Fresh Farms says time is right to promote California grapes

Fresh Farms, a leading shipper of table grapes based in Rio Rico, AZ, is expecting lighter volume on its California production this year due to a frost that occurred during the growing cycle.

The company wrapped up its Mexican grape season around July 11 and started its California deal that same week out of its offices and cold storage facility in Kingsburg, CA.

Fresh Farms said California production would be down by about 10-12 percent, though the initial quality of the grapes has been outstanding.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

According to David Watson, senior vice president of sales and marketing, “While it’s true we are seeing hot weather push the greens harvest earlier, it is the same as last season for the industry and reds don’t color as fast when it’s that hot. But for our company, Molina farmed Sweet Globes and Scarlet Royals and we have had excellent consistency in size, color and Brix. A good volume of our Sweet Globe crop has been going to export this season as the size was really large and the Brix was well over 18, 19 and 20 going out.”

“For Fresh Farms, our quality improves every season, as we continue to transition into the newest varieties, and those vines become more established,” said Aron Gularte, a sales representative at Fresh Farms. “These include Ivory, Sweet Globes, Great Greens and Autumn Kings for green, and Scarlet Royals, Krissy and Allison for reds, and Autumn Royals for blacks. All of the product is harvested from prime locations scattered throughout the Central Valley of California.”

Watson said that things are settling in now and good supplies will be available for promotions for retailers and foodservice.

“Grapes are a great category to promote this time of year as we have ample volumes and excellent quality,” he said. “Retailers can really boost their store traffic by keeping displays full of all three colors and of course offering the candy varieties when available to extend the category and delight the customers with flavors they may have not tried before.”

Gularte agreed, adding, “A couple of things we can recommend to retailers to maximize sales is to promote. Retailers can highlight the visual appeal to customers by displaying all three colors, and allowing plenty of shelf space. It’s no secret that grapes are among the top grossing dollar volume for produce, so with proper merchandising magic, September can be a top sales month. Because of unusual challenging weather events, we expect this to change by the first of October, so now is the time to advertise.”

Watson said Fresh Farms saw great retail demand on its Candy Hearts in July though the third week of August. “That grape was big, delicious, fragrant and has a unique flavor from other reds,” he said. “These types of varieties can really turn on your grape table for extra sales and is fun for the customers to discover.”

Fresh Farms expects to finish the season strong with possibly less fruit in the marketplace than last season going into November and December, when it will then start its grape deal in Peru.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

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