Golden Desert growing slowly deliberately
Golden Desert growing slowly deliberately
RIO RICO, AZ — Hot peppers and soft squash are on the expanding new product list of Golden Desert Produce LLC, which is located here. The hot peppers will be available from March through May.
The soft squash, available from December through February, will be yellow squash and zucchini, said Gabriel (Gabe) Nunez, Golden Desert’s managing member and sales manager. The firm is shipping “Golden Desert” and other squash brands.
Nunez founded this distributing and shipping company three years ago with four Mexican grower-partners. Based on previous work relationships, some of these partners “I have known for 10 years,” he said.
Key commodities distributed by Golden Desert are “Magata” and “Apcaro” brand European cucumbers, which are shipped from October into April. Regular cukes, packed in the “Maria Luisa” brand, are available from the firm from October through February and the company’s hard squash runs from December into May. Golden Desert ships Roma tomatoes from March to June.
Golden Desert partners have chosen to “increase volume at a very slow pace. Sometimes companies grow too fast and lose control.
“We try to be fair to both the grower and the customer,” Nunez said of the firm’s operational philosophy. “We protect both the grower and customer. It’s not a one-way street.”
He said about 90 percent of his product comes from Obregón, Sonora. Hermosillo, Sonora, is the other significant product source.