Santa Barbara Farms sticks with three core commodities
Santa Barbara Farms sticks with three core commodities
Iceberg lettuce, celery and cauliflower are the three core items that have kept California-based Santa Barbara Farms thriving since Ron Berghoefer opened the doors of his company in 1997. Previously, Berghoefer had managed another company’s local deal.
The company, which is headquartered in Lompoc about an hour’s drive north of Santa Barbara, has built its business around year-round supplies of these three commodities.
Iceberg lettuce is the firm’s top-volume item, and is joined by cauliflower and celery on the sales sheet.
Ron Berghoefer opened the doors of his company, Santa Barbara Farms, in 1997.Cauliflower is produced in Lompoc year-round while the two other items have multiple growing sites. Lompoc typically provides the lettuce production until about Dec. 1. Yuma, AZ, gives the company its lettuce for most of December before the production crews shift to Holtville in the Imperial Valley of California, which takes the production cycle well into spring before it starts again in Lompoc.
Celery is grown in Lompoc from mid-May until about mid-January before it transitions to the Imperial Valley for about a 14-week window. Oxnard in Ventura County provides Santa Barbara Farms with celery in April and May prior to the return to Lompoc.
Because of Lompoc’s smaller size it doesn’t always get the notoriety of some of California’s other coastal valleys. However, its geography gives it a unique micro climate that works well for the crops Santa Barbara Farms grows. Berghoefer said the valley that houses his crops tends to stay a bit cooler than Santa Maria, for example, which is about an hour north of Lompoc. “The cool air coming off the ocean keeps our temperatures down,” he said.
While others were predicting some very good winter vegetable prices, Berghoefer was not interested in playing the price forecasting game. “I’m optimistic that we are going to have a good season because I am always optimistic,” he said. “The deal in the north [Salinas] is winding down and we have a strong market right now but I never predict what is going to happen in the desert.”
He did say that the quality of the crops he is currently producing is very good and he expects the same as he transitions to the desert deal in Arizona and California, though he acknowledged that Yuma has started out with a few quality issues. “We didn’t lose any acres [due to weather] and expect our volume to be very similar to last year,” he said.
