Growers Express

Harvesting and Packing

Harvesting is the last step that is done in the field. Once our growers determine that the plants are at their optimal growth for harvest, they inform the harvest managers. These managers work closely with the sales team to determine fulfillment of upcoming orders. When crops are ready to harvest they have about a 3-4 day window before they could be damaged or past their optimal harvest quality point.

Commercial harvesting is done by a combination of machines and harvest crews consisting of about 10-30 people per crew. These crews start working at the break of day, preparing the equipment and conducting a pre-harvest food safety and quality assessment. the harvest managers keep a close eye on the crops in the days leading up to the harvest to ensure that weather conditions, insects, and nutrient control are all in balance. If any of these factors occur in the final days prior to harvest, it could have significant adverse affects on an entire crop. These harvest managers are well-trained and specialize in each crop, knowing when the exact time to cut the plant is to maximize the plant's nutritional content and quality.

Depending on the crop, crews walk behind the slow moving machines and carefully inspect each item for size, color, and quality before cutting. The crops are trimmed, cleaned or directly packed into cartons and loaded onto a truck. This is a manual process with the help of machines to facilitate the assembly line of crews packing. The field trucks are loaded with the pallets and quickly transported to the coolers where they are cooled, stored and shipped to your local grocery market. Harvesting practices and proper trimming and cleaning techniques can have dramatic impacts on the ultimate appearance, shelf life and consistency of the finished product.