Posts Tagged “Stanley Farms”
Generations Farms LLC, a grower, shipper of onions in Vidalia, GA has been purchased by Optimum Agriculture. The buyout includes nearly 5,600 acres of land and packing/processing facilities.
The Vidalia, Ga., area operation is the former Stanley Farms, which began growing Vidalia onions in 1975, although R.T. Stanley began farming in 1964. It became Generation Farms in 2016 when it was purchased and merged with carrot company Coggins Farm, Lake Park.
Short term plans for the new owners is to ramp up production of onions and other items, according to a news release.
Optimum Agriculture, described as a global agricultural company focused on land acquisition and management, plans to continue to use the Generation Farms brand name on the onions, watermelon and other produce grown and marketed by the company.
Optimum ICD Holdings LLC is the new owner of the Generation Farms properties, trademark and land, which includes acreage in Tattnall and Toombs counties in Georgia. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed, according to the release.
The new owners plan to increase production at Generation Farms, naming onions, watermelons, sweet potatoes, green beans, cabbage and sweet corn in the release.
“This acquisition is part of a long-term plan to maximize operational efficiencies by diversifying weather and harvest risks across states,” Gaston Marquevich, CEO of Optimum Agriculture, said in the release. “Our short-term objective is to increase the utilization of the facilities by increasing production and to deliver a constant supply of food to retailers throughout the year.”
Optimum plans to continue all current operations at Generation Farms, along with supplying previous customers. Marquevich welcomed Generation Farms’ employees to the company in the release.
Optimum ICD Holdings has two other U.S. properties, the El Maximo Ranch in Osceola County, Fla., and the Alico Pond Island Grove, a 1,364-acre property with citrus in the same county. Optimum’s U.S. office is in Miami.
In June, Grimmway Farms purchased the Lake Park, Ga., and northern Florida operations of Generation Farms. Those properties were not involved in the Optimum Agriculture sale.
Stanley Farms of Vidalia, GA has been placed on one year’s probation by the Georgia Department of Agriculture because it improperly stored other yellow onions at its Vidalia facility. However, it has been cleared by the GDA of accusations that it packed non-Vidalia onions in Vidalia-branded bags.
No evidence was found during its five-week investigation that non-Vidalias were on the packing equipment at Stanley Farms’ facility in Vidalia, Ga., when Vidalia onions were being packed.
“What we did find was improper storage of organic yellow onions in a Vidalia (onion) packing facility,” said Gary Black, GDA commissioner. “We promptly responded with a hold on those onions until all inventory could be traced and accounted for, preventing the onions from entering the retail fresh market.”
The department required Stanley Farms to move 285 field bins of non-Vidalia onions to another facility where they were held under seal. Black said Stanley Farms and members of the Stanley family fully complied with all of the department’s directions and requests during the investigation.
Commissioner Black said the department and the grower-shipper signed a consent agreement that includes a one-year probationary period. If another infraction of the same kind is found during that year, the operation could lose its Vidalia onion license, he said.
Vidalia onions – grossing about $3000 to Chicago; $3300 to New York City.