As farmland in Orange County, CA, becomes increasingly scarce due to urban development, Orange County Produce in Irvine, CA, has found it expedient to look beyond the confines of Orange County for its strawberry production.

With the formation of a new partnership with a farming family in Oxnard, CA, Orange County Produce is now selling strawberries from Oxnard district packed in the “Ventura County Farms” label along with strawberries grown in Orange County and packed in the “Orange County Farms” label.

Matt Kawamura“We have been shipping with Mike Etchandy, our [growing] partner here in Orange County,” said O.C. Produce President Matt Kawamura in an interview with The Produce News Jan. 22. Now, in addition, “we have partnered with the Hasagawa family in Oxnard.”

Orange County Produce will be the marketing company for berries from both districts and for both labels. All three families in “our growing group” — Kawamura, Etchandy and Hasagawa — are now involved in the marketing organization and in the new entity, he said.

For the 2012 season, “we have 250 acres in Oxnard, and we are planning to grow up there,” Mr. Kawamura said. “We are up there for the long haul. As we keep losing ground down here to development, we have had to branch out.”

Adding the Oxnard production to its programs will not only increase the volume of strawberries offered by O.C. Produce but will significantly extend its shipping season, he said.

The majority of the company’s berries in both districts are the San Andreas variety, he said.

New on sales at O.C. Produce is Carolyn Chang, who was previously with Well-Pict and prior to that with Safeway. She will be based out of the company’s Irvine office.

For several years, O.C. Produce has had a reciprocal co-packing arrangement with Watsonville, CA-based Beach Street Farms.

“We still do some co-packing” with Beach Street, “but not like we did before,” due to some recent changes in the Beach Street organization, Mr. Kawamura said.

In addition to strawberries, O.C. Produce is involved in growing and marketing green beans, which are its major commodity. The company also grows a variety of produce items in small volume in a “locally grown” program, which are sold through such outlets as local farmers markets. While that is done on a relatively small scale in comparison to beans or strawberries, “our locally grown has gotten pretty big,” he said.