Solar panels reduce costs at Richard Bagdasarian Inc.
Solar panels reduce costs at Richard Bagdasarian Inc.
Nick Bozick, president of Richard Bagdasarian Inc. in Mecca, CA, said the company’s new solar panels are the first thing you might notice as you drive up to its packingshed.
The longtime Coachella Valley grape veteran said the company added the solar panels for a multitude of reasons. “In the first place, we believe it is the right thing to do to reduce our energy consumption,” he said. “Secondly we have been told that it will lower our costs and we were given multiple incentives from county, state and federal agencies that made it very attractive.”
Louis Gonzalez, vineyard manager at Richard Bagdasarian.While Mr. Bozick was certain his energy costs will be down this year, he was not as certain as to what 2013 will bring for Coachella Valley grape growers. “It’s hard to tell at this time of year. There are a lot of factors involved. In the first place, we don’t know what will happen with the dock strike in Chile and we don’t know what kind of fruit the Mexican crop has.”
Mr. Bozick said the first reports from Mexico weren’t due until later in April. As far as Coachella is concerned, he was very happy with the progression of the crop. “The crop looks really good. We might not start until the week of May 13 but that could change.”
He said Coachella Valley acreage has remained fairly steady over the past several years, though Sugraone acreage has grown each year and more and more of that is moving into prime production.
For its customers, Bagdasarian has added several proprietary varieties over the years and will have more production of those this year. Its proprietary varieties are both red and black seedless. He said some retailers love to feature proprietary varieties that they can have an exclusive on.
As far as the Coachella Valley industry goes, he said grower-shippers appear to be packing more grapes in consumer type poly propylene pouch bags, as that pack has become more popular among retailers. The consumer pack results in less handling at retail and a higher ring per carton as shrink is reduced because the shatter remains in the bag rather than on the display table or in the back room of the retail store.
