From the Fields - Joe Colace

By Joe Colace, Imperial County melon and vegetable farmer, packer and shipper

We’ve had a wet winter to date. We’ve probably gotten a little over 2 inches of rain in the new year. Considering our annual rainfall is 3 ½ inches, we’re well ahead of schedule. It has complicated us staying on our planting schedules for the various melons we grow—cantaloupe, honeydew and the variety melons—and the bicolor and white sweet corn. But we are getting those crops planted. Our crops are responding nicely to the mild weather. What we do have planted seems to be on schedule.

On the melon front, we are consistent with where we have been the last couple of years. We have increased sweet corn acreage, and that’s become a primary focus of Five Crowns. We’re owners of GloriAnn Farms, which produces packaged sweet corn that’s already been stripped of the leaves and marketed in a tray pack. That product is provided 52 weeks out of the year, so right now our supplies are coming out of Central Mexico. It remains the primary focus of our company along with the melons. We’re also very involved in the asparagus commodity. We work with growers and packers from South America, Mexico and all the way through the western United States.

The one area that has eased in terms of its complexity is the labor situation. During the pandemic, it was very difficult to have a consistent presence in the labor market for various reasons, mostly health concerns. But that has leveled off, and we now see the return of a consistent labor force for the harvest and cooling in the Imperial Valley. That has relieved us of a real burden that we fought in 2020 through 2022.

We as a family are very optimistic for the future. We are focused on every area, whether it’s variety selection for the highest quality or food safety. What we’ve implemented provides the strongest food safety protections for the consumer.