Leading international fresh fruit supplier Sunkist Growers is entering into a partnership with an Indian River citrus grower-shipper.
Come Autumn, Sunkist intends to market citrus grown by Greene River Marketing under its own label, the majority of it through Greene River, in a move to expand its supply eastward.
Greene River currently packs for 20 growers and works withthree other Vero Beach packhouses–Riverfront Packing, Leroy Smith and Oslo Citrus Growers Association.
These companies' combined packing capacity is reckoned to be approximately 3m cartons annually.
According to Sunkist, Greene River's grapefruit deal is central to the agreement, given that it produces a year-round supply.
Other varieties and grades of fruit will be packed through the Sunkist Choice or Pure Gold brands.
“We are excited about the expansion of our grapefruit program to Florida,” said Sunkist vice-president of sales and marketing Kevin Fiori.
“In addition to our growers’ California and Arizona programs, we feel fortunate to have such high-quality associations with Lone Star Produce in Texas and now GRM in Florida.”
Greene River president Patrick Rodgers said he waslooking forward to working with Sunkist: “Both organisations bring great strengths to each other and I see tremendous potential in both the domestic and export markets.'
