Santa Maria company started season early

Despite the cool climate of the Santa Maria Valley growing area, one company started its season early.

Nipomo, Calif.-based Beachside Produce LLC plans for more volume this year. The company has begun its season and is looking for strawberry growers with which to rotate its other crops.

“We started in Santa Maria the last week of March, which is a little early,” said Steve Adlesh, who works in sales and marketing at Beachside Produce. “We also started romaine hearts last week further south. Lettuce will start the first week of April. It looks like a good transition between the desert and [Santa Maria].”

This year, the company will have increased volumes of strawberries, romaine hearts and Brussels sprouts. Across all commodities, volume is up slightly.

Beachside grows over 10,000 acres of broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and strawberries. Its primary supply comes from Santa Maria. Its organic program includes strawberries, celery, cauliflower, romaine hearts, kale, cilantro and broccoli.

The weather of the area allows for rotation of multiple commodities. Beachside hopes to capitalize on that.

“The climate is mild for strawberries April through October. Broccoli, cauliflower and lettuces are good rotation crops,” Adlesh said. “That’s how we’ll evolve over the next five years. We want to partner with strawberry grower-shippers to rotate crops.”

This year, people will probably be going out much more. For spring and summer, Adlesh said it’s a good time to move produce because of the multiple holidays. 

“We look at the major holidays each quarter. For example, Easter is a big food holiday coming up,” Adlesh said. “Brussels sprouts are good for Easter. Mother’s Day is a good strawberry holiday and romaine hearts. Graduation time and Father’s Day are other good holidays for food consumption.”

To help move product at the store level, the company has new handled bags for Shanghai bok choy and baby bok choy, as well as new Brussels sprouts packaging.

Adlesh said retailers do a good job promoting nutrition. He’d promote the nutrition of fresh produce all the time. It’s a good investment considering more consumers are looking for healthy food options.

Looking into the future, Adlesh likes where the company is going.

“The new technology is exciting. Its helping at many levels of the organization. It’s the new generation’s contribution,” Adlesh said.