NOGALES, AZ — On Dec. 1, Diego Ley, became the general manager of Del Campo Supreme, Inc.

In the process of his new responsibility he is “marrying the departments” of sales and operations of the grower-packer-shipper.

In 1980, Ley’s father, also named Diego Ley, initiated Del Campo operations with 100 acres of Italian squash and bell peppers. Since that time, the firm has greatly expanded in volume, commodity diversification and technical sophistication.

This year Del Campo will grow between 10 and 13 million boxes of produce. It will have even greater volume coming from independent growers. Tomatoes are the firm’s flagship commodity.

On staff at Del Campo Supreme Inc.’s Nogales office are: Miguel Arenas, Luis Galaviz, Diego Ley, Jimmy Munguia, Hector Sanchez, Juan Jose Ley, Jr., Alma Lechuga, Sergio Gonzalez, Denise Puchi, Cathy Jimenez and Michael Lisitano.The 12-month shipper owns extensive greenhouses in Mexico. It places an emphasis on social responsibility and food safety.

In Nogales, Del Campo operates a 120,000-square-foot facility.

The new general manager indicated that Del Campo is “a very solidified company.”

“The potential is immense,” he continued. “The sky is the limit. In terms of quality, we are one of the best. With quality, there is always room to improve. But quality will open doors. If you’re shipping all season, that’s a lot of doors.”

A seed trial program is advancing the varieties offered by Del Campo to have the best flavor.

In another development, Ley said the firm is developing its south Texas distribution business to handle as much volume as its Nogales facility.

Ley wants consumers to eventually know and prefer the Del Campo brand. Working in that direction is Monique McLaws, who recently became Del Campo’s director of marketing, working from Orange County, CA.

Jimmy Munguia, Del Campo sales manager, said the firm grows in Sinaloa from November until the end of May. Then its growing operations move from May to December in central Mexico: Jalisco, and Torreón, Coahuila, and San Luis Potosi, which is in the same-named state of San Luis Potosí. Central Mexican partner-producers supply about 20 percent of Del Campo’s annual volume.

The remaining, lion’s share of the volume comes from the firm’s Sinaloa farms.

In addition to tomatoes, Del Campo ships bell peppers and mini, blocky bell peppers throughout the year.

Munguia said Del Campo is working on developing production volumes of other commodities.

“Being a year-round shipper affords more opportunities to embrace the retail business,” he said. “There are efficiencies of being a one-stop shop if you offer more than one item.”

Munguia said most of Del Campo’s tomato volume is Romas.

The firm also produces Beefsteak and grape tomatoes and tomatoes-on-the-vine.

Del Campo offers a high-flavor yellow specialty grape tomato.

A normal grape tomato has a brix level between 5.5 and 7.5. Del Campo’s yellow grape tomatoes start the season at 10.5 brix and can be as high as 13 brix late in the growing season.

Last fall, Del Campo introduced two new packaged vegetable products. These are new sweet baby bell peppers in consumer bags and a “T’mates”—brand consumer-boxed cocktail tomato-on-vine.

T’mates’ 11.5-ounce boxes have a viewing window on the top and otherwise indicate Del Campo’s history and the firm’s strong position on environmental-friendliness. T’mates are strong on flavor and crunchiness.

Munguia said the new resealable sweet baby bell pepper bags are available in one or two-pound bags. The peppers are red, orange and yellow “with a really nice flavor that is very, very consistent. They are super-sweet.”

“We are working on other super-high flavor vegetable varieties,” Munguia noted.