Bard Valley Date Growers flourishing with expansion
Bard Valley Date Growers flourishing with expansion
YUMA, AZ — The Medjool date industry here is thriving thanks in large part to the dominant player, Bard Valley Date Growers Association.
This grower-owned association owns its entire Medjool date supply chain, from the groves to the fruit to the packing facilities, the largest of which is Datepac LLC, located here.
Datepac will pack and ship an anticipated 20 million pounds of Medjool dates harvested in 2016, which represents over 20 percent growth over the 2015 crop.
Erin Hanagan-Muths (seated, left), director of marketing for Bard Valley Date Growers, was joined by 40 guests who attended Date Night on May 11.
Erin Hanagan-Muths, director of marketing, said that Bard Valley Date Growers expects increasing production from young palms in the group’s 8,000-plus acres will continue to reflect 20-30 percent growth year over year for the next five years.
Each acre contains approximately 60 date palms.
Because dates hold perfectly well in a deep freeze, Datepac ships Medjool dates 12 months a year. The new crop is harvested from the first of September through mid-October each year.
Hanagan-Muths said that in the produce world, dates are a unique crop requiring extremely hot weather, extremely low humidity and an abundance of water. Coachella and Bard, CA, and Yuma, AZ, are places in North America that offer those ideal conditions.
Coachella growers produce the Deglet Noor date, which is largely dried. Medjool dates are sold in fresh produce departments at retail.
This year, Datepac is utilizing brand-new computerized grading and packing technology, which has enabled the company to increase productivity dramatically.
Alfredo Sotelo, Datepac’s director of operations, said the Elisam brand equipment places dates in weight-sizing cups that also photograph and sort each date to assure a very high level of quality and consistency.
Hanagan-Muths said that beyond utilization of the most modern and efficient technology, Bard Valley is equally dedicated to maintaining the top food-safety compliances for food handling and manufacturing.
Datepac has also invested in manufacturing equipment and staffing expertise to bring its date roll production capabilities to a state-of-the-art level as well.
Datepac develops new flavors of date rolls and plans regular seasonal special promotions to help retailers maximize date sales throughout the year.
