California lettuce co-op generating interest
California lettuce co-op generating interest
A substantial number of Salinas Valley lettuce shippers were expected to attend an informational meeting Thursday, Jan. 5 concerning the possibility of joining the Central California Lettuce Producers Cooperative.
The co-op has a long and storied history, which includes court challenges and victories, periods of both high and low membership, and efforts to institute floor pricing. For the past decade, membership in the producers co-op has waned. The co-op is a legal entity by virtue of the Capper- Volstead Act, which was passed in 1922 to exempt agricultural producers from federal antitrust laws.
For the past 10 years, and throughout the history of the co-op, members have met to discuss the marketing of the lettuce crop on a daily basis.
Typically, the producer members meet face-to-face once a week and by phone three times a day to discuss the marketing of the crop. By law, each member company of the co-op must have a vested interested in the crop itself. The current chairman of the board of the co-op is Sig Christierson of Major Farms, a longtime Salinas Valley lettuce grower who produces for co-op member NewStar Fresh Foods LLC in Salinas. In early December, Mr. Christierson, along with NewStar CEO David Eldredge and David Gill of Rio Farms and Growers Express, sent an open letter to the industry suggesting that the co-op was a tool that the lettuce industry could once again use to potentially increase the profitability of producing lettuce.
The lettuce market has been depressed for many months, with growers apparently selling their crop for prices below production costs on a daily basis.
"We thought maybe there was something we could do to increase membership" and lead to a better marketing situation, Mr. Christierson told The Produce News Wednesday, Jan. 4.
The first informational meeting was held in mid-December and had an overflow crowd.
The meeting scheduled for Jan. 5 was to include the introduction of a facilitator, as well as a presentation by Charlie Mathews Jr., who runs the California Citrus Growers Association, which is a grower co-op.
"At this point we are just getting together and trying to figure out what people are willing to do," said Mr. Christierson.
Clearly the aim of the co-op is to increase membership, and so the current leadership is looking for common ground that will bring potential members back to the group.
In the early 1990s, he said that membership was stronger but the idea of floor pricing ended up breaking up the group and reducing membership. Mr. Christierson said that all ideas are "still on the table," but he indicated that information gathering and sharing are probably the areas with the most universal support.
Currently, the co-op represents less than a third of production with most observers believing that it needs to have more than 50 percent of the daily volume to influence the market.
After the Jan. 5 meeting, Mr. Christierson expects there to be additional meetings with the facilitator and various producers to determine what it will take to increase membership.
At the same time that this producers co-op is looking for new members, Mr. Christierson said that there has also been interest in forming a new grower co-op. Under the umbrella of a grower-co-op, members could collectively try to influence their shippers as well as pool their buying resources and discuss concepts such as planting schedules.
The Major Farms executive said that growers have had one meeting and will soon be meeting again, but the more pressing matter is resurrecting interest in the already- established shipper-oriented co-op.
The co-op has a long and storied history, which includes court challenges and victories, periods of both high and low membership, and efforts to institute floor pricing. For the past decade, membership in the producers co-op has waned. The co-op is a legal entity by virtue of the Capper- Volstead Act, which was passed in 1922 to exempt agricultural producers from federal antitrust laws.
For the past 10 years, and throughout the history of the co-op, members have met to discuss the marketing of the lettuce crop on a daily basis.
Typically, the producer members meet face-to-face once a week and by phone three times a day to discuss the marketing of the crop. By law, each member company of the co-op must have a vested interested in the crop itself. The current chairman of the board of the co-op is Sig Christierson of Major Farms, a longtime Salinas Valley lettuce grower who produces for co-op member NewStar Fresh Foods LLC in Salinas. In early December, Mr. Christierson, along with NewStar CEO David Eldredge and David Gill of Rio Farms and Growers Express, sent an open letter to the industry suggesting that the co-op was a tool that the lettuce industry could once again use to potentially increase the profitability of producing lettuce.
The lettuce market has been depressed for many months, with growers apparently selling their crop for prices below production costs on a daily basis.
"We thought maybe there was something we could do to increase membership" and lead to a better marketing situation, Mr. Christierson told The Produce News Wednesday, Jan. 4.
The first informational meeting was held in mid-December and had an overflow crowd.
The meeting scheduled for Jan. 5 was to include the introduction of a facilitator, as well as a presentation by Charlie Mathews Jr., who runs the California Citrus Growers Association, which is a grower co-op.
"At this point we are just getting together and trying to figure out what people are willing to do," said Mr. Christierson.
Clearly the aim of the co-op is to increase membership, and so the current leadership is looking for common ground that will bring potential members back to the group.
In the early 1990s, he said that membership was stronger but the idea of floor pricing ended up breaking up the group and reducing membership. Mr. Christierson said that all ideas are "still on the table," but he indicated that information gathering and sharing are probably the areas with the most universal support.
Currently, the co-op represents less than a third of production with most observers believing that it needs to have more than 50 percent of the daily volume to influence the market.
After the Jan. 5 meeting, Mr. Christierson expects there to be additional meetings with the facilitator and various producers to determine what it will take to increase membership.
At the same time that this producers co-op is looking for new members, Mr. Christierson said that there has also been interest in forming a new grower co-op. Under the umbrella of a grower-co-op, members could collectively try to influence their shippers as well as pool their buying resources and discuss concepts such as planting schedules.
The Major Farms executive said that growers have had one meeting and will soon be meeting again, but the more pressing matter is resurrecting interest in the already- established shipper-oriented co-op.
