Kicking off California’s stone fruit season

Overview of stone fruits from California in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on May 8, 2024.

California stone fruit season is underway with a crop that looks promotable, with similar volumes to the 2022 year’s crop. “We expect excellent quality,” says Miguel Beltran, Sales Manager, California Stone Fruit & Exotics for the Giumarra Companies. The company offers a full stone fruit lineup, including apricots, yellow peaches and nectarines, white peaches and nectarines, red and black plums, and pluots. Right now, it is shipping apricots, yellow nectarines, and white peaches.

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

The company also has its proprietary California nectarine line, DulceVida™. These include Midnight Edition (yellow flesh nectarines with a dark, speckled exterior color that are available July through mid-August), Twilight Edition (white flesh nectarines with frosted fuchsia skin that are available June through mid-August), and Sunrise Edition (yellow flesh nectarines with rose red to deep berry skin, available July through mid-August).

Again this summer, Giumarra will offer tours for retailers of its DulceVida breeding program in the Reedley, California area. The tours are available upon request and include visits to both the test orchard and commercial orchards, hosted by DulceVida grower Tim Thiesen.

“We find that personalized tours are an effective way to educate retailers about this special program,” says Beltran. “In our industry, spending time with growers in the field is invaluable, especially when they can sample our tree-ripe fruit right in the orchard.”

Summer fruit eating

As for demand, it’s expected to be good given consumers are ready to eat stone fruit in the late spring and summer and the category is a key part of Giumarra’s summer offerings.

To help the movement this year of a promotable crop, the company also offers customized merchandising support for its retail partners, some of which tap into a trend with consumers who want to know where their food comes from. “Our in-store promotional materials feature our grower Tim Thiesen and his family, ” says Kellee Harris, Vice President, Retail Merchandising Services. “We also provide plated recipes, DulceVida product sampling, and other digital and in-store promotion to further assist our retail partners.”

Giumarra’s tailored approach ensures each retailer is supported in marketing stonefruit to best target its consumer base. Particularly for specialty items like DulceVida nectarine varieties. Harris notes that consumer education is key to encouraging purchase and with that in mind, the company created a consumer website with recipes and information about the varieties.

“A well-stocked display with something as simple as an accompanying sign with appetizing photography and a QR code linked to a recipe can help spark interest. We also find sampling to be a successful tool to boost sales,” she says.

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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