Sage Fruit Co. and Oregon Cherry Growers announce joint venture
Sage Fruit Co. and Oregon Cherry Growers announce joint venture
Yakima, WA-based Sage Fruit Co. and The Dalles, OR-based Oregon Cherry Growers have announced a joint-venture packing company, Pacific Coast Cherry Packers, to pack and ship both companies' fresh cherries.
The new packingline and facility located on Valley Fruit's site in Wapato, WA, will feature a jointly owned Van Doren cherry line and will be fully operational and equipped for fumigation for the upcoming 2007 cherry crop.
"This joint venture is great for Sage and our customers," Steve Clement, general manager of Sage Fruit, said in a statement. "We have sought a solution to supply our customers with quality cherries for the duration of the Northwest cherry crop, and now we have that capability. OCG is a great fit for us in terms of the timing of supply and providing the quality that customers have come to expect from Sage Fruit Company."
Sage Fruit Co. will market and sell all the fresh-pack cherries from the joint venture, providing Sage, with over 850,000 packs of fresh cherries, more than double the previous annual volume marketed by the company. As OCG's fresh fruit tonnage extends through the end of July, Sage will now have the ability to provide the season-long coverage customers demand.
"Combining our two fresh operations provides geographic growing diversity, a committed quality grower base and the ability to pack our fruit on a state- of-the-art cherry line in a brand new facility," said Ed Johnson, president and chief executive officer of OCG.
Sage Fruit Co. markets high-quality tree fruits to customers throughout the world, selling for three growing-packing facilities: Valley Fruit, Olympic Fruit and the new Pacific Coast Cherry Packers.
The new packingline and facility located on Valley Fruit's site in Wapato, WA, will feature a jointly owned Van Doren cherry line and will be fully operational and equipped for fumigation for the upcoming 2007 cherry crop.
"This joint venture is great for Sage and our customers," Steve Clement, general manager of Sage Fruit, said in a statement. "We have sought a solution to supply our customers with quality cherries for the duration of the Northwest cherry crop, and now we have that capability. OCG is a great fit for us in terms of the timing of supply and providing the quality that customers have come to expect from Sage Fruit Company."
Sage Fruit Co. will market and sell all the fresh-pack cherries from the joint venture, providing Sage, with over 850,000 packs of fresh cherries, more than double the previous annual volume marketed by the company. As OCG's fresh fruit tonnage extends through the end of July, Sage will now have the ability to provide the season-long coverage customers demand.
"Combining our two fresh operations provides geographic growing diversity, a committed quality grower base and the ability to pack our fruit on a state- of-the-art cherry line in a brand new facility," said Ed Johnson, president and chief executive officer of OCG.
Sage Fruit Co. markets high-quality tree fruits to customers throughout the world, selling for three growing-packing facilities: Valley Fruit, Olympic Fruit and the new Pacific Coast Cherry Packers.
