Herndon Farms of Lyons, GA is best-known as an industry leader in the Vidalia onion market, but its Peruvian deal — now in its fourth year — is becoming an increasingly important part of its 12-month program.

“We want to play to our strength and our strength is what we do in the field,” said Herndon Sales Manager John Williams. “We can be the eyes and ears for our customers on the ground and in the field. As an importer from Peru, there’s no third party involved and we have the same people monitor the quality as we do with Vidalia.”

“For us, it’s about taking care of our customers, providing a good product, and not overextending yourself and leaving your customer hanging,” Williams said. “We’ve built a good team and a good reputation for what we’re able to from the field and shipping to sales and marketing. We’re building a program that will last and represent quality and service. We wouldn’t want to ship anything out we wouldn’t buy in the store ourselves.”

Herndon is introducing new packaging this season that is “eye-catching and also hoping to connect the consumer to the farm. There are recipes and social medium aspects, looking to represent farming in a sophisticated way,” Williams said.

Establishing a link with consumers is critical because “as a grower we see the trend right now with organic, buying local and having a connection to who’s growing the produce you buy. People might look for organic but price and availability are sometimes issues. Buying local is great but you can have similar obstacles. The modern produce consumer looks for ways to be connected to the farmer. That’s where we want to be — just an arm’s length away from that final consumer,” Williams said.

A slight delay in the beginning of the Peruvian season will give Herndon time to clear out the remainder of its banner second-half Vidalia crop and have “a nice transition” between the two deals with little overlap and a solid market, expected to open.

“We’re looking at better volume this year from all the reports we’ve heard and sizing should be better as well,” Williams said. “Last year they had some problems in the fields and the onions didn’t size up, similar to what we had in Vidalia last year, there were a lot more mediums on the market. This year we should have better sizing, better volume and prices should be a little bit lower — from a supply standpoint the market should be solid and be able to compete against other domestic sweet onions.

Williams expects Herndon’s Peruvian deal will continue to grow.

“We’re not just looking for this year, we’re establishing ourselves for the next few years,” Williams said. “The Peruvian onion will go up against any onion. It’s definitely a quality item.”