Following the completion of the sale of citrus assets to Los Angeles-based Paramount Citrus, the owners of Mission-based Rio Queen Citrus Inc. consolidated all other business into a new company, River Queen LLC.
Mike Martin, president of Rio Queen Citrus, said the move was part of year-end restructuring and no decisions have been made about the future of the company’s onion, melon and other business. Mission-based Interstate Fruit & Veg Co. Inc., Elmore & Stahl Inc., Rio Queen Inc., and Ontario, Ore.-based Ontario Onions all merged into River Queen LLC, along with Rio Queen’s gift fruit business, Crest Fruit.
“We have an onion crop in the ground here, and we’re in the middle of onion season in Oregon,” he said. “Our onion business continues because all of those things are in motion. Where we go from here is hard to say. We have commitments to growers and customers and we plan to fulfill those obligations.”
Martin said at some point, the family will decide what to do with these remaining assets. River Queen is owned by Mike Martin, his father Ken Martin and uncle Robert Martin.
“We will collectively run that for now as it is,” he said.
Mike Martin said while onion packing was done in separate facilities from citrus, the packing house was next to the main citrus house.
“Paramount bought those facilities but we have an agreement to utilize those at least for the 2013 spring season,” he said.
Mike Martin also continues to work at Rio Queen Citrus in a transitional role, which he plans to do for at least the next three years, he said.
Comments (0) Leave a comment