Interview with Roberto Gomez, Learn about Sun Valley Baja.

Interview with Roberto Gomez, Learn about Sun Valley Baja.

Baja Roberto Gomez Sunflowers Super Nova Eryngium.

Oh, down in Mexico
I never really been so I don't really know
Oh, Mexico
I guess I'll have to go 
           -James Taylor

Sunflowers!

We have a beautiful Sunflower crop coming to harvest at our farms in Baja, Mexico.  This south of the boarder endeavor is a relatively new enterprise for Sun Valley and is spearheaded by Roberto Gomez.  Roberto has been farming sunflowers in Baja for about seven years and has been directly involved in the floral industry for most of his life. He started growing his own Sunflowers in Baja for a very specific need.  His bouquet company, Pacifica Farms, was buying in a huge amount of sunflowers for bouquets and consumer bunches.  Roberto was consistently disappointed with the quality he was getting from other sunflower growers.

Black Eye, Teddy Bear and Pro-Cut Red Sunflowers.

He found that other growers did not have solid “Cold Chain Management” systems in place and that their growing styles didn’t lead to a consistent crop. Consistency is one of the keys to a successful flower growing or selling operation, this seems like a no brainer but there was a hole in the market for consistent, high quality, floral grade sunflowers.

Sunflowers in the ground.

In the classic entrepreneurial model, Roberto headed down to Baja to grow the best available sunflowers himself.  The benefits of controlling the production process and maintaining superior cold chain management led to a very successful endeavor, and ironically this success led to Roberto and Sun Valley building a relationship based on growing techniques and sales opportunities.

Sunflowers growing in Baja, Mexico.

In 2012 Roberto, who had been one of our best customers, and Sun Valley partnered to work together. We have combined our resources to bring sunflowers and a host of other warm weather crops to market. Our relationship has been built on a deep interest in the science of growing and a commitment to quality.

Lane DeVries among the Sunflowers.

I sat down with Roberto the other day top find out the skinny on our Baja farms.

Lily: There are two plots of land in Baja, where are they and how big are they?

Roberto: One is near Ensenada about 80 miles south of the boarder, this farm is 54 acres. The other is much smaller, located at the end of the Baja peninsula in Los Cabos, it is 19 acres.

Roberto, third from left, with some of the Sun Valley Sales Team.

Lily: What are the major crops?

Roberto: This whole operation is envisioned as a Sunflower farm, however, we are also growing (or planning on growing) a lot of the flowers that compliment sunflowers, such as wax flower, stock, snapdragons, liatris, strawflower, statice and dianthus.

Lily: What about Eryngium?

Roberto: I am very excited about our eryngium program; we moved the eryngium production from Sun Valley Oxnard to Baja to take advantage of the longer growing season. I was also able to establish our farm as the only farm in North America licensed to grow the beautiful Super Nova eryngium.  We are developing this crop as we speak and production levels should start to sky rocket. As a flower grower at heart, it is great to be with Sun Valley and have the resources and space to move crops from northern California to southern California, or to Baja. This way we take advantage of the optimal growing conditions for a given crop, and the results are awesome.

Iris, Eryngium, Bella Donna Delphinium and Salal bouquet

Lily: What’s the climate like?

Roberto: Both the farms are located in unique micro-climates; the climate is similar to San Diego.  The farm in Los Cabos is absolutely beautiful; it can be a challenge to work down there, just due to the stunning geography, the gorgeous weather and the temptation to sip a cervesa and enjoy the view.

Lily: One reason Sun Valley was excited to partner with you is your environmental standards, what’s the story?

Roberto: I am very proud that both these farms are Rainforest Alliance Certified.  These are the only Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in all of Mexico.  For me it is all about respect, respect for people and respect for the land.  I believe respect is not reactive, respect is proactive.  This is the way I run my business and the way I raise my family.

A honey bee has a taste...

Lily: I know you visit these farms nearly every week, in the media a lot of attention focused on the drug cartels and the violence around the boarder. How do you deal with this?

Roberto:  It’s one of those situations where “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  I have a system, I drive down in my old pick-up truck, I stay with a family friend I have known for years and I usually eat at the same restaurant.  I have my routine, and it seems to work. So far so good.

Lily: What’s the future hold?

Roberto: I’m excited about the future. We have a great team of employees; many of them have worked on the farm for years and have come up through the ranks.  This leads to a lot of loyalty and strong institutional knowledge, which in turn leads to a smoother operation and a higher quality product.  Controlling the production and post-production side of the farm has been great, and being able to send our trucks directly to the Sun Valley Oxnard facility is a perfect system to maintain the optimum cold chain. My office is now at the Oxnard Farm, so it’s fun to really be a part of the Sun Valley team.

The other point is that demand for the flowers we are growing in Baja is rising, so our efforts will continue to grow.  It is great to have the backbone of Sun Valley behind our Baja efforts, and it shows in the final product.

 

Just Picked Sunflowers.

Lily: When can I come visit the farms?

Roberto:  (Laughing) Anytime, come down to Oxnard, we will leave on Wednesday afternoon, and be back Friday night.

Lily: Can we stop at a good surf spot or a nice beach resort…

Roberto: Not a chance.

Here is our current crop calendar for Sun Valley Baja.

What Happens in Miami...

What Happens in Miami...

IFE Jon Bon Jovi Miami Beach Pro-Cut Red Sunflowers Super Nova Eryngium. Teddy Bear Sunflowers

The Sun Valley team is just back from the International Floriculture Exposition (IFE) in Miami Beach, Florida.  This show is a great opportunity to mingle with other industry people, see what our friends and competitors are up to and see how the other half live. Arcata, California is about as far as you can get from Miami Beach, both geographically, weather-wise and ideologically. While Arcata is fuzzy sweaters in June and gray, foggy clouds; Miami is string bikinis and the Miami Heat.

Our 2013 Booth at IFE

One of the best lessons to be learned in Miami is which of our products are people buzzing about?  I see beautiful flowers all day long, and I am fairly spoiled by seeing first hand all the cool stuff happening on the farm.  It is a great exercise to take a solid collection of all our products, arrange them beautifully, then sit back and watch which items our customer’s gravitate towards.  Even after all these years, the Starfighter Oriental Lily still gets a huge draw and our stunning Rose Lilieswere constantly being admired and photographed.

Rose Lilies and driftwood

 People also like to learn what is “new”.  Industry wide Sun Valley is know for the highest quality lilies, huge soil grown tulips and our elegant Telstar iris. At a show, our customers usually want to see what’s new, because with Lane and the rest of our growers, there is always something fresh and innovative in ground or in the cooler.

Cotinus, aka "Smoke Bush", in a Sun Pacific Seasonal Surge Bouquet

This IFE show was a coming out party for our Baja Sunflowers and stunning Eryngium. We pride ourselves on the great CAGrownproducts we produce on our three California farms; however, we also now have two properties in Baja, Mexico, one in Encinidas and one in Los Cabos. These two farms are dedicated to growing sunflowers, eryngium and other crops that highlight sunflowers. Our farms in the USA are certified sustainable by Veriflora, and the two farms in Baja are Rainforest Alliance Certified.  Rainforest Alliance Certification takes a strong commitment to environmental and social responsibility, and this is reflected in the fact that ours are the only two Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in all of Mexico.

Pro-Cut Red Sunflowers

At the IFE show, people were excited to see the new collection of Sunflowers, especially the Pro-Cut Red and the Teddy Bearvarieties.  The Pro-Cut Red looks like it was dyed a deep chocolaty maroon, yet, it’s not dyed.  It has been bred to highlight a beautiful color palette, which redefines the idea of what a sunflower is.  Then there were the Teddy Bears.  This is a really cool sunflower that seems to ebb and flow in its popularity.  From the response we saw in Miami it looks like it will be flowing this year, people couldn’t help themselves as they touched and rubbed the soft, yellow blooms. Expect to see Teddy Bears popping up all over the industry, from consumer bunches to bouquet focals.

Teddy Bears!

Surrounding the suns were some tall vases of our eryngium.  This is not just any eryngium but a big, bold variety called “Super Nova.”  We have the exclusive right to grow “Super Nova” in North America. As I pretended to be a fly on the wall, I heard over and over again floral people saying, 

“Is this eryngium?  I’ve only seen it much smaller, wow, that is big.”

An iris and eryngium bouquet by Sun Pacific Bouquet

Outside the convention hall, the most fun to be had was on the 50^th floor of the Viceroy Hotel on a rooftop dance floor, at a lavish party thrown byTemkin, Chrysal, CH Robinson  and the Produce News.  Booming Latin jazz, a stunning view and a game seven World Championship win by the Miami Heat made this a night to remember.  As the night rolled into morning, some of the more animated guests shared some of their funniest stories.

 

Pieter Landman, with a shiny head from bumping on the dance floor, recounted a tale of his run in with the band Bon Jovi in Japan at the peak of their popularity in the early 1990s.  He went into his hotel bar asked the bartender why there were police barricades and swarms of teenagers trying to jump the barricade and make it into the hotel.  The bartender pointed to the four long haired guys drinking heavily at the bar.  Ever the fashionista, Pieter just had to engage the band and he had just had one question for the band, 

“You guys… why is your hair so long?”

With a look at Jon’s current hair style, it can’t help but make me wonder in Pieter’s question didn’t rattle around in Jon’s subconscious for years.  

Before and after Jon Bon Jovi met Pieter Landman. Nice scarf!

The music at the party transformed from Latin jazz to hip hop, and suddenly Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” blasted across Downtown Miami.  Truly a great anthem for the flower industry, but that was my cue to grab my fellow Sun Valley teammates and make a break for it. The Miami Heat game had been just a few blocks away; we ducked our heads through police barricades and roaming crowds of revelers somehow getting back across the bridge to Miami Beach. 

 

The IFE show is a lot of hard work and expense, but it pays off by actually getting to sit down with our customers and our friends, which in Sun Valley’s case are one and the same. 

See you next year in New Orleans!