ABBOTSFORD, BC - Resiliency. You must have it to succeed in the produce industry, especially as a grower. For Randhawa Farms, known for its Perpetual Vegetable Co. brand, it has been a pivotal differentiating factor that has taken the family operation from humble beginnings to partners with Oppy.
“There are so many different businesses and structures, and now you see a lot of hedge funds involved in finance and greenhouse, but we’re not one of those companies. We don’t have investors; it's a purely family-owned farm business. It’s been our family running things from one acre to a hundred acres today,” says Vijay Randhawa, Business Director, with pride. “I was nine years old when we first built our greenhouse, and we would mix fertilizer by hand because we didn’t have motorized agitators in our fertilizer tanks. We didn't have forklifts; we didn't have five-ton trucks. We would deliver our peppers in a pickup truck and take five loads daily. So, I think that makes us a little different—our whole family worked together to build the company one acre at a time.”
Vijay’s father, Kan, immigrated to Canada from India in the late 1970s. He started as a farm worker before purchasing his own land to build the greenhouse operation they have today. In 2013, the grower partnered with Oppy, and in 2019, the pair began building the company’s brand using the positioning line, “Life grows on.”
For Randhawa Farms and its Perpetual Vegetable Co. brand, its products are a continuous life cycle, growing vital energy for their community's people. The process goes beyond simply producing cucumbers and peppers and is almost spiritual in the connection between people and the earth.
This deep connection also extends to the company’s workforce, which is more like an extension of the family than employees.
“People aren't a number to us; we like to keep a family feel. So people have a sense of security when working with us. They deal with all of us like brothers daily,” Vijay explains. “Because it's a smaller company, we try to do things to make work more fun, and we like to keep the kid alive in ourselves. We want a nice, peaceful, lighthearted environment with happy people.”
Part of this stems from Randhawa Farms’ recruiting process, which brings people from countries where they face challenges, danger, and poverty to an environment where they can embrace their passion for produce.
“Our main principle is to hire people who have a connection to plants, because that’s where the majority of their efforts go,” adds Vijay. “We have great success finding them in farming communities—our team members are hard workers with green thumbs and calloused hands.”
From Randhawa Farms’ first acre to its one-hundredth, resiliency has shaped the business and workforce. This quality is not only key in produce, but in partnerships as well. For buyers, Perpetual Vegetable Co. products are not just a symbol of quality but of dedication to the plant, the people, and the planet. In other words, you can’t go wrong teaming up with this proudly family-owned operation.
