About Sun Coast Farms
Sun Coast Farms is a grower-shipper headquartered in Santa Maria, California growing crops in both California and Arizona. Established in 2003, we solely grew commodities for the fresh cut processing industry. Since that time, we have expanded our sales and growing operations to include both retail and food service customers.
As an original signatory to both the California and Arizona Leafy Green agreements, our commitment to food safety is paramount to the crops we grow, process and deliver to our customers. We implement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s) in order to provide the safest and highest quality product possible. All operations are audited by a 3rd party auditors under the Global Food Safety Guidelines in order to ensure our commitment to food safety.
As we have grown, so has our dedication to providing a vertically integrated company with ownership in transportation, cooling, and harvesting.
Growing
We cater our growing programs to the end user. Each field is planned to produce the quality our customer’s expect. For example, with regards to our broccoli program, we cater to both domestic and export customers which require special planning and harvesting techniques.
Annually, Sun Coast Farms grows iceberg lettuce, leaf lettuces, and broccoli. Seasonal crops include cauliflower, green bell, red bell, and jalapeno peppers.
We farm approximately 4,000 acres annually in three major growing regions:
• Late spring and summer crops are grown in the central coast region of California
• Winter crops are grown in California’s Imperial Valley
• Early spring and late fall crops are grown in Yuma, Arizona
To learn more about our food safety program click here.
Harvesting
Smith Packing Inc. is our solely owned Labor and Harvesting Company. Direct management of our labor and harvesting allows us to control the outcome of our daily operations. We maintain strict record keeping for all of our operations which are continually monitored by third party audits.
Fully trained, experienced harvesting crews ensure that procedures and quality are met throughout the year. Sun Coast Farms takes great care in employing its harvesting crews throughout the year to ensure a low turnover rate and maintain the expertise required to deliver quality products to its quality customers.
Sun Coast Farms reigns premier amongst many of its competitors:
• Stainless steel harvesters
• Fully lighted harvesting machines
• 100% positive capture, spray chambers on all lettuce machines
• Food grade romaine belts to minimize bruising
• Specially designed romaine spray chambers cover edged areas
• Locked harvest knives box for accounting and safety
• 100% owned field transportation fleet to minimize field to cooling time
• Special product liners minimize field heat and facilitate cold chain process
• All equipment sanitized and documented daily