Some time around early December, Oxnard, CA-based Boskovich Farms Inc. is expected to introduce a new two-ounce gusseted bag of cilantro, designed to stand upright on the produce department shelf.

On Nov. 1, Lindsay Martinez, the firm’s director of marketing, said, “We are pretty close. The bag has been approved so I think we should be in the stores in about a month.”

Russell WiderburgShe said the introduction of the cilantro in these special packs will be followed in relatively short with similar packs for parsley and Italian parsley, two other fresh herbs in Boskovich’s arsenal. Martinez said the impetus for the new bags comes from retailer demand. She said the firm is responding to the marketplace, which has seen an increase in the sale of herbs in packages and tubes and other non-bulk configurations. Consumers, she said, are looking for more convenience and a washed cilantro bunch in a bag fits the bill.

On that same first day of November, Boskovich Sales Manager Russell Widerburg told The Produce News that the firm was beginning to ship some winter vegetables from south of the border.

Because Boskovich is headquartered in Oxnard, which is a year-round vegetable production area, its winter deal is more of an addition than transition.

In fact, within a couple of days the firm was expecting to begin its Ventura County fall celery crop to go along with the continued produce of spinach, cilantro and kale from the Oxnard area. From the San Luis Valley and Mexicali in Mexico, the firm produces many mixed green items as well as green onions, leeks, beets, parsley and radishes.

Widerburg said that the warmer and longer winter days in Mexico are an important factor for the firm adding acreage in that area. But he said it is also a case of just needing additional land. Many crops — from berries to avocados to citrus to a host of vegetables —compete for the ground in Oxnard.

Even when economic conditions mean some farms cut back, Widerburg said there is still no fallow land in the Oxnard area to speak of. “I drive around all the time and I don’t see any unused land,” he said.

The Boskovich executive said that lack of water and lack of labor are always concerns but those concerns don’t seem to manifest themselves in less acreage.

In fact, he went on to say, coastal California has not had much rain this past year and there have been restrictions on irrigating. He said people are concerned and are hoping that there will be enough rain water for their spring crops — but that hasn’t prevented the planting of them.

Widerburg said that between the company’s California and Mexico acreage, Boskovich has about the same number of plants in the ground as last year, with a slight increase in its celery acreage. Of course, weather and other Mother Nature factors will determine whether that acreage produces more or fewer cartons this year.