Bella Vista Produce, a grower, packer and shipper in Santa Maria, CA, is preparing for the start of its spring line-up of high-quality crops in late March.

Bella Vista Produce offers lettuce, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, romaine, romaine hearts, leaf lettuce, Brussels sprouts and green cabbage.

Cauliflower, broccoli and green cabbage are available year-round, with Brussels sprouts available through February. The lettuce program starts April 1 and runs through November, said Kevin Jordan, director of sales and marketing for Bella Vista Produce.

The company ships under Oak Canyon and Green Treasure labels throughout the U.S., as well as shipping celery to Japan during the summer.

Jordan said the valley experienced a warm winter, followed by heavy rainfall the first two months of the year. According to The Santa Maria Times newspaper, at the end of February, season-to-date (July 1-June 30) rainfall at the Santa Maria Airport was almost 14 inches, which is 213 percent of normal at that time, up from 161 percent at the end of January.

Rainfall at Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County airports also recorded above-average season totals in January and February. On Feb. 27, Santa Maria broke a 93-year-old high temperature record, at 88 F, according to the newspaper, although normal temperatures were expected to follow.

The rain will likely lead to some gaps in availability, Jordan said, and the timing and specific crops that will be affected aren’t certain. But the length of the gaps or overall effect on the season aren’t expected to be significant.

“With those rains, you’ll see some skips, probably,” he said. “We had pretty significant rain for three or four days. Depending on where you are on the coast, maybe from three to seven inches.”

Bella Vista Produce is the selling arm for Adams Brothers Family Farms, a Santa Maria sixth-generation grower. Jordan said acreage and production is consistent year to year, as well as the vegetables grown.

“We do seed to sales, and we have our own nursery,” said Jordan, who has handled sales for 29 years.

The company ships from its cooler, Red Diamond Cooling, also in Santa Maria, within walking distance of the sales office and surrounded by many of its fields. Bella Vista sells to wholesalers, retailers, foodservice operators and brokers, offering contracts and advanced pricing to keep the product fresh and moving

“We pretty much sell to all the categories,” Jordan said.

The farming family first arrived in Santa Maria when William Laird Adam immigrated to the U.S. from Scotland in the 1850s. The original Adams Brothers Farming was founded by third-generation farmer John Adam and his brothers William P. and Kenneth Adam. They raised sugar beets, seed beans and a small amount of cauliflower, according to the company history.

Fourth- and fifth-generation brothers Peter, Dominic and Kieran currently run the business “based on the history and knowledge imparted to them by their ancestors,” Jordan said. 

“The experience shows in all they do!”