“No complaints” is probably a statement any grower would be satisfied with being able to say. That’s just the way Brian Church, Vice President of Agriculture Operations feels about their green onion program, produce, which comes out of the Mexicali Valley year round. “Things are going well. Quality is good.”
There have been some fluctuations in the market that have made things extremely short and then extremely heavy but he feels there’s a lot of supply in the marketplace right now. “With the fluctuating weather like most commodities that seems like that’s been the story for the last couple of years. We’ve kept a nice medium sized steady program.” Church Brothers distributes within the USA and in Canada, but Church says the demand appears evenly spread. “If you looked at the map our green onion distribution is pretty equally weighted throughout both countries. There’s no one country or region that’s pulling more. It’s pretty balanced.”
Not only in the US, but labor situations in Mexico seem to getting more challenging. “That’s something we have our eye on,” he said, noting that another potential issue could be the border or adjustment tax and possible tariffs. On the other hand he feels there’s lots of opportunity within the category in terms of packaging configurations. “I think it’s something where there are plenty of new ideas to be had. Green onions are more of an add-on item at the moment. I’d like to do some more value adds.”
All of the commodities are primarily iceless; a benefit which means more packages per pallet and less freight costs. A traditional shipment could contain 84 boxes per pallet of iced green onions, whereas iceless pallets can hold about 132 boxes. “There can be up to a $0.75 reduction per box in freight. We’re trying to bing value to our customers by reducing shipping costs,” said Church. Ice can sometimes carry food safety concerns but going iceless works well, “As long as you have the process down – you have to navigate the heat of the summer in Mexicali Valley and have to get it into the cooler.” According to Church if not cooled properly, the onions can heat back up again.
With about 80 per cent of the company’s produce going to foodservice, he says there’s a notable continued for demand in conventional produce, compared to retail customers wanting more and more organic offerings. “There’s less demand for organic at the foodservice level,” he said. “I think it’s price point. The organic demand hasn’t reached the same level in foodservice that it has in retail.” However, they have moved into offering some organic spring mix spinach and arugula within last year.
The green onions are all conventional but if there’s costumer demand he says they do have the ability to immediately start doing organic.
