Tree fruit growers strengthen position through joint venture
Tree fruit growers strengthen position through joint venture
Two tree fruit growers in the Pacific Northwest have joined forces in a joint venture designed to enhance marketplace competitiveness and implement operational efficiencies.
The new business entity, Legacy Fruit Packers LLC, officially began operations Jan. 1, according to Dean Gardner, Legacy's chief executive officer.
According to Gardner, Valley Fruit III in Wapato, WA, and Larson Fruit Co. in Selah, WA, joined forces to create the new company, operating under the Sage Fruit umbrella. Both of the parent companies are family-owned and have been members of the Sage family of companies for some time.
“This gives the Sage Family of Companies a good competitive edge,” Gardner told The Produce News Feb. 23. “We are the first to put two family operations together under one management team.”
Legacy will supply Sage Fruit with apples, pears and cherries.
Gardner, who served as chief executive officer for both Valley Fruit and Larson Fruit, is the first non-family member to occupy the position. He began working with both families to structure the joint venture a year ago.
“Our owners allowed me to start putting one team together in May of last year,” he said. “This took a lot of courage on the part of our owners.”
Both parent companies were looking at facilities upgrades at the time the joint venture was discussed. Gardner said the hard work to get everyone comfortable is a win-win for the companies, creating operational efficiencies and ensuring that high-quality fruit can be packed and marketed on a competitive basis.
According to Gardner, dynamics within the fresh produce industry continue to change, and companies need adapt to these conditions to remain competitive. To illustrate, he said companies eyeing investments in state-of-the-art equipment must have the ability to pack at least 200,000 bins of fruit when the lines become operational.
“We have invested $17 million,” he said of Legacy improvements to facilities in Wapato and Selah. “It's a lot of money.”
“We're putting a pear line together as we speak,” he continued, adding that the line will become operational in August just in time for pear season. A dedicated high-speed apple line, which will become operational in September, is being installed in Wapato.
He projects Legacy will pack 260,000 to 280,000 bins of fruit in the first year that the new line becomes operational.
Gardner is optimistic about Legacy's future.
“It's been a blast,” he said of the process to finalize the joint venture. “The outcome is great.”