Salinas Valley infrastructure needs a makeover: Q&A with Jim White at Growers Ice

The Salinas Valley often evokes images of images of endless rows of salad greens thriving under a sunny California sky. The region nicknamed “Salad Bowl of the World” is known for producing the bulk of lettuce and leafy greens in the U.S.

Less common images of the Salinas Valley, however, include the vast stretches of cooling facilities and the complex post-harvest infrastructure that dot the region and are critical to transporting delicate greens from fields to grocery aisles with freshness and quality intact.

Jim White wants to change that perception. As CEO of Growers Ice, a real estate company that specializes in processing, cooling and cold storage of fresh produce, White runs a 400,000 square-foot cooling facility in South Salinas, and he thinks it’s high time to shine a light on infrastructure in his region.

Related news: Rain brings long-term gain but short-term harvest delays for California citrus

White met with The Packer to discuss the pressing need for infrastructure updates in the Salinas Valley, a need made more urgent by recent flooding that has tested aging facilities. With water lapping at the doorstep of businesses, White remained optimistic, crediting the benefits of long-term thinking that doesn’t rattle too easily.  

Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Packer: I appreciate you connecting with us during what I imagine must be a stressful time for you as your business and your community face severe flooding.

Jim White: It’s busy, no question about that. We’re just implementing all the protocols that you put in place for years and then make sure everybody is following when these situations occur. We're fine, it's just managing everything.

As we speak, the Salinas River is probably going to start coming over [state] Highway 68, which is between Monterey and Salinas. The big issue for us — for our facilities and our people, all the grower-shippers that have processing and co-storage facilities — is the industrial waste. Salinas has their ponds, which [are] in close proximity to the Salinas River. We don’t want that to breach, because that's where all the industrial waste starts clearing before it goes over to the processing plant in Monterey, Calif.

That said, these things have always been an issue and it's always been an issue for infrastructure, and we're looking to how we upgrade our infrastructure within the industry.

[Growers Ice] is in the process of upgrading and designing a new facility, which is about a $250 million investment. We're going to be breaking ground here at the end of the year. Of course, we're looking at the things that we can do to get ahead of the curve. We’re looking into what can we do to put in new facilities, upgrade the industrial waste, upgrade water, power and those type of things.

The recent extreme weather in the Salinas Valley puts a wrench in many companies' timelines and plans. How has the flooding impacted your facility build out at Growers Ice?

I don't think it's going to impact our build out. We plan on closing the current campus, which is 28 acres in Salinas, Calif., at the end of the 2023 growing season. We've been master-planning this for almost five years. I don't see any issue based on the weather issue that we're facing right now.

As I say that, I'm going say there's a big “however” to that statement. The however would be — what impact does this flood have some on some of our growers, as far as the ag land itself? Will the flooding affect production capabilities? This is still unknown at this point in time. We won’t know that for sure until probably March or April of 2023 at the beginning of the growing season.

There is some ag land along the Salinas River — Braga Fresh and Taylor Farms have some places in this area. But I think we’ll be okay. I don’t want to read a crystal ball, but I think we’ll be okay as far as our build out. I’m not concerned about it at the moment.

It seems like, lately, lettuce and salad mix can't catch a break in California — there are challenges on all fronts right now.

Yes, it has been a challenging year. When you go pick up that bag of salad in the grocery store, please send a word of appreciation, because you don't know what goes into that bag of salad. There’s a lot of effort that goes into that bag of salad.

Absolutely. What are you most hopeful about in the weeks and months ahead?

I am very optimistic from the investment community. It's taken the about three years to really introduce institutional investors and educate them on exactly what precooling cold storage assets are. For us in the industry, the concept is pretty familiar. But if you're not in an industry, it's not. We have spent a lot of time and a lot of effort just broadcasting education nationwide, and I’m very optimistic because we’ve received a lot of the interest.

In Salinas alone, there's 4,200,000 square feet of facilities that are an average age of 42 years old. We must deal with that. It's an important time for us, but we've gotten a lot of interest from institutions and other funding capabilities.

I think as an industry we've got to continue to come together as the industry to support the education of our workers. We also have got to make decisions and invest in our infrastructure. Sometimes we ignore that, but we’ve got to start putting some money back into our industry, because it's not going to continue to produce the way it needs to forever.