Spanish horticultural leader Planasa continues its global expansion with the acquisition of California-based strawberry nursery, NorCal Nursery.
This deal builds upon Planasa’s rapid expansion into multiple global geographies, and adds to Planasa’s existing strawberry nursery in California – Planasa California, which the company established in 2011. Together, the combined sales volumes from Planasa’s existing nursery and the NorCal nursery make Planasa the holder of the largest strawberry nursery in the U.S., Planasa President Alexandre Pierron-Darbonne told Fresh Fruit Portal.
Situated in Red Bluff, California, NorCal is a family-owned business with more than 85 years experience in the fresh fruit industry. The operation, which is run by the Sakuma brothers, produces over two hundred million public and proprietary strawberry plants per year for both domestic and international customers. The company also produces nursery plants certified raspberry and tissue cultured caneberry plants, according to the company website. Today the company has achieved a level of vertical integration that includes plant propagation, small fruit research, commercial nursery operations and sales, small fruit processing, a farm market retail operation, and ag-tourism.
“NorCal is an historic company which has a very good team, and good materials. Our idea is to modernize it and help it to grow in the market,” Pierron-Darbonne told Fresh Fruit Portal. “There were a lot of big companies but using somewhat outdated technology, and we have introduced the best technologies for plant production and really improved the quality of the plants that are sold in the market. Thanks to this we have had very significant growth in the market.”
Gathering No Moss
This deal for NorCal is the most recent transaction in a flurry of activity for Planasa. In 2014, the company developed and commercialized Safari and Sahara, two new extra early strawberry varieties designed for success in Mediterranean and subtropical climates.
“Its earliness is extreme because it can be harvested in November,” Pierron-Darbonne told Fresh Plaza. “What’s really exclusive is that it can be grown in subtropical climate. We did it this way because, unlike our competitors in Florida, our farms are in southern Mexico.”
In 2015 Planasa went on to acquire Morocco’s Maamora Prim, a grower-packer-exporter of stonefruits, strawberries, and asparagus with 650 hectares in the province of Kenitra. The acquisition made Planasa well-positioned to capitalize upon the growing demand for strawberries plants in Morocco and for strawberries and asparagus across Europe.
“Planasa will develop and modernise [sic] the production processes and facilities of asparagus at Maamora complementing its current production in France, thereby enabling it to supply its European clients with asparagus as early as January,” said the company.
More recently, Planasa announced the acquisition of a stake in China’s Yunnan Meiming Agricultural Co. in February of this year. Under the terms of the deal, Planasa will supply working capital and expertise to Meiming to advance raspberry production in the country. However, Meiming will remain controlled by the Dabilly family – it French founders, reports Fruit Net.
The project will begin with 10 hectares of Planasa’s Adelita raspberries under cultivation and this acreage is set to triple within two years.
“Our arrival in China will allow us to produce premium quality raspberries for the local market and neighbouring [sic] countries and will be focused on Adelita, one of the most innovative varieties on the market,” said Pierron-Darbonne.
Furthermore, the company also recently established a new subsidiary in the Netherlands in a move to gain a greater presence in the northern European market, according to Fresh Fruit Portal. The project in the Netherlands adds to the company’s existing operations in Spain, France, Germany, Poland Chile, Mexico, the U.S., and Morocco.
-Lynda Kiernan
Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com
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