Wholesum Family Farms Fair Trade products enjoying strong demand
Wholesum Family Farms Fair Trade products enjoying strong demand
Fair Trade-certified products have become a very positive “hot issue” for Wholesum Family Farms, according to Anthony Totta, a consultant for the firm.
“The retailers interested in product like this are accelerating,” he said. “This is very good for us, our farm workers and our customers who are offering this to consumers.”
Wholesum Family Farms, which is owned by the Crisantes family, has for many years carried an interest in the environment and its workers. This has manifested itself as the company focuses on organic production and with Fair Trade certification.
The company operates highly sophisticated vegetable greenhouses in Mexico and a new 13-acre greenhouse in Amado, AZ, which is several miles north of Nogales. Tomatoes are the firm’s primary product, but it also ships cucumbers, peppers, squash, zucchini, eggplant and mangos.
Totta said Wholesum is creating and providing point-of-sale materials for its customers to educate consumers on the background and benefits of the Fair Trade program.
He also noted that retailers are showing a strong interest in “our value-added packaged organics.”
This packaging is, among other benefits, a straightforward means of differentiating organics from conventional produce.
Totta said retailers have long faced the problem of whether checkout clerks know if the bulk produce they were ringing up was conventional or organic, which could be a very different price.
At the Produce Marketing Association convention in Anaheim, CA, in October, Chef Tony Merola will be producing new recipes at the Wholesum booth.
The firm also has plans to release a new recipe book.
Totta said that Wholesum has created a tribute on its corporate blog to Adrian Crisantes, the youngest son of company founder Theojary Crisantes.
Adrian died July 13 after a year-long battle with cancer.
Totta said the family is not releasing a formal obituary, but the tribute is available at http://www.wholesumharvest.com/blog/2014/08/23/tribute-adrian-crisantes.
“As a company we are adjusting to the loss of a very key person. The family waited until the dust settled” to release the tribute on a blog “to soften the blow.”
Totta continued, “There is a soberness over the company with the loss of Adrian.”
