedless grapes during the early part of the season in California’s San Joaquin Valley, according to Jared Lane, vice president of sales and marketing.
The company had additional acreage in production in those varieties for the 2013 season. For 2014, Stevco will again “have a little bit added volume on both Sugraones and Flames,” Lane said May 29.
Telesis Onion continues with heavy emphasis on foodservice markets
Telesis Onion Co. Inc.. in Five Points, CA, which produces red, yellow and white onions in the Huron and Five Points area, packs its products for both foodservice and retail customers.
“We do all boxes and all consumer bags,” Mike Smythe, a salesman with the company, said in a May 29 interview with The Produce News.
Last year, Telesis purchased a new Volm bagging machine to meet increased demand from retailers for consumer bags and also increased its stickering capacity.
Eclipse grape tomato crop stays on track
For more than a decade, Eclipse Berry Farms has been one of the leaders in the California grape tomato deal
With its fields in the Oxnard Plains area of Ventura County and its sales office on the Westside of Los Angeles, it has carved out a nice niche selling only grape-type tomatoes in that category. Salesman Rick Hearst said the 2014 season for the firm is shaping up to be a fairly typical year. On Thursday, May 29, he told The Produce News that the firm’s production was about two weeks away from starting.
Extensive offerings build following for Turbana
Since 1970, Turbana Corp., located in Coral Gables, FL, has been an industry leader in the production and distribution of a wide range of bananas and ethnic tropicals. Director of Marketing Marion Tabard said the company’s extensive offerings include conventional, organic and Fair Trade-certified bananas; exotic banana varieties such as baby, red and manzanos; plantains and burros; and pineapples.