Four Seasons Helps Promote Longer Local Organic Deal

With the potential for a few hardy organic row crops produced locally to last until early November, Jonathan Steffy, vice president and general manager of Four Seasons Produce Inc., Ephrata, PA, said regional producers did a very good job this year with production lasting a bit longer than usual.

Jonathan Steffy, vice president and general manager, Four Seasons Produce Inc.

“It was a pretty good summer for the local organic deals, “Steffy said, noting Four Seasons sourced a significant amount of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and other mixed vegetables with the local organic tomato crop leading the way. 

“We had a very nice local (organic) lettuce deal and Lady Moon Farms with its home operation in Pennsylvania always does a great job,” he said.  “We also source a good amount of product from the Conservative Mennonite and Amish farmers in Pennsylvania.”

Lady Moon Farms tomatoes

Four Seasons is a full-service wholesale produce distributor supplying organic, local and conventional fresh produce and related products to organic markets, food co-ops, independent retailers, chain stores, juice bars and other operations in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.  Included in the mix are organic dairy products, which Steffy said the Amish and Mennonite farmers produce on their typically small but well-diversified farms.  “They especially like the higher organic milk prices they can get,” he said.

While Four Seasons does source from its West Coast suppliers throughout the year, Steffy said the summer season does allow the company to support the local organic farmers.  He said the continued increase in the popularity of organic production can also be seen in the local deals.  These farmers are only in the deal for a short time and maximizing returns by producing a higher priced item such as organic fruits, vegetables and dairy makes economic sense.

Of course, pest pressure, caused by hot and muggy growing conditions, does impact what a grower can produce organically.  For example, Steffy said there are very few organic apples in any of the apple districts in the firm’s marketing region.  He said the high humidity makes it very difficult to grow that item successfully.  “Any organic apples grown out here tend to be used for apple sauce or cider, not the fresh market,” he said.

Amish Farmer in Pennyslyvania

The apple example is a great one that illustrates Four Seasons’ buying philosophy.  The firm supports local growers, but quality always come first.  As far as organic apples are concerned, Steffy said the company sources mostly from Washington with New Zealand also having a robust crop and, at this time of year, California also offering a limited number of organic new crop apples.

Like most wholesalers operating in the organic space, Four Seasons has seen its sales of organic produce increase significantly over the past several years.  Steffy believes there is still a lot of room for growth.  “We still see a lot of growth potential and opportunities,” he said.

Organic kale sold by Four Seasons Produce

The growth, however, needs to be planned well in advance.  When large scale organic production was rare, a grower could call and reveal that he had an organic crop ready to harvest for Four Seasons could buy and sell.  “Those days are over,” Steffy said. “Organic sales are still increasing, but we need to plan for growth now.”

Four Seasons has been a pioneer in the organic sector as the company launched its initial certified organic produce program more than two decades ago in 1996. While the days of big gains in the category from retailers adding an organics department are over because virtually everyone has gotten into the game, he does see retail organic produce sections continue to be expanded. 

Retailers that started with a few items are expanding and offering their customers more organic options. And Steffy sees more opportunities for organic produce to be marketed and promoted as supplies increase.