Persistent rains in California last week created a limited supply of various crops out west. According to Markon Cooperative reports, there will be little if any harvesting of strawberries from Oxnard and Santa Maria until the week of Jan. 10. Growers are transferring Mexican-grown fruit to supplement their California shipments through January, though transfers were limited last week as a result of Christmas and New Year’s Eve/Day holiday closures.

“Let’s put it this way — we’ve always got grapes,” said Louie Galvan, managing partner of Fruit Royale Inc. The company, based in Delano, CA, has been in the table grape business since 2004, but Galvan started in the produce industry in the early 90s. 

The Washington Apple Education Foundation scholarship application is currently open and available to students raised in tree fruit industry families with plans to attend college in the fall of 2022.  Annually, WAEF awards over $1 million in scholarships on behalf of Washington’s tree fruit growers, packers, shippers and suppliers to college-bound and college-enrolled students.  The application must be submitted in its entirety by March 1 for consideration.

After spending five years as a produce manager in the trenches and two years on the road as a district merchandiser, I was promoted into the procurement office as a junior buyer.

Grapeman Farms has been in the table grape business for well over 40 years. The Bakersfield, CA-based vertically integrated grower-shipper is known for its exceptional offerings. The company’s cumulative experience, knowledge and high-quality fruit set it apart as a first-class operation. “The biggest thing Grapeman wants retailers to know is we are a year-round supplier of table grapes,” said Jared Lane, vice president of sales and marketing. “We are stocked all 52 weeks of the year.”

CMI Orchards is crunching numbers as well as apples.