Grapeman Farms ready for California grape season

The fireworks have flown, baseball is at its halfway point and mid-July means the start of the California table grape season. Jared Lane, vice president of sales at Grapeman Farms and his team are excited to kick off the domestic operation.

“We began picking right after the 4th of July holiday, starting with a couple different varieties — we will ramp up more and more over the coming weeks, getting into our peak production in August,” said Lane.

Known as a leader within the grape category, Grapeman Farms markets over 5 million boxes annually, making the independent producer one of larger operations in the San Joaquin Valley, the fully integrated packer and shipper distributes out of Bakersfield, CA.

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

“Right now, the crop looks extremely nice, with good bunch count. The berries are sizing really well,” said Lane. Grapeman will open the season with Flames, Ivory and Candy Snaps with promotable volume starting in August and running through October. “As the season progresses, Grapeman will have a bunch of other compelling varieties for retailers,” said Lane.

Notably the team at Grapeman is particularly excited about its increased production of Jack’s Salute, Candy Snaps, and Great Green — high performing favorites of retailers and consumers alike.

Jack’s Salute is known for its great flavor profile and jumbo size, with the variety increasing in volume across the table grape category. As the leading producer of Jack’s Salute, the Grapeman team is extremely high on it. Jack’s Salute is a red seedless, with good sweetness (up to 24 Brix) and a firm to crisp texture.

Candy Snaps are known for their consistent yields, round medium size, and strawberry-forward flavor. Like the name, Candy Snaps are sweet and come with a subtle smooth finish, like that of a strawberry.

While estimations on crop yield are still premature, Lane postulated that this year’s crop would to be slightly down in volume as compared to 2021. “It looks to be a little bit lighter overall, as many producers are tearing out lower yielding vineyards and conventional varieties, and simply have yet to plant or see fruit from new plantings,” said Lane. “I expect this year’s California season to be down, but just by a hair.”

In April, Lane discussed the challenges of price optimization accounting for an oversaturated market on the east coast, with Chilean product in storage. That backlog has largely been relieved, and with a shorter season from Mexico, things are primed for Grapeman’s California product.

Lane has a lot of optimism for his team this season. “There’s opportunity for sure, how much are we going to be able to export this year, that’s the question. If we can export more, that’s going to take pressure off our domestic market and could correlate to having better FOB prices.”

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

The one other variable bending in favor of table grapes this year is a slowly developing cherry crop, cherries being a direct competitor in summer produce departments. “Regardless of the commodity, for the produce industry as a whole, we just hope we can move the fruit through the systems as seamlessly as possible,” said Lane.

Regarding the prospects of this year’s California table grape season, Lane said, “We have high hopes it all comes to fruition. We’re planning and acting on it.”

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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