Green Earth Produce Trading Inc. in Los Angeles, which opened in March 2012, is the avocado division of Green Earth Produce Trading Inc. in Gloucester City, NJ. Gahl Crane, an avocado industry veteran who was previously with Fisher-Capespan and prior to that with Prime Produce, was brought in at that time as director, to open and manage the division which is, according to Crane, “its own headquarters for avocado operations.

The New Jersey operation handles primarily grapes, citrus, apples and pears, he said.

Green Earth handles avocados from California as well as from Mexico, Chile, Peru and the Dominican Republic.

“We work directly with growers and market California avocados from start to finish,” Crane said. “Our heaviest grower base is in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.”

The company has the fruit custom packed, “but all the marketing and sales” as well as all value added services such as bagging and ripening are “done by us” in-house at the company’s Los Angeles distribution center, he said.

The Los Angeles site is centrally located between California’s two major avocado growing areas, “so it works out well for our customers and for our program,” he said.

“California is definitely an important part of our year-round supply,” Crane said. “We do have customers throughout the country, so there are some that definitely demand California avocados when it is available.” For others, logistics and costs make it impractical to include California fruit in their program, particularly for “certain chain stores, say east of the Mississippi. But it is crucial for many of our retailers, especially California-based retailers.”

During the California season, Green Earth is also “very active with Mexico and Peru because there is simply not enough volume out of California even in a big crop year,” he said. “Especially in a light crop year such as the upcoming one, the imported fruit will have to increase in order to keep up with demand.”

On avocado sales at Green Earth are Terrence Kelley and Michael Szczerbicky. Avi Crane handles business development.

“We are extremely fast growing, and we have developed some really, really strong relationships with growers in California and around the world to expand our avocado program,” Crane said. “Demand of the category is clearly growing, and a lot of that is because of the hard work that our retailers are doing to promote avocados” and give the category “good attention. We are committed to working with retailers to help them continue to do that and see good dollar growth in the category.”

Green Earth’s avocado division is “a global company,” Crane said. “We are working with growers wherever there are avocados and making sure to get adequate supply 52 weeks a year into the United States. We are definitely continuing to pursue joint ventures with growers who are looking to expand their operations as well. That is an important tool for us to expand our program” as well as for growers in California and internationally as well “to increase their efficiency and their market share and increase their annual yields and annual volume.”