Cultivation Of Crops: Baja Specialties, An Interview

The crop planners and flower growers here at Sun Valley are movers and shakers--meaning we have the resources and versatility to literally move our crops around. Our diverse farm locations include cool, coastal Arcata, the nearby micro-climate of Willow Creek, the warmer temperatures of Oxnard, the easterly St. Catharine's farm, and the extra-long growing season south of the border, in Baja.

These varied locations allow us to take advantage of the optimal growing conditions for any given crop, so while Northern California dips into shorter days and colder nights, the balmy, long days of Baja continue on. I got together with our Baja Ace, Roberto, to shine the spotlight on our warm-weather crops.

Sunflower field in Baja

First things first--how did you get involved with flowers?

Well, my career began in the 90s when supermarkets started looking for farm-made, retail-ready products. At the time, my own company was buying a huge amount of sunflowers for bouquets, but I was consistently disappointed in the quality. So around eight years ago, I looked to Baja as an excellent location to grow fresh cut sunflowers myself.

red sunflowers black eye sunflowers teddy bear sunflower

(L-R) Black Eye, Red, and Teddy Bear Sunflowers

And how did you end up joining forces with Sun Valley?

Four years ago, Sun Valley was also seeing demand from our current customer base for sunflowers and other warm weather crops, so we paired up! The product types, climate, costs, and seamless transportation allow us to grow and market crops that are very complimentary to traditional Sun Valley offerings. This symbiotic relationship has been built on a deep interest in the science of growing, cold-chain management, and a commitment to quality.

Lane at the Baja farm

Can you tell me a little bit about the farm in Baja and its climate?

One farm (54 acres) is located near Ensenada, 80 miles south of the border. Our other farm is smaller, around 19 acres, and is located at the southern end of the Baja peninsula in Los Cabos.

Both farms enjoy Mediterranean-like weather, with lovely spring and summer seasons that boast daytime temperatures in the mid-70s, and low-60s during the night. Winters, of course, are mild--typically in the mid-60s during the day, and occasionally dipping into the 40s at night. During spring/summer we enjoy nice, long days of 12-13 hours of sunlight, which shortens to 10 hours during the winter.

Stock growing in Baja

Because the southern-situated Los Cabos farm is closer to the equator, it will always have longer days, and warmer weather, which gives us flexibility as the seasons change. For example, our ability to grow flowers in two Baja locations (Southern Cabo for the first half of the year, Northern Ensenada for the second half) allows for a continuity in weather that gives us a consistent supply of high-quality flowers.

Stock closeup

Sunflower is a major crop; what else?

The whole operation did begin as a sunflower farm, but since then we have started growing Snapdragons, Amazon Dianthus, Eryngium, Solidago, Stock, Waxflower, and Eucalyptus. These are used in Sun Pacific's beautifully constructed bouquets, but many are also available as simple bunches.

Waxflower

Pink Snapdragon

Can you explain what the Rainforest Alliance Certification means?

The Rainforest Alliance is a set of guidelines that direct our efforts of running a sustainable farm with respect to people, procedures, and resources (land, water, environment). Eight years ago, we made the decision to embrace those principles as an operational philosophy, and we became certified.

Any exciting things happening in the future?

The market continues to signal to strong demand for our product line, so we will expand in both overall volume and in variety of crops being produced. We will continue to build sunflower-centric, hand-tied mixed bouquets as well as broaden our retail-ready consumer bunch assortments. We are always adding new flower types and for 2016 we are looking forward to Aclepia, Zinnia, Gypsophilia, Tissue Culture Statice and Limonium.

We have an excellent team in Baja, and it's great to have the backbone of Sun Valley behind our efforts, as it really shows in the final product.

Mahogany and Teddy Bear Sunflowers

Thanks Roberto!

...There's nothing quite like having a bouquet of warm, bright sunflowers in your home when it is pouring rain outside. We here at Sun Valley adore the additional colors and floral varieties taht are coming out of Baja, and we know you will too! Disfruta!