Church Brothers Farms' Jeff Church Discusses Salinas to Yuma Transition

YUMA, AZ - Church Brothers Farms’ transition from Salinas, California, to Yuma, Arizona, is underway. I connected with Jeff Church, Chief Operating Officer, to hear how crops are looking as the new season kicks off.

“The majority of what we grow goes down to the desert through April. Broccoli and cauliflower are still here in Salinas, but they, too, will transition down in a few weeks. Celery is the only commodity that doesn’t go to Yuma; we do our winter growing in Oxnard,” Jeff began telling me.

He relayed that there has been plenty of rain both in Salinas and Yuma, which affects everything in terms of both quality and weight. However, Church Brothers anticipates improvements in December.

“We’ve had quite a bit of rain both here and in the desert, so the start of the Yuma has been slowed down as a result. We don’t expect yields to be at budget until December,” Jeff continued.

Church Brothers expects to see the Thanksgiving pull continue through the end of this week, with good demand on most categories.

For more transition updates like this, stick with ANUK.