In 2000, Nick Bozick, the president of Richard Bagdasarian Inc., based in Mecca, CA, and his Vice President of Marketing, Franz DeKlotz, launched Pasha Marketing as a vegetable entity to complement their grape and citrus lines.

“It continues to be a profitable business,” said DeKlotz in mid-April as the company was launching its 15th year and 30th season in the vegetable growing and shipping business. “We have two distinct seasons (each year),” said DeKlotz.

The first season goes from mid-April to about June 15 and fairly closely mirrors the timing of the Coachella Valley grape deal. The second season comes in the fall and lasts from early October until Dec. 7, according to DeKlotz. That is also the same time of year that Bagdasarian is growing, packing and shipping Coachella Valley citrus through its Sunkist Growers affiliation.

It is no accident that the timing of the vegetable production mimics that of the fruit crops produced in the Coachella Valley.

“All of our commodities complement each other,” DeKlotz said. “We offer one-stop shopping to our customers. It definitely makes a difference when a truck comes over here and only has to make one-stop.”

The Coachella Valley is strategically located a couple hours east of Los Angeles off the main highway that heads east out of California across the country. Stopping in Coachella Valley to pick up product is very convenient.

For the just-underway spring deal, DeKlotz said Pasha Marketing is offering its traditional vegetable lineup this year of green, red and yellow peppers, eggplant and green beans. Both are offered conventionally and organic. “We started the green bells two weeks ago,” DeKlotz said on April 18. “We will start bell peppers next week and the red and yellow peppers in a couple of weeks.”

The green bean plants began producing in mid-April. He added that the company started offering organic vegetables four years ago.

While fruit and vegetable producers up and down the state have had to have one eye on their crop and another on the Weather Channel to see if they have enough water to complete the growing cycle, Coachella Valley has had no such issues.

Several years ago, local growers and the water district inked a deal with federal and state agencies allocating a set amount of water from the Colorado River each year.

“We are one of the few places that don’t have to worry because of that Quantification Settlement,” DeKlotz said. “We get a set amount of water every year and it’s enough to grow our crops.”

He said that there are rumblings from other Colorado River users questioning that agreement but for the time being, farmers in the area are in a good position.