Veteran grape salesman Jared Lane, who is the co-owner of Delano, CA-based Grapeco Farms LLC, admits it was a big decision to start his own company with partner Robert Caneda earlier this year.

But it wasn’t as gut wrenching as one might think. “We had the opportunity to go out and start our own company,” he said without trepidation. “I figured I’d try it and if it didn’t work out, I could always go work for somebody else.”

With the addition of almost 900 acres to its California table grape deal in the San Joaquin Valley, Delano, CA-based Fruit Royale is flirting with the 2 million carton number.

“We added 897 acres of new plantings over the last couple of years of the newer varieties,” said Managing Partner Louie Galvan, who started the distribution company with his brother John in 2004. “These are first- and second-year plantings, so we are expanding exponentially. We’re getting close to 2 million boxes; we expect to hit 1.7 to 1.8 million this year.”

With a good California summer stone fruit season to build on, Scattaglia Growers and Shippers are expecting to finish the season on a strong note with a solid supply of yellow peaches through October as well as some yellow nectarines and plums lasting into September.

In the spring of this year, the FOB price on a carton of 48 size avocados —  the size most often preferred by retailers — fell below $30 for the first time in many years. In mid-August that same carton of avocados had an FOB price above $75.

After a slow start because of lingering volume from Mexico, California’s summer grape deal is currently operating on all cylinders heading toward its peak in September and expected solid volume through November and into December.

Two transportation brokers report that truck rates are extremely low without a lot of hope of overall improvement on the horizon. On the other hand, a San Joaquin Valley grape shipper said his rates have been climbing as he recently secured a load to Texas that was about 15 percent higher in mid-August than it was earlier in the month.