Peppers Marketing business updates

New sales head at Bagdasarian

Industry veteran Julie Fargo, most recently with J&J Ranch Produce Inc., Indio, Calif., has joined Mecca, Calif.-based Richard Bagdasarian Inc. and its Pasha Marketing LLC division as sales director, said Franz De Klotz, vice president of marketing for Pasha Marketing.

Fargo will deal with all the firms’ commodities, including peppers, table grapes and citrus.

Bailey Farms to add sweet pepper

Watch for a new pepper product from Bailey Farms, Oxford, N.C., in late July.

Company president and co-founder Randy Bailey said the new item, which is not yet named, is a new, “pretty innovative” super-sweet pepper.

“It’s sweeter than even the mini sweets are,” he said.

It will be a yellow pepper that is slightly larger than typical mini sweet peppers, he said.

Bailey Farms specializes in mini sweet peppers and yellow, red and orange BellaFina baby bell peppers that are about one-third the size of regular bells.

The company also is testing organic BellaFinas this summer in North Carolina in response to customer requests, he said.

The disease resistance of the BellaFina makes it easier to grow organically than traditional peppers, Bailey said.

NatureFresh opens distribution center

Leamington, Ontario-based NatureFresh Farms has opened a 40,000-square-foot distribution center in the Toledo, Ohio, area to help handle increased business, said Chris Veillon, director of marketing.

The facility will operate year-round to support business on both sides of the border.

The company also has broken ground on a 106,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in Leamington.

“Due to increased volumes and expansion of our growing facilities, we needed larger facilities to accommodate the increase in business,” Veillon said.

Equipped with multi-climate regions, the facility will allow for a multitude of commodities to be packed and cooled prior to shipping, he said. The facility is expected to be operational by early summer.

Prime Time adds shade cloth

Coachella, Calif.-based Prime Time International has expanded its shade cloth structure to better protect mini peppers and yellow bell peppers from the sun, said Mike Aiton, director of marketing.

“We’ve just about tripled the amount of cover we have on peppers in our ranch by the Salton Sea, which is a little bit cooler than in other parts of the desert,” Aiton said.

Prime Time is one of a handful of companies that have shade cloth operations.

Also at Prime Time, the company will grow organic red and green bell peppers in all three of its California growing areas — Coachella, Arvin and the Oxnard area — for the first time.

“We’ve been pushed in that direction by our customers,” Aiton said.

Previously, the company only grew organic peppers in Coachella.

Talley Farms aims to add value

Talley Farms Inc., Arroyo Grande, Calif., is looking at ways it can add value for its customers throughout the supply chain by, for example, working with them to help manage their sell-through and measure their shrink, said Anthony Totta, director of marketing and brand development.

Historically, grower-shippers have produced and sold product but haven’t been as involved in the rest of the supply chain to the extent that they could have been, he said.

“We’re looking further down the supply chain in an analytical manner so that we can provide our expertise and insight into tweaking what needs to be done to assure the consumer’s experience is what it should be,” he said.

“We want our customers to survive so we can survive.”