Gilroy, Ca.-based Christopher Ranch LLC has pivoted away from using import supplies of garlic, which only accounted for 10 percent of its supply, to sourcing its product solely from the U.S. The program launched June 15th.
“This is the first year we’re offering the all-American program and we’re thankful that we’ve done it because the California market is much stronger than what’s going on internationally,” says Ken Christopher. “We’ve seen a surge of cheap Chinese garlic flooding into the market the last couple of quarters. That’s caused a bit of turbulence but fortunately we’ve found that the market for California garlic is largely independent of what’s going on in international commodities.”
Adding acreage
The program has been in the planning stages for a few years with Christopher Ranch gradually expanding its acreage to accommodate for it. “A few years ago we may have been at 5,000 acres and this year we’re at about 5,500 acres and on track for our best harvest in company history,” says Christopher. “We’re looking at a harvest of 100 million lbs.”
In turn, while demand is solid for the program so far, Christopher would like to see growth in demand and this fall will be aggressively promoting the initiative. “In major metropolitan areas on both coasts, consumers have been accustomed to all-American California program. But in other parts such as the Midwest or the South, they’re used to having a lot of cheap commodities flood in from all over the world,” he notes.
He thinks customers will be attracted to the food security portion of buying all-American. “If you’re buying from us, you can trace that supply all the way back to our seed program. When you’re buying from abroad, you really have no idea as to how it was handled,” he says.
Pricing pick up Adding acreage
The program has been in the planning stages for a few years with Christopher Ranch gradually expanding its acreage to accommodate for it. “A few years ago we may have been at 5,000 acres and this year we’re at about 5,500 acres and on track for our best harvest in company history,” says Christopher. “We’re looking at a harvest of 100 million lbs.”
In turn, while demand is solid for the program so far, Christopher would like to see growth in demand and this fall will be aggressively promoting the initiative. “In major metropolitan areas on both coasts, consumers have been accustomed to all-American California program. But in other parts such as the Midwest or the South, they’re used to having a lot of cheap commodities flood in from all over the world,” he notes.
He thinks customers will be attracted to the food security portion of buying all-American. “If you’re buying from us, you can trace that supply all the way back to our seed program. When you’re buying from abroad, you really have no idea as to how it was handled,” he says.
With demand slowly increasing, pricing is also going up slightly. “But because yields are pretty good this year, pricing won’t go up quite as high as it has the past couple of years,” he says.
The all-American initiative is definitely one that Christopher will promote its booth, #2660, at the upcoming Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit, held this October 19-20 in Orlando, Fl. “At the show, we’d really like to help our message break through. We’re looking to help people understand that we’re transitioning from being a commodity to being more of a product,” says Christopher.
