Agri-Packing expanding Nogales Facility
In very early 2023, Agri-Packing Supply Inc. will open its new facility in southern Arizona, significantly expanding the capacity of its cooling and logistics business. “This new facility will add 200,000 square feet to our existing capacity,” said Sales Executive Jorge Ruiz, adding that the facility is in the Rio Rico Industrial Park in Nogales. “We are very excited to welcome new partners into this facility.”
Agri-Packing is a 32 year old company devoted to the fruit and vegetable industry offering packaging and grower supplies mainly for grower-shipper exporters operating from the Pacific West Coast of Mexico. “Our three main lines of products are corrugated boxes, flexible packaging (mainly retail pouch bags), and rigid containers (clamshells and custom labels),” Ruiz said.
He added that the bagging trend that received a boost during the early stages of the pandemic is still going strong. Produce items featuring grab-and-go packaging are still the fastest growing trend. “Bagged produce has seen the biggest growth of all our items for retail and we see more growth going forward,” he said. “More and more retailers are asking us to produce their own custom label and thus more growers are getting involved in the process to fill those bags and sell to retailers for the end user.”
Ruiz said there are many new products coming into the market featuring paper, biodegradable and recycled materials. But he added the cost is still an issue as these products costs more and there has to be some sharing of that increased expense. He noted that retailers are the ones pushing for more environmentally friendly products on their shelves but until everybody in the logistic chain participates, adoption will be slow.
The packaging veteran also noted that “organics are still experiencing the most growth of any segment in the industry. We provide designs and prints that are suitable for retail and more and more this segment is growing in our line of products. We also see specialty items growing all over…mainly specialty tomatoes and different pepper varieties.
Photo: Agri-Packing had a strong presence at the recent IFPA convention in Orlando, FL. Jorge Ruiz, Monica Bautista, David Carrizoza, Luis Gonzalez and Gerson Choza.
Tim Linden
About Tim Linden | 
Tim Linden grew up in a produce family as both his father and grandfather spent their business careers on the wholesale terminal markets in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Tim graduated from San Diego State University in 1974 with a degree in journalism. Shortly thereafter he began his career at The Packer where he stayed for eight years, leaving in 1983 to join Western Growers as editor of its monthly magazine. In 1986, Tim launched Champ Publishing as an agricultural publishing specialty company.
Today he is a contract publisher for several trade associations and writes extensively on all aspects of the produce business. He began writing for The Produce News in 1997, and currently wears the title of Editor at Large.
