Steve Machell
of Gulf CoastProduce, Inc.
- Fresh Florida
strawberries – perfectly chilled and
delicious
 |
Steve Machell of Gulf Coast Produce says his operation is struggling
to keep up with customers' demands for strawberries.
|
2010 has barely started and it’s already been a challenge to
Plant
City strawberry growers, including one of
FFVA’s newest members of its board of directors. Steve Machell,
sales manager at Gulf Coast Produce, was slammed by the January freeze.
And he feels bad for the customers he serves.
“The freeze was rough on us. We’re running 50 percent
less than we were running last year. Our friends, like the buyers at
Publix, understand, and they’ve been great about promoting the
berries but they’re not really happy,” said Machell.
“We usually have a lot of berries at this time of year, but not
now. We have orders to fill and we just don’t have the
fruit.”
Gulf
Coast Produce is
owned by Joe Goodson, Wayne Moss and until his recent passing, Eddie
Jones. Jones’ son-in-law, Joey Gude, is doing the farming now.
“He had been farming with Eddie for the past 10 years, so it was a
natural,” Machell said. Aiming to control their own destinies, the
three started the business in 2000. They handled their own sales and
cooling versus using brokers, Machell said.
Machell is also a grower. He and Goodson own GoodMach Growers, which
farms berries on about 70 acres. “We also have some outside
growers, so altogether Gulf Coast Produce grows berries on 650
acres.” The company also grows about 300 acres of cantaloupe in
the spring and some grape tomatoes.
Over the years, Gulf Coast has expanded its cooling
capacity so that today the facility has four large coolers. Today
they’re a little bare after the freeze. “Since we added a
couple of pre-coolers two years ago, our quality has improved enormously
in the pre-cooling portion of what we do,” said Machell. “We
just added another cooler on the far end, so we can cool the product
more quickly now than ever before. We have everything racked. And
we’re Primus-certified for food safety.”
FRIENDS AND PARTNERS, NOT BUYERS AND SELLERS
 |
Over the years, Gulf Coast has expanded its cooling
capacity so that today the facility has four large coolers.
|
Machell calls his customers friends. He says it makes a difference in
challenging times. “We need to think of each other as friends or
partners and work together to address any problems. If we don’t,
especially at times like this, we could become enemies very quickly. We
don’t want to do that,” Machell said.
Publix, Winn-Dixie, Albertsons and other chain stores in the eastern
part of the country and Canada are Gulf Coast’s primary customers.
They also partner with International Paper for the cardboard they need
to make their boxes.
DEALING WITH ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
In addition to Mother Nature, strawberry growers and shippers have
other challenges such water usage and ensuring they have an adequate,
legal workforce. They work with the Florida Strawberry Growers
Association on many issues, including the fallout from heavy watering of
plants to protect them during January’s freezing temperatures.
“I think Ted Campbell (president of the Strawberry Growers
Association) has been doing a good job addressing the problems
we’ve had with sinkholes and dry wells in the area,” said
Machell. “And Swiftmud (the Southwest Florida Water Management
District) has some good ideas to help us prevent those things from
happening again. This is a work in progress rather than the result of
rash decisions. Swiftmud put a task force together, and I think
we’ll end up with some good, reasonable solutions.”
Machell said those reasonable solutions are necessary since the
strawberry business is important to the nearby communities.
“People who help us with labor, equipment, fertilizers,
chemicals – it’s their livelihood as well. So I think the
way to address these issues to tackle them together with the people who
are affected.”
TRANSPLANTED NEW-ENGLANDER
Machell grew up in Vermont and attended the University of
Vermont, where he
was a member of the prestigious agriculture fraternity Alpha Gamma Rho.
He relocated to Florida with his parents, who owned a
1,200-cow dairy farm for many years. His path turned to strawberries,
however, when he met his wife, Sandra Goodson. He spent 12 years in the
Balm area selling for Goodson Farms, Inc. before coming to Gulf Coast
Produce.
Machell puts in some long hours on the job, but of course,
there’s more to life than work. Family is important to him. He and
his youngest son, Tyler, share a passion for Go-Kart racing. Trophies
with Tyler’s name on them decorate
Machell’s desk. “It’s good family time. We spend a lot
of time racing in the off-season,” he said. Machell’s oldest
son, Justin, works as the manager of Highland Corporation’s Label
Division in Mulberry. Oldest daughter, Sarah, is very involved in church
activities and works in the retail field.
Gulf Coast
Produce markets its berries under the “Gulf
Sweet” brand. With a little help from Mother Nature, supplies
should increase soon and you’ll find plenty of 1- and 2-pound
clamshell packages in your local produce section.