“With onions, our supply and production has increased this year,” Ange said. “On the potato side, we have invested and added new technology and automation in our potato processing facility. We’ve added AI sorting and grading, and also added new, state-of-the-art automated sorters and stackers, which is really cool to see in a potato warehouse.”
Additionally, at the potato facility in Idaho Falls, the company has redesigned its red and yellow packing sheds.
“We’re really able to see increased quality and consistency and efficiencies in those sheds,” Ange said.
This year, Eagle Eye has also added to its transportation team, and expanded its fleet of trucks and trailers, so there are now more than 100 on the road delivering product to customers.
Eagle Eye works with growers throughout the western part of the U.S. and Mexico, and has had longstanding relationships with many.
“Being a grower, packer, shipper, we look at a lot of business transactions and deals as a grower would, so the main things we do to solidify those growing relationships is understanding where they are coming from, and set up deals that have the grower in mind,” Ange said. “The cornerstone of maintaining good relationships is keeping them in mind when we are marketing, and keeping them involved with strong communication.”
Eagle Eye ships onions year-round, as it only stores onions eight months before relying on other growing regions.
“When springtime hits, we’ll transition our onion shipping regions into Texas, Southern California and Georgia, and we will go to visit with the growers we work with, and many times, we will bring our growers from the Northwest with us,” Ange said. “It’s a great opportunity to get to know each other better and see how business is done outside of just the normal areas.”
