Peter Rabbit Farms has been a staple in the Coachella Valley of California since the 1940s. Now in its fourth generation, the company celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Colin Powell, farm manager for Peter Rabbit Farms, said longevity has been instilled in each generation that joins the family farm.
“Each generation has tried to take care of the business and make sure that they can hand it down properly to the next generation,” Colin said. “It’s been something deliberately done, not so much by accident, and it’s worked so far, and we’re really happy with it, and we hope to continue it.”
John and Steve Powell, sons of founder Palmer Powell, currently head the operation, with the third and fourth generations now working within the farm.
“We’re all in our 30s now and are just taking on different roles and responsibilities throughout the company and look forward to continuing the tradition on into the future,” said Garrett Powell, sales and operations manager for Peter Rabbit Farms.
Another remarkable thing, Garrett said, is some of the tenure of employees. The company’s general manager retired after 50 years, and there are employees who have worked for the company for 30 or 40 years.
“Our average tenure is probably up there at the 20-year mark right now,” Garrett said. “We have hired some young guns along with ourselves. And I think that the future looks really good.”
The Powells hope some of those tenured employees will help the company celebrate its 100th anniversary in a few years.
Garrett said another strength to his family’s farm longevity is with the diversification of crops grown.
“We’re doing the red bell peppers, the green bell peppers, eggplant, carrots; we have lemons and all the wet veg crops as well as broccoli, celery, cauliflower, Medjool dates,” he said. “So, what we’ve done is really just diversified ourselves as much as we can.”
Colin said the diversification helps the farm weather bad crop years.
“The bad years aren’t as bad, because something will usually do all right, and that’s what gets you through to 75 years,” he said.
The Powells said their family has grown red bell peppers in the Coachella Valley for more than 40 years on one field, due to the availability of land and warm climate.
“We love it here because we get high temperatures, but not too high because of the Salton Sea moderating the high temperatures,” Colin said. “We get nice, cool nights, so we don’t get damaged fruit; it’s been a fantastic field for 40 years.”
He said another thing that sets Peter Rabbit Farms apart is its field sorting and packing.
“One of the more unusual things we do is field pack. The industry has moved more toward shed packing, but we’ve continued to do field packing out here,” he said. “We bring all the fruit from the field to this trailer and then we grade, sort and size all the fruit into our boxes from the lowest grade all the way to our No. 1 product. Traceback codes are applied for food safety, and then it’s palletized and then shipped to the cooler.”
