CALIFORNIA
Vegetables A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
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Tom Nunes V, president of The Nunes Co. based in Salinas, cuts a head of romaine lettuce from a field in the Salinas Valley. He says sustained consumer demand is driving the organic market.
Central Coast organic growers are bullish on market By Bob Johnson
because people continue to choose organic with their dollars.” The Nunes Co. is a family vegetable operation that started in the Salinas Valley during the Depression. Today, it markets some 40 conventional items and 30 organic items, and operates vegetable farms in California, Nevada and Arizona. “There was definitely a market for organic on the consumer side,” Nunes said. “We do a lot in the (California) high desert on the organic side.” Although consumer demand is strong, consolidation among retailers has impacted organic growers more than conventional. “There is a saturation point,” Nunes said. “It’s not a food-service item, and it gets to a point where it is difficult to move organic if there is saturation. With retail consolidation, we don’t have the opportunities we did 10 years ago.” Another challenge facing organic and conventional growers is finding and retaining enough workers. “Labor is something we all face now,” said Michael DuPuis, quality assurance manager
Leaders of the largest organic farming operations in California’s Central Coast region say they are confident that demand for organic produce will grow in the long term once challenges caused by inflation and the pandemic are in the rearview mirror. Despite production and distribution issues, consumer interest in healthy foods gives organics an advantage over the next five to 10 years, they say. “The public perception of organic is worth a lot of money to all of us,” said Brie Reiter Smith, vice president of product leadership at Driscoll’s, which has most of the organic berry market. “Organic is about a quarter of our revenue.” Smith and other organic producers discussed market conditions during a keynote panel discussion at the Organic Growers Conference in Monterey last month. The annual conference was co-sponsored by Western Growers and the Organic Producers Network, an organization of the largest retailers of organic produce and the growers who supply them. “We supply the world’s best medicine. We do a terrific job. We’re efficient,” said Tom Nunes V, president of The Nunes Co., which sells under the Foxy brand. “I’m bullish
See ORGANIC, Page 14
January 18, 2023 Ag Alert 13
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