It was 40 years ago that cousins Bill Moncovich and Pat Riordan joined forces with Frank Saveria and Red Bryant to make their mark in the strawberry business when they opened the doors of New West Fruit Corp. in Watsonville, CA. Today, that same company is called California Giant Berry Farms, having transitioned to its brand name in 1998.

Like many other retail produce department items, fresh mushroom sales registered growth during the onset of the pandemic, though that positive result was very much tempered by the foodservice shutdown as that represented a significant decline in sales for the category.

Though imported asparagus sales in the United States dropped off by 13 percent in 2022, asparagus from Peru only declined 5 percent, effectively increasing its import market share by a few percentage points.

CarbAmericas President Jeff Friedman pulls no punches as he characterizes the current Peruvian asparagus deal. “It is pretty bleak right now,” he said, during the last few days of August.

So far, the Peruvian asparagus deal has been a challenge with much less volume than a year ago, but that hasn’t stopped U.S. importer Ayco Farms from moving forward on one of its key initiatives: value-added options.

“Ayco is focusing on more packaging for retailers especially with our asparagus,” said Shani Nir, who handles marketing for the Pompano Beach, FL-based company. “We offer anything from bulk packaging to private label packaging. Our packaging includes tray packs, pouch bags, and flow pack bags.”

For the past five years, Cruz Carrera has been a part of the Five Crowns team and its expansion of its asparagus program.

“As a year-round shipper our supply is sourced from Mexico, Peru, Canada and domestically” he said. “Our domestic production comes from Washington, Idaho and Michigan.”

Carrera, who wears the director of asparagus sales title, said that despite industry projections being down from both Peru and Mexico, total asparagus volume for the Brawley, CA-based company will once again be greater than the year before.