West Mexico Winter Produce Business Updates 2021

(The Packer)

Calavo boosts roma volume

Nogales, Ariz.-based Calavo Growers Inc. will have the same acreage in Mexico this winter, but there has been a shift in the commodities grown, said Brian Bernauer, director of operations and sales.

“We are increasing the roma tomatoes and decreasing the rounds,” he said.

There will be a 15% increase on romas and a 15% decrease on round tomatoes.

The roma harvest should kick off about the third week of December, and round tomatoes should start in a small way around the first week of January.

Significant volume of romas should be available by mid-January.

Volume of round tomatoes likely will be lighter than normal until mid-February.

“Growing conditions have been outstanding,” Bernauer said.
Calavo also will have a winter grape tomato program out of Culiacan for the first time. 

The harvest will start in early January and continue until April.

The company also is launching a 2-pound bag roma program, Bernauer said.

 

 

 

Crown Jewels expands bean deal

crown jewels green beans field in mexico

 

Nogales, Ariz.-based Crown Jewels Produce kicked off its green bean program the first week of November and hopes to make the program year-round by adding product out of Baja California and Texas, said Jesus Gonzalez, general manager.

Gonzalez was pleased with the season’s first green bean harvest.

“They look very, very nice,” he said. “They look really fancy this year.”

In early November, the company already had heavy order volume for Thanksgiving, he said.

Crown Jewels also now ships cucumbers year-round, sourcing from Nogales, Baja California and Texas.

The company was receiving green, yellow and gray squash, bell peppers and eggplant in November and expected to receive its first colored hothouse bell peppers by the first or second week of December.

Overall, the firm’s volume should be 20% to 30% higher than last year, Gonzalez said.

 

Divine Flavor backs Fair Trade 

 

divine flavor brief

 

Nogales, Ariz.-based Divine Flavor has transitioned its organic program from Baja California to West Mexico, said Michael DuPuis, quality assurance and public relations coordinator.

The company will continue to emphasize its Fair Trade Certified program.

“Fair Trade Certified produce has been very successful for us over the last couple of years,” DuPuis said.

Between 2013 and 2020, Divine Flavor took in more than 6.4 million premium-generated Fair Trade dollars, he said.
Funds go to the communities the company’s workers come from for education, medical and dental care and other needs.

Divine Flavor’s key Fair Trade items are cucumbers, grape tomatoes, watermelons and table grapes.

 

 

Doyle joins Earth Blend

Danny Doyle, most recently with Delta Fresh LLC, Nogales, Ariz., has joined the sales staff at Nogales-based Earth Blend LLC, said Steve Spence director of sales.
The company’s product line this winter will include European cucumbers, Persian cucumbers, eggplant, squash, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes, he said.

Earth Blend also has added organic Italian squash and yellow squash and is seeking Fair Trade certification, Spence said.

The program will start out small.

“If it goes well this year, it can expand,” he said.
The company may add organic cucumbers and green bell peppers in the future.


Fresh Farms anticipates grape deal

As the end of the year approaches, Rio Rico, Ariz.-based Fresh Farms already is looking forward to its spring table grape program, said salesman Al Voll.

The deal continues to get bigger, and the grapes are coming in earlier, he said, providing fresh table grapes to the industry as the last of the Chilean import deal finishes.

“The table grape program is the backbone of our company,” Voll said.

The grapes will kick off in Jalisco in late March with several new varieties and an abundance of fresh grapes including Cotton Candy.

Fresh Farms also will offer some organic squash.

“We continue to grow the category a little bit each year, but not by leaps and bounds,” he said.

 

Orange candy stars at MAS Melons

mas melons


MAS Melons & Grapes LLC, Rio Rico, Ariz., will offer honeydew melons, seedless watermelons, mini watermelons, cantaloupes and orange candy melons this season, said salesman Mikee Suarez.

The program will continue until late December out of northern Mexico and then switch to fields in the south for the winter and spring months.

The orange candy melon has been the company’s star this year, Suarez said.

It’s yellow on the outside and orange on the inside and extremely juicy. 

“It’s an orange flesh, but it has a different flavor than a honeydew,” Suarez said. “It has more of a cantaloupe flavor.”

Some customers have been substituting the orange candy melons for cantaloupes, which have been in short supply this year, he said.

The company also will offer butternut, kabocha, spaghetti and zucchini squash until mid-December.

 

 

Grower Alliance adds two units

grower alliance


Nogales, Ariz.-based Grower Alliance LLC has launched a logistics company and added a produce brokerage.
Grower Alliance Logistics was created “to facilitate transportation services to our sales team,” said Michelle Ramirez-Jacobson, owner representative.

“We figured it would make it easier for our sales team to get our loads out the same day they were picked,” she said.
“We want our consumers to really taste that field freshness.”
The new entity, which came about as a result of a merger with Lugo’s Trucking, formerly of Tucson, Ariz., will have access to eight trucks, three of which will be dedicated exclusively to Grower Alliance. Eventually the fleet will expand.

Antonio Lugo serves as logistics director.

For now, the new company will cover primarily a route from Nogales to the greater Los Angeles area, but eventually the service area will expand nationwide and into Canada, Ramirez-Jacobson said.

Grower Alliance also has launched a produce brokerage called Grow-All Procurement.

It includes a “very powerful sales team” of nine industry sales veterans who have brought with them an established customer list, she said.

The brokerage will be able to offer items like citrus that Grower Alliance does not handle.

 

 

IPR expands slicer program

ipr shadehouse
IPR Fresh, Rio Rico, Ariz., now has a full-blown slicer cucumber program after offering the commodity intermittently in the past, said Jose Luis Obregon, president.
“Now it’s a new program with a new grower,” he said.

Slicers began shipping in mid-November and will continue through April.

IPR Fresh also will have increased volume of sweet corn through the end of March, he said, and will continue to have its year-round supply of organic and conventional colored bell peppers as well as a green bell pepper deal.

The company offers a number of presentations for its bell peppers, including three-packs and a 2-pound bag.

IPR Fresh also will have a larger watermelon program this winter, which will run through April, and has organic and conventional yellow and zucchini squash.

 

Produce House gets new look

watermelon


 
Produce House, Nogales, Ariz., has introduced a new logo and new packaging to reflect a more modern image for the company, said Raquel Espinoza, director of sales and marketing.

The company also has hired a new sales representative, Emma Hobbs most recently with Grower Alliance LLC, Nogales.

Esteban Paz, most recently in the food safety and quality control segment at Produce House has moved to the sales department.

Winter produce volume from Produce House should be up compared to last year.

“We’re increasing because of new programs we implemented,” Espinoza said.

New items include mini watermelons, seedless watermelons and honeydews.

The company also is entering into the southern state of Sinaloa to source tomatoes, roma tomatoes and bell peppers this season.

 

 

Wholesum expands Sonora facility

wholesum

Amado, Ariz.-based Wholesum, a Fair Trade Certified grower-shipper of organic fresh produce, has expanded its greenhouses at Wholesum Farms Sonora by 10 acres, said Joanna Jaramillo, marketing manager.

Ribbon cutting for the high-tech, energy efficient glass greenhouses is set for Dec. 9.

“With that expansion, we expect to expand our supply of organic tomatoes-on-the-vine and open more room for organic colored bell peppers, organic long English cucumbers and variety trials,” Jaramillo said.

In early October, Wholesum completed a major expansion of its distribution center in Nogales, Ariz.

That project was a 10,000 square foot addition to its existing state-of-the-art facility.


Consumer packs up at Tricar

Tricar Sales Inc., Rio Rico, Ariz., expects its sales of consumer packs of tomatoes to increase this season, said Rod Sbragia, director of sales and marketing.

The company will have its same West Mexico program as last year, which will include cucumbers, European cucumbers, roma, tomatoes, round tomatoes, eggplant and green, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, Sbragia said.

 

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