Select retailers across the U.S. will be joining with Naturipe starting in May to help the venerable berry grower celebrate its centennial.
Naturipe kicked off the domestic growing season with the introduction of a special-edition 100-year label that will appear on all Naturipe products this year. Besides retail outreach, Naturipe is planning a number of appreciation events at various trade shows throughout the year, says Kyla Oberman, director of marketing for Naturipe Farms LLC.
It all started in 1917 when some central California growers formed a marketing cooperative called the Central California Berry Grower Association and marketed their strawberries using the Naturipe trademark. Today, the company actually is made up of four entities:
> Hortifrut SA, Chile, formed in 1983 as a major exporter of fresh berries planted throughout the world. Hortifrut offers counter-season production in Central America and South America;
> MBG Marketing (Michigan Blueberry Growers), The Blueberry People, a grower-owned cooperative formed in 1936 whose more than 300 members grow berries in Indiana, Georgia, Florida, British Columbia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina and the Pacific Northwest;
> Naturipe Berry Growers, a progeny of the Central California Berry Grower Association that grows conventional and organic strawberries, raspberries and blackberries; and
> Munger Cos. of Delano, Calif., a third-generation family grower based in California's San Joaquin Valley and the single largest source of fresh blueberries on the West Coast.
The Naturipe Farms partnership was formed in 2000 between Hortifrut SA and MBG Marketing. Naturipe Berry Growers joined in 2002, and Munger Cos. became the fourth partner in 2009.