Busy winter a good sign of things to come for Myrick Produce

Edward L. Myrick Produce has deep roots in Pompano, FL, with its status evident by the fact that the area’s major market shares the same name as the company and founder, Edward L. Myrick himself.

Because the region is centralized for most of the growing areas in South Florida, the company brings in products from all over the state.

“The market is a unique hub in the South Florida area where we can do quite a bit of stuff,” said Jimmy Myrick, vice president of the family-run company. “The way to be a success here is lots of hard work. We work all the time around here and never slow down.”

Good growing conditions in Pompano so far in 2023 have meant things started off strong for Edward L. Myrick Produce this year.

“That’s really true of all of Florida, as conditions have been really good,” Myrick said. “We’re starting to have plenty of good crops and seems like we are headed for a good spring.”

For the company, that means things have been extremely busy. During the winter months, the company imports cucumbers from Honduras, and that market was very strong in January and February and growers did very well.

“As far as Florida product, the pepper market has been good, definitely better than last year,” Myrick said. “Squash has been decent, eggplant has been good, green beans were very good until the first two weeks of March. For the company overall, we’ve had good business.”

This is following a year in which things also were on the upswing.

“We had some expansion that helped us, and we now have year-round shipping from Florida, Georgia and Michigan, so that has helped us grow quite a bit in the last year,” Myrick said. “Here in Pompano, we added another 20,000 square feet of cooling capability in the last six months. We’ve been growing at a good rate. It’s helped us keep more stuff on-hand so when people’s trucks are here, we’re able to go.”

It’s also made things easier to handle on the logistics side.

“Our customer base is mostly the same, though we’ve had a little more opportunity with food banks with all the funding from the government,” Myrick said. “That’s been helpful for the farmers, so when things get in a glut, they have a place to go. It’s been good for our growers.”

In April, the company will be working with crops from Central and North Florida, and then will turn its attention to Georgia in May. Lots are being planted right now, but it’s hard to predict anything about the upcoming crops because it all depends on weather.

“If we have good growing conditions and not too much rain, you’ll have a really good crop, but if you have extreme rain days or extremely hot temperatures, things are affected,” Myrick said.

Edward L. Myrick Produce has always had a great relationship with customers, which comes from a strong understanding of what customers need and what the farmer needs to get for its product to survive.

“As long as everyone is working together for the good of everybody, it works out really well,” Myrick said.

Elsewhere around the company, Jenna Lee Stansell recently joined the sales team in the Plant City office, and Brian Goggans is moving from food safety to sales later this year.

Photo: Jerry Myrick, Ed Myrick, and Jimmy Myrick of Myrick Produce