Last month, FreshPlaza visited a Driscoll’s berry farm in Watsonville, CA as part of a field tour organized by the Organic Produce Summit. Although California is Driscoll’s main berry growing region, the company works with berry growers in 37 countries around to globe to be close to its markets. “We have an independent grower model,” says tour host Parker Weiss, Applied Research & Agronomy manager with Driscoll’s. “We do the research, breeding, own the nurseries and produce the roots. However, we don’t grow any fruit. That’s the responsibility of the growers we work with. They grow the fruit, give it back to Driscoll’s and we market it,” he shared.
Parker Weiss with Driscoll's and John Eiskamp, grower for Driscoll's.
Trial with container farming
The farm that was visited in Watsonville is a 62-acre test farm for growing raspberries and blackberries in containers. “On this trial farm, we work with four independent growers,” Weiss said. Driscoll’s leases the land and provides it to the four growers. Although growing berries in containers is very common for Driscoll’s in other parts of the world, it is new to the company’s California operations. In fact, this is one of the last regions for Driscoll’s to test container farming. “This is our first year of substrate production and all berries on the trial farm are conventionally grown.” Next year, the company will start with organic trials.
Labor drives shift to containers
The shift to container farming is driven by the limited availability of labor in California, as well as the significant increase in labor costs. “Container production allows us to pull plants out of the cooler and move into the field at a consistent rate,” shared Weiss. It helps in staggering the production curve. “We need more steady labor as with the current labor shortage, it is no longer possible to cover peaks.”
In addition to the lack of workers, the significant labor expense plays a role. “With minimum hourly wages going up to $15/hour, it was time to start looking for alternatives,” said Weiss. “The rules for overtime will also change and as a result, growers will soon have to pay overtime when laborers work more than 40 hours per week. Given that many laborers work 50 hours per week during harvest time, this results in a significant cost increase.
Container farming also helps with saving water. Although no official numbers are available yet, in some cases it saves up to 40 percent of water.
Raspberries grown in containers
Investment held back trials
John Eiskamp, grower for Driscoll’s, has been interested in container farming since 2008 and traveled to Europe at the time to learn more about it. “The reason we waited so long with trialing container farming in California is the expense,” Eiskamp admitted. “We have to invest about $40,000 to $60,000 per acre upfront,” he continued. The return on investment will be a number of years. On this trial farm, Driscoll’s makes the initial capital investment and the four growers lease back based on a depreciation schedule.
Contact:
Frances Dillard
Driscoll's