West Mexico distributors hope for uptick in business

The West Mexico winter produce deal hasn’t gotten off to a stellar start, but distributors are hopeful that the picture will brighten as the season progresses.

“We’re just getting back to a break-even scenario,” Al Voll, salesman for Fresh Farms, Rio Rico, Ariz., said in early November. “It’s been a really, really tough run.”

Voll blamed a perfect storm of events for darkening the produce picture.

First came COVID-19 and a serious dip in foodservice sales when restaurants closed or cut back their operations.

“It’s putting all the weight on the retail sector,” Voll said. “There’s only so much they can absorb.”

Then he said there were ideal growing conditions along the East Coast of the U.S. 

“Normally, at this time of year, they’re out of our hair, and everybody transitions west,” he said.

“They’ve stayed in the game for probably a month longer than they normally would.”

Growers in Mexico took a hit during the early season as shippers called for “creative harvesting,” Voll said.

Instead of harvesting six loads a day, they may harvest two.

“You just cut and toss,” he said.

Even the food banks are jammed up.

“They can’t take any more,” Voll said.

At the same time, freight rates for refrigerated trucks have skyrocketed because consumers are ordering online rather than shopping in their local supermarkets.

“The demand for freight has gone up astronomically,” he said.

Fresh Farms was bringing in zucchini, yellow squash, gray squash and cucumbers from Sonora and was preparing to transition to Mexico’s Guaymas growing area by the end of November and add Sinaloa in December.

“We’re hoping that we’ve got more of a captive audience, and things will settle out before we get there,” he said.

The company’s product line also will include green and colored bell peppers, eggplant and pickles.

Despite some setbacks this season, the West Mexico deal seems to be getting longer every year, said Jesus Gonzalez, general manager for Nogales, Ariz.-based Crown Jewels Produce.

“We receive product in Nogales 11 months out of the year,” he said. “The only month we don’t receive anything out of Nogales is August.”

This will be the second year the company has accomplished that, he said.

He attributed the extended season largely to protected agriculture such as shade houses.

In November, Crown Jewels was importing cucumbers, squash, honeydew melons and cantaloupes, Gonzalez said.

“Quality on most items has been real good,” he said.

All of the company’s cucumbers are shade house grown.

Nogales-based Divine Flavor expected to start its organic bell pepper program by early December, said Michael DuPuis, quality assurance and public relations coordinator.

Organic bell peppers have been a staple in the firm’s vegetable lineup.

There have been recent spikes in sales of organic produce as consumers try to eat healthier during the pandemic, he said.

By late December or early January, the company will offer its popular Tribelli organic sweet mini peppers from Hortifresh in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Supplies have been tight out of Ensenada and Baja California, DuPuis said, but volume should ramp up to meet demand in January.

Nogales-based Bernardi & Associates Inc. ships mostly tomatoes but also handles some mini watermelons and regular watermelons mostly during fall and spring, and will offer other commodities, including cucumbers, hard shell squash and mixed loads of vegetables during the coming season, said salesman Manny Gerardo.

Rio Rico-based MAS Melons & Grapes LLC is looking forward to the coming season, said salesman Mikee Suarez.

The company will offer honeydews, watermelons and mini watermelons, Suarez said.

Quality should be excellent, he added.

Importers seem to be coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Overall, we have never stopped coming to work,” said Gonzalez of Crown Jewels.

“We’ve taken every precaution possible to ensure that our staff is protected.”

There have been “some issues here and there” in the growing areas in Mexico, but no outbreaks have occurred in Mexico that have affected the company’s business, he said.

There was a drop-off of foodservice business, Gonzalez said, but things could have been worse.

“We are more retail oriented, so that helped us,” he said.

Divine Flavor has programs to fill, so it’s important to have a handle on the coronavirus, DuPuis said.

Growers have put measures in place to deal with effects of the pandemic, he said.

“A lot of them are equipped to contain any kind of outbreak that were to occur,” he said. 

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