With 2023 having come to an end, produce companies are still experiencing significant delays from West Mexico due to the impacts of Hurricane Otis. Nogales-based grower-shipper Divine Flavor is hopeful production will rebound later in the season; however, the region’s delay will extend into the new year resulting in less volume for the industry.

“Our farms were in the path of Hurricane Otis, and although some areas were affected more than others, the majority of west Mexico region has had major delays and other production issues that have impacted us and the industry as a whole,” said Luis Batiz, conventional hot-house category manager for Divine Flavor. “At the time of the storm, it was difficult to gauge how significant the outcome would be, but now that we’ve had time to evaluate the situation, we see the biggest impact of the hurricane will decrease total volume and sizing on a lot of produce items coming from west Mexico.”

Batiz continued, “Our farms and growing regions have experienced inclement weather in previous seasons, but weather events of this magnitude are quite rare. We will lean on our experienced growers to try and recover lost production later in the season, but there won’t be the normal peaks we are used to seeing.”

Divine Flavor, which trades its origins to Sonora with principal grower Grupo Alta, is also well established in Sinaloa with its core veg commodities such as organic and conventional Bell peppers, mini peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers coming from sister company Viva Organica, and Hortifresh Greenhouses, 20 minutes south of the city of Culiacan.

Patrick Cortes, Divine Flavor’s vice president of sales, explained that the company is hopeful but wants to manage expectations.

“It’s been challenging to start the season as West Mexico traditionally plays a vital role in supplying the industry at this time of the year,” said Cortes. “The impact of the hurricane in December resulted in having very low yields and the early indications show there will be smaller sizing on certain commodities and lower overall tonnage. However, there is optimism as we have a great deal of experience and knowledge navigating through production delays. But we’ll need to continue working through these challenges and see how things look in the coming weeks.”  

Divine Flavor is now receiving its full complement of greenhouse-grown items such as conventional and organic colored Bell peppers, mini peppers, Persian, slicer and Euro cucumbers, beefsteak, grape and Roma tomatoes, and Italian squash/zucchini.

Photo: Luis Batiz