Production Information
Suntreat Harvest
As a commercial packing and marketing company, Suntreat handles fruit for approximately 150 growers on over 9,000 acres, and supplies millions of cartons of fruit. As one of the largest packers in the industry, Suntreat packs over 2,000 acres of citrus from Griffith Farms and contracts with the other growers, representing the additional 7,000 acres.
Suntreat markets Navels, Valencias, Summer Navels (Australian late navel varieties), and Lemons, as well as specialty citrus varieties such as Mandarins, Cara Caras, Minneolas, Melogolds, Blood Oranges, Pummelos, and Oroblanco grapefruit hybrid. Navels are harvested and sold in the export and domestic markets from late October through early May. Summer Navels are marketed during May through early July, and Valencias are marketed from April through September.
Over the years, Suntreat has developed and maintained a packing and marketing relationship with growers of high quality fruit, whose groves are strategically located from southern Kern County to Fresno County in the north. These grower relationships allow strategic marketing of the sweetest, best quality fruit throughout the year. Weather-related harvest problems are avoided by having a selection of groves in a wide range of locations. Because there are multiple varieties grafted on many different rootstocks and planted in different soil types, Suntreat assures that the best fruit is available throughout the year.
Suntreat Packing
The Suntreat packing facility is state-of-the-art, with ongoing equipment upgrades. As fruit is received at the packing plant, a barcode on each bin of fruit is scanned into the computer system. This allows the fruit to be tracked precisely through the packing process until a grower code is printed on each packed carton. This system traces fruit back to the specific grove, with 100% traceability.
Suntreat operates with state-of-the-art packing equipment in each of the packing plants, including new Autoline and MAF electronic blemish graders. These automated machines allow more accuracy in the grading process, resulting in praise from buyers, because of a more consistent grade of the final product. Suntreat's modern packing equipment enables bagging, reusable plastic containers (RPCs), Euro cartons, 1/2 cartons, 1/3 consumer packs, and other pack styles for those buyers who require this packaging, adding value to sales.
Suntreat has three packing facilities, with the newest packing house used specifically for Specialty Citrus varieties. This facility which opened in October 2008 will utilize the latest technology available and will coordinate with the other packing houses to ensure efficiency while achieving the highest quality and food safety standards available. All of these processes have been tied together with a new computer operating system, giving faster access to pack results and and an improved reporting format that enables better harvest, pack and market decisions.
Suntreat Marketing
Suntreat marketing is done in-house, with the sales office located at the packing house. This helps ensure that the sales department knows exactly what fruit is being packed, and most importantly, the quality at any given time. Buyers also have the advantage of being able to see their fruit being packed with the sales staff there, on-site, to answer any questions. This is the service, quality and integrity that is offered to Suntreat's customers.
Suntreat exports approximately 30-40% of the total volume of navels, a large percentage relative to California standards. Suntreat navels are exported primarily to Korea, Japan, Australia and China. Suntreat's Valencias are exported primarily to Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.
Suntreat developed the U.S. market for the Australian late navel varieties due to Griffith Farms' aggressive development of Lane's Late in the mid 1980s and other late varieties in the early 1990s. The Suntreat Summer Navel is the preferred late navel in both the domestic and export markets.
Suntreat supplies citrus to the major retailers throughout the United States and Canada. This includes the large chain stores, as well as independent grocers and other domestic buyers. From 500 cartons to 500,000 cartons, Suntreat is able to adjust to the individual needs of each buyer, based on volume, variety, grade and packaging. The same applies to their commitment to changing consumer preferences and supplying the optimum taste, appearance and convenience for the buyer in the store. With high quality, large volume and selection of different citrus varieties, Suntreat has worked hard to earn and maintain the reputation as a leader in the citrus industry.
