Prime Time International adds cucumber deal to its winter mix
Prime Time International adds cucumber deal to its winter mix
For the first time, Prime Time International’s winter deal will include cucumbers, as the firm added that product to its mix earlier this year and is continuing it through the winter vegetable deal with production coming from Mexico.
Mike Aiton, marketing manager for the Coachella, CA-based firm, said cucumbers go well with the company’s core commodities, which include colored peppers and tomatoes. “Cukes and peppers mix well,” he said. “Their temperatures are compatible (for shipping) and the retail buyer for both items is generally the same person. This is a good product extension for us.”
During the winter months, Prime Time will be shipping cucumbers from mainland Mexico through Nogales, AZ, in the “Vantaggio” label.
Of course, the firm remains very pepper-centric and has a full slate of deals planned for the next few months to remain one of the country’s largest grower-shippers and distributors of colored peppers.
Prime Time uses both greenhouse and open fields for its red and green pepper production.On the last day of October, Aiton said the company’s Oxnard, CA, deal was winding down and the transition to its Baja California and Coachella Valley production was underway. “Right now we have production from all three areas but by the time this is published [Nov. 18], Oxnard will be over and we be loading out of both Coachella and San Diego.”
The Baja California, Mexico, production is trucked north into San Diego and loaded there for distribution across the country. In Baja, Prime Time grows red, yellow and orange peppers in both the hothouse and open-field environments. That same area also produces a steady supply of round, roma and grape tomatoes for the firm.
Out of Coachella, the firm also uses both greenhouse and open fields for production, producing both red and green peppers.
Mini sweet peppers are also an important part of the Prime Time lineup.
Around the first of January, the firm’s mainland Mexico production, which includes all of its commodities, will be ready for shipping.
Aiton said all things being equal, volume will be up slightly across the board. “We are taking a bit more of an aggressive approach and have increased our plantings. So if Mother Nature cooperates we will have more volume to sell.”
As mentioned earlier, the firm does continue to grow its crops in both open fields and in protective environments, which are often shadehouses using a mesh material. Aiton said the trend toward the protective environment is continuing unabated throughout the winter vegetable deal, especially in Mexico. That type of protection alleviates pest pressure and gives more control over the use of inputs such as crop protection tools and water. The result is better and more consistent yields, which enables shippers to better market their production.
