LIMA, Peru — Camposol currently sits in a leadership position when it comes to avocados, and the company is looking to keep it that way.

Samuel Dyer, president of Camposol, based here, said that while the company has branched into different disciplines of agriculture, avocados remain its most important commodity, accounting for about 20 percent of its overall revenue in 2015.

“Camposol started with avocados in Trujillo in 2000 with 800 hectares,” said Dyer. “The company changed ownership in 2007, and since that time we have tripled the number of avocado hectares. And most of the newer plantings have reached full maturity.”

Dyer continued, “When we increased the avocado acreage [after acquiring the company], we were betting on the U.S. market to open to Peruvian fruit. We knew there was a high probability that would happen, which prompted us to do that.”

Additionally, when the Dyer family first acquired Camposol, Mission Produce owner Steve Barnard was a shareholder in the company and a strong supporter of growth, which was a reason for investing in additional acreage. Mission is no longer involved with Camposol operations, said Dyer, but they still maintain a friendly relationship.

Dyer said Camposol has been very active in the last few years in trying to be closer to its retail partners, and to that end it opened an office in Europe five years ago and one in the United States two years ago.

“Our main strategy is to go direct to retailers,” he said. “We want to differentiate ourselves from other producers, and we want to develop ‘Camposol’ into a consumer brand. We are also planning to sticker a portion of our fruit, at least one-third initially, with the ‘Camposol’ label.”

Dyer said that part of the strategy to stand out with consumers is to concentrate on providing the best quality fruit, and to promote the company’s social responsibility initiatives, which include a day care center, medical clinic and housing development for its employees.

“These social responsibility initiatives will help make a name for the ‘Camposol’ brand in the United States,” he said. “We plan to be more open with our efforts and communicate better what we are doing.”

Vertical integration

Dyer said Camposol strives to be a vertically integrated company as a way to minimize risk and control its own destiny.

“As a big player, we don’t want to depend on third parties more than we need to,” he said. “It also allows us to keep up with the trends of consumers. We will still use distributors because we have longtime relationships that we want to maintain, but up to 40 percent of our fruit would be shipped direct.”

Dyer said an important part of Camposol’s strategy is to grow more, “not necessarily in the same window but to expand to different windows to have early production and later production. We will possibly look to other countries, like Mexico, Chile and South Africa, to have year-round production.

“We think Asia will become a very important export region,” said Dyer. “China just opened for shipments and we hope to receive approval from Japan soon.”

Dyer said it is very important for Camposol that Peru becomes a major player in the world of agriculture.

“We have strong support of the government and we’re lucky to have the best climactic conditions and an abundant water supply,” he said. “We have some of the best yields of any producing country. Peru will make a big difference in global agriculture.”