Jan 18, 2008 9:09 AM

Red Blossom Farms and ASG Produce have merged their operations and established Red Blossom Sales Inc. After working as a team for three years, the two companies decided to join forces to build a seamless marketing company with in-house sales.

Sales will remain based in Oxnard CA under the direction of Craig Casca. David Lawrence will also handle sales from the Santa Ynez CA office, but his primary duty will continue to be developing the grower base. The new company will continue to represent strawberry growers including Red Blossom Farms and Saticoy Berry Farms in Oxnard, as well as Ronald Nunn Farms’ apples; Skip Foppiano’s bell peppers and cherries; and West Coast distribution of Sunbelle Inc.’s blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

In 2007, Red Blossom reportedly shipped more than 8 million cartons of strawberries. These berries are hand-picked and field-packed, and packed pallets are expedited from the field to Red Blossom’s forced-air coolers, where every berry is chilled to an optimal 32º to 34º F.