Organic fruit is a hot commodity for Fresno, Calif.-based Trinity Fruit Sales Co.
“We have expanded our offerings every year,” said Angela Hernandez, director of marketing. “Our goal is to harvest up to 30% in every category.”
The company offers a variety of organic fruit, including peaches, plums, nectarines, pluots, white-flesh peaches and nectarines, citrus, pomegranates and persimmons.
There may be more new things to come.
“We are always learning new ways to evolve with the ever-changing shopping trends,” she said.
The reason the company has a significant organic program is simple: “To continue to meet the market demand,” Hernandez said.
“There are different types of shoppers with special preferences, and we feel it’s important to be sure we stay relevant to shopping trends and farming practices.”
The company’s most popular organic fruit has been its stone fruit and pomegranate arils, said Levon Ganajian, vice president of retail and business development.
“Our organic stone fruit starts in May and goes through August without disruption of supply,” Ganajian said.
“This has enabled our retail partners to offer organic stone fruit all summer long.”
Stone fruit bags in particular have seen a steady increase in demand, Ganajian said.
Organic pomegranate arils are available year-round, he said.
“Our retail partners can offer their customers organic pomegranate arils as an everyday item,” Ganajian said. “In the past, it would be a specialty item available for only a few months.”
The organic category continues to grow for Trinity Fruit Sales.
“We have seen year-over-year steady increases in organic fruit demand,” Ganajian said.
“Our retail partners recognize that offering organic fruit is a way to differentiate themselves from their competition.”
At one time, organic produce represented single-digit sales, he said.
“Today we are seeing organic sales well over 10% of overall produce sales with the trend going upward,” Ganajian said.
“Retailers see organic fruit as a way to create incremental sales, and we see this trend continuing.”
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