“Our Peruvian sweet onion program has been instrumental in allowing us to provide a reliable supply of quality sweet onions year-round. We are closing in on nearly 15 years of doing business in Peru and supporting a year-round sweet onion program,” said Steven Shuman, general manager and vice president of sales for the Glennville, GA-based company.“We have our own production team on the ground in Peru,” Shuman said. “They work with our U.S. production team to support varieties, production and harvest strategies that help create a consistent product that equals our Vidalia program so consumers can expect the same onion in quality and flavor 365 days per year.”
2024 has been a great year already for G&R Farms; in fact, it’s one of the best Vidalia seasons in recent history, according to Shuman.
“The quality and volume were unmatched, and the weather didn’t give us a lot of headaches,” he said. “That’s good news. It means it will carry our Vidalia crop well into September and help us make a seamless transition to Peru.”
A good growing season has also given the company a lot of time to dig into the results of many of its sustainability trials which are proving to pay high dividends on water and input savings without sacrificing yields.
“We are also wrapping up our seventh annual year of the Growing America’s Farmer program that has already helped raise more than $500,000 for scholarships and grants for students pursuing careers in production agriculture,” Shuman said.
For G&R, success is the same wherever you do business, at home or abroad. It comes down to service and quality.
“We say it in our mission, ‘Grown with Passion, Served with Pride’ and we live it every day,” Shuman said. “There are certainly challenges that are amplified by a global program including being farther from the product and having less flexibility when weather and freight issues arise, but that’s the importance of good projections and distribution plans to help us look ahead and best manage our supply chain for the unknowns. Like anything — strong collaborative partnerships and good communication are critical.”
G&R Farms services more than a dozen top national and regional retail grocers from the Midwest to the South, to New England and Canada.
“Many of our customers have been partners since the beginning when we sold our first Vidalia onions,” Shuman said. “We don’t get bigger just to sell more. Each step of growth is taken using a conscientious decision-making process to make sure we can serve each and every one of our customers with the same level of service they have always depended on.”
