Live Oak Farms to import bell peppers from Mexico

Starting in November, San Joaquin Valley, Calif.-based Live Oak Farms is poised to begin importing product from its farming operations in Mexico to help complete a 52-week cycle of availability on green and red bell peppers, according to a news release.

“The message has been loud and clear from both our retail and foodservice customers, we need you to be in the game year-round,” Damon Barkdull, vice president pepper sales for the fourth-generation grower-packer-shipper, said in the release. “We’re excited to begin this next chapter in Live Oak’s history.”

Historically, Live Oak has focused on its crops close to Le Grand, Calif., from July through October. Those crops included mature green tomatoes — round and Roma — along with chili peppers and green, red and yellow bell peppers. With Live Oak’s hire of Pete Aiello, vice president pepper programs, came the addition of programs in Coachella and Bakersfield to help extend that California window, the release said.

With its program in Sinaloa, Mexico, Live Oak says it now has bell pepper coverage 52 weeks a year. Live Oak is expecting green bells to begin crossing in late November and red bell peppers as early as the second week of December into Nogales, Ariz.

“The Giampaoli family has stayed in business and flourished largely because of incremental growth and taking calculated, but heavily weighed risks. They’ve built an excellent reputation by putting up a quality product and having the utmost integrity along the way,” Barkdull said. “The decision to expand our operations into Mexico does not come lightly, but it was a must to continue Live Oak’s continuity to our customers in a global market.”

In addition to bringing Mexico peppers to its customers, Live Oak says it plans to expand its portfolio of product in both conventional and organic vegetables, including but not limited to Italian squash, yellow squash, cucumbers and an expanded array of chili peppers.

“Our customers have also been banging the drum that we need to diversify our portfolio of products,” Barkdull said. “We have an excellent reputation when it comes to tomatoes and peppers, so the thought was we could expand the dry vegetable category and build on the momentum we have already created.”

Live Oak expects the Mexico pepper program to carry it into May for a smooth transition into its California crop.

“This is uncharted water for Live Oak, but not for Pete and [me],” Barkdull said. “We have years of experience in Mexico and have aligned with some of the best growers in Sinaloa. This is just the beginning, and we expect to build on this inaugural Mexico season in years to come.”