For Castle Rock Vineyards in Delano, CA, the early San Joaquin Valley grape deal starts with Flames, Sugraones and Summer Royals out of the Arvin area.

“That is the transition for us as we come out of Coachella,” where the company has a spring deal, said Jim Llano, sales manager.

Anthony Vineyards Inc., in Bakersfield, CA, will have a volume increase in several varieties of grapes this season in the San Joaquin Valley, according to John Harley, vice president of sales and marketing.

The increases will be in both conventional and organic grapes and will involve early varieties as well as some varieties of the latter part of the season.

Shaun Ricks, president of Cutler, CA-based The Grape Guys, told The Produce News June 1 that he has some of the first grapes out of the San Joaquin Valley.

A container developed for high-speed machine packing of berries is the perfect clamshell for hand packing both grape and cherry tomatoes.

Norma Contreras, who is in sales with Sambrailo Packaging, Salinas, CA, said the larger “RunRite” blueberry clamshell is the container of choice for the firm’s tomato customers in both Baja California and the many districts in California where they grow the smaller-profile tomato.

Richard Papen, sales manager of Papen Farms Inc. in Dover, DE, told The Produce News that the company was having a similar spring to last year, but that products are expected to come on a little earlier.

“We had a mild winter and a warm March, but in April the temperatures were about normal,” said Mr. Papen. “Sweet corn will start on July 4, and green beans could start on June 15, about a week early. We thought we’d be even earlier, but nature has a way of evening things out.”

The weather on Virginia’s Eastern Shore has been a little on the dry side, but temperatures have been perfect for potatoes, resulting in what looks to be a strong crop.

Butch Nottingham, marketing specialist for the Virginia Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, headquartered in Richmond, VA, told The Produce News that the agency focuses heavily on the state’s potato crops.