“Our tree fruit program has been modeled to have it strong on the front end,” said Justin Bedwell, managing partner at Bari Produce LLC in Madera, CA. The focus is on apricots and on early-season plums, nectarines and peaches. “A lot of our volume is in apricots.”

Valhalla Sales & Marketing Inc. in Kingsburg, CA, is a grower, shipper and packer of a wide assortment of fruit, including stone fruit. In the stone fruit category, the company’s production is heavy in apricots and plums, according to David Stone, president and chief executive officer.

“I’m not heavy” in peaches and nectarines, he said. “We have some” throughout the season, “but that is not one of the major factors of our company.”

This year, as every year, Family Tree Farms in Reedley, CA, has introduced several new varieties of stone fruit to the market that have come out of the company’s research and development facility, where the focus is on flavor, according to Dave Goforth, marketing director of Family Tree Farms Marketing LLC.

The new introductions for 2014 include five or six varieties of white flesh peaches and nectarines and three new varieties of plumcots.

RJO Produce Marketing Inc., a fruit broker in Fresno, CA, services customers in three primary areas, according to Clint Lucas, who does sales and inspection for the company. Those areas are category managing, buying and inspection. “We continue to do what the customer needs and asks of us,” he said.

According to the company’s website, RJO is “unlike the traditional agriculture commodity broker. We offer a wide variety of services to help our clients work smart and maximize their profitability.”

Larger California blueberry volume will translate to increased promotions for Gourmet Trading Co. and its customer base. Marketing Manager Chloé Varennes said the company markets blues throughout North America as well as Europe, Asia and Australia.

Gourmet Trading is headquartered in Los Angeles and has a 125-acre farm in Delano, CA. “Our blueberry farm will be starting two weeks earlier than previous years due to great weather,” she told The Produce News. “The season typically begins in early May, but this year we are due to begin in mid-April.”

Homegrown Organic Farms is set to celebrate the first anniversary of its new facility in early May. The company is located in Porterville, CA, and the new facility occupies 28 acres west of Highway 99 in Kingsburg, CA.

“Its location will enhance logistical efficiencies and improve customer service through ease of access for transportation,” Marketing Manager Cherie France told The Produce News.