North Carolina fills niche for Northampton
- by Tim Linden | June 03, 2020
Founded in 1959, Northampton Growers Produce was created to meet the needs on the East Coast. It soon became one of the largest fresh produce growers, packers and shippers on Virginia’s eastern shore.
In the early 1990s, it began expanding its growing profile to other regions in an effort to be a year-round shipper, according to Calvert Cullen, president and co-owner of the operation. “I think our first year in Florida was 1992 and that was about the same for North Carolina,” he said.
Today, the company has growing operations in Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina, with its headquarters still in Cheriton, VA. Its lineup of crops includes peppers, squash, beans, cabbage, greens, cucumbers, eggplant and sweet corn. North Carolina participates with beans, squash, cabbage and sweet corn with summer and fall deals, depending upon the commodity. Cullen told The Produce News that this year’s summer production should get underway around May 25 with cabbage. Green beans and squash will start around June 1 and the sweet corn deal should kick off close to July 1.
Cullen said he and his partner, Steve McCready, are hopeful that the North Carolina deal will hit about the time the country is opening up from the COVID-19 crisis and sales will be good. He admitted that the pandemic has resulted in the loss of some business and the necessity to discard some production in Florida.
“We are a very diversified company with good sales to retail, foodservice and wholesalers,” he said. “It hurt losing the foodservice business. Retail purchases have increased, but not enough to make up for all of the decrease at foodservice.”
Cullen said that when the pandemic hit, the company did not have the advanced warning necessary to alter its Georgia and Florida production schedules. “We did cut back a little bit in North Carolina but that was due to weather, not the coronavirus.”
Like other grower-shippers around the country, Cullen said it has been difficult to adjust to the buying habits of retailers. He has experienced the same situation as others in that the phone will ring off the hook one week and be silent the next. “It’s hard to get a feel for the business you are going to have.”
He noted when speaking to The Produce News a few days before Mother’s Day, that sales were up that week significantly. “I can’t explain it. All the restaurants are still closed but sales have been good.”
As far as the company is concerned, Cullen said the firm is streamlining as much as it can and altering its picking schedule to produce for retail rather than foodservice customers. He said that they are harvesting their fields more often to produce more No. 1 product with the smaller sizes that retailers want. Foodservice typically takes larger sizes. “We keep our heads down and keep going,” he quipped.
The company has curtailed extra expenses, putting projects on hold and cutting back where it can, including on non-essential travel. However, in the essential travel category are trips to the various growing regions to kick-off the season. “We are unique in that we still travel with the crops. You’ve got to see what you are trying to sell,” he said, adding that he will head to North Carolina sometime in late-June to get a first hand look at this year’s output.
