Pinos Produce close to completing transition to shade house production
Pinos Produce close to completing transition to shade house production
Five years ago, Pinos Produce Inc. in San Diego, which grows tomatoes and cucumbers in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, undertook a program to transition all of its production from the open field into shade houses. It was envisioned as a five-year program, with "more and more" shade houses being built each year "until we had 100 percent shade houses," and it is "right on schedule," said Daniel Uribe, sales manager.
"We had some open field this year," Mr. Uribe said. But when the harvest of those fields is finished, the transition will be complete. With the start of the new harvest season in April 2007, "everything from there on will be shade houses - everything," including early spring and late fall production out of the Vizcaino area in central Baja and the spring, summer and fall production out of the San Quentin area in northern Baja.
Well, almost everything. While there will be no more open-field production for Pinos and all of the company's products will be grown in protective structures, some of those structures for certain products are actually more than just shade houses. Those products are grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and they are grown in bona fide hothouses. "We do delve a little bit into hothouse cherries and the hothouse grapes, [but] not in big numbers," Mr. Uribe said.
The company's major products are Roma tomatoes, vine-ripe tomatoes and cucumbers.
For many years, Pinos also grew Brussels sprouts during the winter months. But the company didn't plant any for this winter's harvest because the shade house programs have extended the season of the tomatoes and cucumbers to where there are only a few weeks between the end of one season and the start of the next, he explained.
The company will be harvesting shade house vine-ripes and Romas this season well into January. The cucumbers will start again in March followed by vine-ripes and Romas again in April, he said. "So there really wasn't any time to go in and put in the Brussels sprouts this year."
Still, that leaves some weeks during mid-winter when Pinos does not have any products, and eventually the company would like to fill in that gap. "We are [looking] at some other items where we can eventually be year round," Mr. Uribe said. One possibility might be bell peppers "if we can get them in the shade houses earlier." But that is "not in the plans for the immediate future," he added.
This season, Pinos Produce experienced an unscheduled and unexpected gap in production as a result of a severe hot spell. When The Produce News talked to Mr. Uribe in late September, the company was shipping a few cucumbers and hothouse cherry tomatoes but nothing else. The vine-ripe and Roma harvests would not resume until late October or early November. "The heat pretty much zapped everyone in Baja" and disrupted the harvest, Mr. Uribe said. "We all got hurt tremendously with all that heat back in July, and it pretty much set our whole program back two months. We currently don't have any Romas -- and we currently don't have any vine-ripes." But both of those products would be back in production by November in San Quentin and would also start by then for the late fall deal out of Vizcaino.
The grape tomatoes were done for the season and would not start again until next May or June, he said.
The Pinos farming operation in Baja started in the 1950s, and the company started shipping to the United States in the 1970s.
The company has a diversified customer base. "We do a lot direct to retail [and] certainly a lot of foodservice and purveyors and wholesalers. It is a pretty good mix," Mr. Uribe said. Once customers see how good the firm's product is, "they want to get on board, and they know they can have a consistent package day in and day out, knowing they are not going to have any problems with the quality."
The reasons for deciding to transition from open field to shade house production include reduced labor, reduced use of pesticides and fertilizers, more consistent quality, an extended season and "tremendously larger" yields, Mr. Uribe said. "It is a positive all the way through."
But making the conversion took time and has involved "quite a huge investment," he stated. "Fortunately, it has been successful."
"We had some open field this year," Mr. Uribe said. But when the harvest of those fields is finished, the transition will be complete. With the start of the new harvest season in April 2007, "everything from there on will be shade houses - everything," including early spring and late fall production out of the Vizcaino area in central Baja and the spring, summer and fall production out of the San Quentin area in northern Baja.
Well, almost everything. While there will be no more open-field production for Pinos and all of the company's products will be grown in protective structures, some of those structures for certain products are actually more than just shade houses. Those products are grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and they are grown in bona fide hothouses. "We do delve a little bit into hothouse cherries and the hothouse grapes, [but] not in big numbers," Mr. Uribe said.
The company's major products are Roma tomatoes, vine-ripe tomatoes and cucumbers.
For many years, Pinos also grew Brussels sprouts during the winter months. But the company didn't plant any for this winter's harvest because the shade house programs have extended the season of the tomatoes and cucumbers to where there are only a few weeks between the end of one season and the start of the next, he explained.
The company will be harvesting shade house vine-ripes and Romas this season well into January. The cucumbers will start again in March followed by vine-ripes and Romas again in April, he said. "So there really wasn't any time to go in and put in the Brussels sprouts this year."
Still, that leaves some weeks during mid-winter when Pinos does not have any products, and eventually the company would like to fill in that gap. "We are [looking] at some other items where we can eventually be year round," Mr. Uribe said. One possibility might be bell peppers "if we can get them in the shade houses earlier." But that is "not in the plans for the immediate future," he added.
This season, Pinos Produce experienced an unscheduled and unexpected gap in production as a result of a severe hot spell. When The Produce News talked to Mr. Uribe in late September, the company was shipping a few cucumbers and hothouse cherry tomatoes but nothing else. The vine-ripe and Roma harvests would not resume until late October or early November. "The heat pretty much zapped everyone in Baja" and disrupted the harvest, Mr. Uribe said. "We all got hurt tremendously with all that heat back in July, and it pretty much set our whole program back two months. We currently don't have any Romas -- and we currently don't have any vine-ripes." But both of those products would be back in production by November in San Quentin and would also start by then for the late fall deal out of Vizcaino.
The grape tomatoes were done for the season and would not start again until next May or June, he said.
The Pinos farming operation in Baja started in the 1950s, and the company started shipping to the United States in the 1970s.
The company has a diversified customer base. "We do a lot direct to retail [and] certainly a lot of foodservice and purveyors and wholesalers. It is a pretty good mix," Mr. Uribe said. Once customers see how good the firm's product is, "they want to get on board, and they know they can have a consistent package day in and day out, knowing they are not going to have any problems with the quality."
The reasons for deciding to transition from open field to shade house production include reduced labor, reduced use of pesticides and fertilizers, more consistent quality, an extended season and "tremendously larger" yields, Mr. Uribe said. "It is a positive all the way through."
But making the conversion took time and has involved "quite a huge investment," he stated. "Fortunately, it has been successful."
