Rebounding from last season: Sinaloa/West Mexico to play a crucial role for Divine Flavor’s North American Produce Supply in 2025
Nogales, AZ- Vertically integrated grower-shipper, Divine Flavor, is gearing up for an important time of the year for its Mexican veg programs. For the company who sources all year round, Sinaloa and Sonora serve as the brand’s breadbasket to grow and sell its core fruits and vegetables to North American markets when it’s needed most.
“As we approach the later part of winter and early spring, Divine Flavor’s main veg commodities such as our colored bell peppers, mini peppers, each of our tomato varieties, and cucumbers will be in full production and this is a great opportunity for our customers to fulfill their produce needs,” says Carlos Bon of Divine Flavor.
“Mexico, specifically Sinaloa and Sonora, plays a crucial role for the U.S. and Canada’s food supply during this time of the year as other growing regions in California and Florida, as well as Canada are more dormant. Although we expect Sinaloa to thrive this year, Sonora will be a key during the season to help us transition better into our summer programs.”
Clarisa Batiz, Veg Category Manager at Divine Flavor added that Sinaloa has started on a productive note and there’s plenty of supplies on tomatoes and bell peppers, creating plenty of opportunity to promote for the coming weeks. Looking ahead, Sonora promises to highly compliment the Western Mexico season.
“There is an abundance of volume from Sinaloa which is hitting the market,” says Batiz. “This will be a great opportunity for certain promotions. Looking ahead, Sonora’s upcoming months appear just as promising, especially as we close out the West Mexico season and transition to our summer programs.”
For the 2024 Mexican season, the growing region was characterized by mixed results as climate impacts such as colder weather, Category 5 hurricane Otiz, and several drought issues caused production loss of nearly 30-40% for some producers on the western front.
However, and despite a difficult season being impacted by a variety of circumstances last year, Mexican-based growers remain resilient, and they are already seeing a better outlook for 2025. Ernesto Urtusuastegui of Hortifresh Greenhouses, Divine Flavor’s main bell pepper and mini pepper grower out of Culiacan, mentions the season is heading in the right direction and expects the Sinaloa to rebound and continue being one of Mexico’s most important growing territories.
“Last year, key growing territories of Mexico were severally affected by an abnormal phenomenon that had an impact on a lot of farm production for growers here,” says Urtusuastegui.
“Thankfully, weather has been much better to start off the year, the quality and sizing of our bell peppers have been fantastic, and I believe Sinaloa will be back on track to supplying U.S. and Canadian customers the way it’s supposed to.”
“Sinaloa has always been a key region of Mexico for producing colored bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. Right now, we need to focus on being productive and do what we do best which is grow exceptional quality bell peppers for Divine Flavor and its customers and get back to the reputation this state is known for.”
Carlos Arellano, Director of Viva Orgánica, Divine Flavor’s organic tomato and cucumber producer in Culiacan, explains the season is also going well for them and production and volume is good. He mentions that Sinaloa is important for their company because it’s a time of the year where Mexican produce is most needed and how it aligns with theirs and Divine Flavor’s commercial strategy.
“Sinaloa is a strategic state for its vegetable programs due to its extended production season which connects with other important growing regions in Mexico, but also due to supplying the market during the cooler months for the U.S. and Canada,” says Arellano.
“We grow product in Sinaloa because it is a prominent area to produce fruits and vegetables, and for our commercial partner, Divine Flavor, they require reliable growers who can fulfill their production needs at this time of the year. Over the last several decades, Sinaloa has proven to be very successful, and this has given us (Viva Orgánica and other Divine Flavor grower partners) the ability to expand to other areas to help compliment the West Mexico season. We established our greenhouses in Baja to better help transition our year-round offerings to bridge production gaps between when Sinaloa starts and finishes.”
Speaking about the recent news surrounding possible U.S. tariff increases, Arellano concluded by mentioning Viva Orgánica is not worried about these current issues and their priorities are set more on the growing aspects of their operation and commercial relationships.
“Regarding the talks of increased tariffs, it’s important for producers to not get caught up in the moment, rather, work with its business partners to provide solutions and adapt to the everchanging landscape of our industry,” says Arellano.
“Change will always be part of this business, and it is very important to adopt and keep focusing on what is in our control. As we are a key partner grower to Divine Flavor and due to our integrated relationship, we are prepared for most challenges thrown our way.”
Bon mentions that sometimes these matters (referring to increased tariffs) are out of the producers’ hands, and he reiterated why it is important for growers to be cost efficient and watch spending.
“Let’s hope tariffs don’t increase because ultimately this will make things more expensive for everyone in the supply chain,” says Bon.
“This will obviously be a disadvantage for the growers because these additional costs would force us to sell at a more expensive price, ultimately causing disruptions in demand due to costs rising for the customer. We’re optimistic these proposals won’t happen, and we can continue business as usual.”
Whether increased tariffs go through or not, Divine Flavor, alongside its grower alliances in Sinaloa/Sonora, prepare for a much more consistent and productive season. The company is already shipping majority of their popular veg items and as the early days of spring approach, they expect to pick up in production and increase volume starting from early-March through May when the distributor normally transitions to Baja and Central Mexico.
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For more information, please contact:
Michael DuPuis
Public Relations Coordinator
+1 (520)-281-8328
mdupuis@divineflavor.com
