Publicly traded Riverbend International, based in the...

Publicly traded Riverbend International, based in the San Joaquin Valley farming community of Sanger, signed an agreement with Lake Delta Citrus Assn. in Weslaco, Tex., that will add an estimated $1 million in citrus sales in the first half of next year. The leasing agreement expands Riverbend’s production area beyond the California-Arizona citrus belt, and marks a return to the market by the Texas citrus industry, hit hard by a 1983 freeze. Riverbend packs and sells fresh fruit, juice and processed tomatoes directly to major supermarket chains and to distributors and bulk users internationally.