Continuing its ahead movement into yr two of recent possession and administration, Snake River Produce, based mostly in Nyssa, OR, carried out quite a lot of adjustments over the previous 12 months.
General Manager Joshua Frederick famous, “We have made some changes on the farm with more acreage added by a couple of our growers along with some different varieties added to the early program which started the week of Aug. 7.”
In personnel, Frederick mentioned he maintains his function as GM for the operation and in addition works gross sales.
“As we go into the 2023 season, every employee we had for 2022 is returning other than a very few — and that’s because they have either retired or are working for family now and/or found different jobs,” Frederick mentioned.
“Kyle Erstrom, who has been with SRP for more than six years, will start a new role this season as a sales associate/new accounts and will continue to handle farm relations with growers. Kyle will also be assistant manager over farm and harvest along with shed and drivers for SRP,” Frederick mentioned.
SRP payroll/accounting/bookkeeping has been dealt with by Tawni Maxwell, and this season Maxwell will proceed in that capability in addition to taking the function of workplace supervisor.
Stephanie Barnes, who for the previous 12 years had labored with Maxwell within the monetary workplace, has turn out to be gross sales assistant and can deal with buyer relations and new accounts.
And 13-year veteran SRP workforce member Marisela Romero has stepped into the function of HR director and transport supervisor. Food security and assistant cropland auditing is being dealt with by Brenda Trujillo, who will even work in HR with Romero.
In the shed, Gordo Lopez, a 20-plus yr SRP veteran, is assistant basic supervisor.
Frederick commented on his first yr, saying, “It was an awesome season in additional methods than one for Snake River Produce. To begin, I got here in with a bullseye on my again and massive sneakers to fill with the retirement of Kay Riley in 2022. Being new to the realm, I additionally needed to earn the belief of the prevailing growers that develop for SRP in addition to the belief of our staff after I turned their new supervisor.
“With that said, the season was also challenged for the first time in its 23-year history by not contracting onions exclusively as it had done at times during previous years.”
Changes since 2022 have been important, however they’re consistent with the custom of high quality assurance and dedication to full service which were hallmarks of SRP since its founding in 1999.
SRP house owners Kevin Corn and Chris Payne had been members of the corporate’s proprietor group since 2015 previous to assuming full possession final yr, and the 2 introduced in Frederick as GM.
Before it was SRP, the operation was a part of Muir-Roberts headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT. In 1999 a bunch of Idaho-E. Oregon growers purchased the corporate. Kay Riley, who had labored for Muir-Roberts on the Nyssa, OR, facility, was SRP proprietor/GM, a position he held till his retirement in 2022.
SRP’s historical past ebook had new building pages written in recent years. During Snowmageddon of 2017-18 the operation misplaced its packingshed and warehouse, and in 2018 a brand new 30,000-square foot warehouse/workplace facility and a 32,000-square foot climate-controlled storage have been erected.
Additional warehouse upgrades have additionally been made because the 2022 season. “We started working with Volm Cos. of Idaho Falls in replacing equipment,” Frederick mentioned. The new tools contains two 25-ton Holaras toppers with Wyma conveyance and JDC mud extraction, “We are also putting in a Sinclair labeling machine for stickering our onions into bag, cartons and RPC,” he added.
Frederick added, “We have Global Gap for our food safety program for the shed and some of our farms, and we are currently installing Famous software for our program.”
Another change up to now yr got here with Snake River Produce packing extra for retail in 2022, and Frederick mentioned the corporate is “slowly making the transition to offer more consumer packed items for our customers in the next couple of years.”
He added, “We will be small for a while on consumer packs but will be providing what we can with the equipment we already have in place until we complete a consumer pack program hopefully within the next few years.”
Of course foodservice stays very important for SRP, and Frederick mentioned, “We have increased the volume with our foodservice customers as well. With more volume this season expected, we have also increased our storages.”
The 2022-23 season, Frederick mentioned, noticed “a great steady market in my opinion, and the demand was incredible out of the gate and throughout most of the season with a decline toward the end as new areas started early around March.”
The early begin and market slowdown “didn’t stop us,” Frederick mentioned. “We plowed forward with one goal in mind, and that was to continue to provide first-class customer service and quality. With great growers we are able to maintain that, and that goal will never change for SRP. I would much rather explain the price than apologize for the quality.”
Like every other yr, 2022 had its challenges, and Frederick mentioned, “I would have to say rail was our biggest issue, including delayed cars for orders needing to ship and equipment issues in transit. But we are putting that behind us and learning from it, correcting the issues at hand and moving forward.”
Frederick mentioned, “We also made a change and went exclusively with Murray Trinity Logistics out of Austin, TX, to handle 100 percent of logistics for SRP.”
Describing the planting and rising seasons of final season, when climate situations have been brutal to Idaho-E. Oregon, Frederick mentioned, “The most significant impact of 2022 were the yields and quality in the Treasure Valley. SRP was honestly blessed by having a very decent crop and yields last season, but we also had some fields we had to market in other ways due to quality. However, with our growers working as a team, we all made that happen and overcame some of the challenges others around us also faced.”
He went on to say, “Labor, fuel, utilities, interest rates, lease ground and packaging have increased and continue to increase — and you ask yourself, ‘When will it ever end or settle?’” Frederick mentioned, “Maybe a new election coming up and or a major crisis will be the key factor of that ever happening. Who knows?”
Company longevity, he mentioned, is not any secret but it surely does take perseverance. “To continue to grow and stay in business, you adjust and adapt, it boils down to raising the cost of goods whether in the grocery store or restaurant.”
Frederick mentioned, “For a grower to survive and continue to grow, we must maintain the market needed in order to make that happen. We all should work together instead of working against each other.”
He mentioned in August, “The most pressing thing I see for 2023 is determining what true yields are harvested and put in storage and then hopefully having a steady demand all around. Mother Nature can change the game in a matter of one storm, so I never get ahead of myself on speculating what our markets will be. But for a grower’s sake — along with all of us — with major costs and expenses, I pray the market is one that will allow us to continue to offer the finest onions grown!”
Photo: GM Joshua Frederick dubbed this group “the best crew in the Valley.” Arturo Diaz, Manuel Rodriguez, Juan Solano, Melecio (Gordo) Lopez, Raul Gonzales, Bill Stout, John Looney and Kyle Erstrom. Photo courtesy of Snake River Produce
