It’s that time of the year when buyers send their trucks down to the California and Arizona desert looking for fall and winter vegetables to fill wet racks back home.

It might also be a great time to balance out those loads with some extra pallets of lemons. At least that’s the view of John Carter, director of global sales for Limoneira Co., which has its headquarters in Santa Paula, CA. “A number of produce buyers have told us that during the fall-winter vegetable season their trucks are looking for additional weight to complete their load,” he said. “With our new facility in Yuma, we have a great solution for them. They can save on distribution costs by picking up lemons from Limoneira at our packinghouse. It’s a win-win.”

Limoneira has been one of the premier lemon packers and shippers out of California for many years. In June, the company reached a deal to purchase the packinghouse property and equipment of Marlin Ranching Co. in Yuma, AZ. Limoneira is using the packing facilities to wash and pack lemons from the company’s orchards in Arizona as well as citrus from other growers in the region. Limoneira estimates that it will process approximately 500,000 cartons to 600,000 cartons of fresh lemons annually from this facility.

At the time of the deal, President and Chief Executive Officer Harold Edwards stated, “The acquisition of Marlin packing operations is in line with our long-term goal to expand our agribusiness. Along with the expansion of our primary packing facilities in Santa Paula, which is on track to be completed next fiscal year, this acquisition will significantly increase our packing capacity. In addition, we continue to evaluate opportunities to expand our total agribusiness acreage through strategic acquisitions.”

A company spokesperson said that with the many vegetable packingsheds in close proximity to the firm’s Yuma operation, the fall-winter time frame is the perfect opportunity to consolidate a load and check out the efficiencies of combining these fresh produce commodities in one shipment.

Limoneira Co. is a 120-year-old international agribusiness firm headquartered in Santa Paula. In recent years it has grown to become one of the premier integrated agribusinesses in the world with approximately 10,000 acres of rich agricultural lands, real estate properties and water rights in California and Arizona. The company is a leading producer of lemons, avocados, oranges and specialty citrus.