Snake River Produce’s Spanish Sweets quality and sizing good
Snake River Produce’s Spanish Sweets quality and sizing good
Snake River Produce General Manager Kay Riley predicted in early September that the 2014 crop of Treasure Valley Spanish Sweets would be of excellent quality, and in November he confirmed his assessment had proven to be correct.
“Our quality is very good this year, and most of our business is repeat, so our customers are quite happy,” Riley said.
He went on to say, “We have a good range of sizes this year. Some lots are smaller, and some are bigger. We have adequate supplies of all sizes.”
Kay Riley, manager and sales, and Tiffany Cruickshank, sales and transportation, at Snake River Produce in Nyssa, OR. The Nyssa, OR, operation sells both domestically and to Mexico and Canada, and Riley said Mexico had seen good activity during the early shipping season.
“Canada is generally always good for us, with the most impact in the Northeast,” he noted.
With its food-safety components firmly in place, Snake River utilizes GPS and mock recall for traceability. In addition to being rated as superior by AIB, the company’s grower base is GAP-certified through the USDA, and the onions receive multi-level testing by Certified Onions Inc. in coordination with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
The primary challenge during this shipping season is transportation, and Tiffany Cruickshank, who works in sales with Riley and also manages transportation, said, “Several factors are in play right now. First off, we’re experiencing January weather in November. Right now it’s -5 [degrees] outside.”
“Two weeks ago we could still ship on a flatbed, depending on the receiver and the driver,” Cruickshank continued. “Now it’s reefer only, and with Christmas trees shipping, it’s more and more difficult to find trucks.”
Rail transport is tighter as well, she added.
“We have a shortage of rail cars. The railroad is experiencing more growth than it anticipated, and it’s having difficulty keeping up with demand. Not too long ago we had a couple of hundred rail cars in storage, and now there are zero. We used them to ship, and the railroad needs to get the cars back to us,” Cruickshank said.
“And while we need snow for agriculture and to help with the water shortage, if the snow falls in the right areas, we got seven inches recently that made travel even more difficult,” she added.
Still, both Riley and Cruickshank said the quality of onions they have to offer is excellent, and they are looking for demand to increase as the holiday season draws closer.
