YAKIMA, WA - When I say the team at Sage Fruit is busy, I mean busy. Between the end of cherry season, rolling right into apple season, and then a greatly expanding stonefruit season, this company has a very full plate—one its sharing with consumers everywhere.

“With PMA Fresh Summit a few days away, we really want to make sure attendees know just how fast we are growing as a company,” Chuck Sinks, President, Sales and Marketing, tells me. “Last year, we had a little over 100 thousand cartons of stonefruit. This year, we’ll have well over one million. And in 2019, with the introduction of organic peaches and nectarines into our portfolio, we anticipate even more growth to come.”

With a hot August putting an end to a high-quality cherry season at the front end of the month and apple season rolling right up in its place, Sage Fruit is also expanding in the form of new packaging for its most popular treefruit varieties. At the company’s booth #927, Chuck will help debut a new 5 lb pouch bag that will capitalize on the 2018-2019 season’s large apple sizes.

“Pouch bags are becoming more popular in the produce department as they make the produce stand upright for a cleaner display,” Chuck explains. “We will be offering this bag for popular varieties like Gala, Granny Smith, and Fuji, but will also provide a generic bag that retailers can use for any other variety they would like to offer. The new 5 lb bag is an excellent way to merchandise the larger-sized fruit we’ve been growing this season.

Also new on the apple front this year is a new variety available to its retail partners: Smitten®. Sage Fruit partnered with Honey Bear Tree Fruit to provide the unique apple—a cross pollination of Gala, Braeburn, Fiesta, and Falstaff. To celebrate the new variety, the company is promoting its own Smitten contest that offers a chance to win a Sample Case of Smitten Apples and a $100 Amazon Gift Card.

Organics, as Chuck mentioned are perhaps Sage Fruit’s most pressing area of growth in the coming seasons. Organic peaches; nectarines; Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, and Pink Lady apples; and pears are all on the agenda.

“All these areas of growth point to one main goal for Sage Fruit: to become a one stop shop supplier,” Chuck surmises. “Over the last four years, our team has worked hard to have a strategic plan and to keep growing our organic and apple programs.”

Want to see the fruits of Sage Fruit’s labor for yourself? Visit Chuck and the team at PMA Fresh Summit booth #927 and sink your teeth into all of it.

Sage Fruit