Calavo Growers, Inc. () is an international consumer goods and farm products company. The company packages, and distributes

avocados The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for i ...

and other fruits, as well as their fresh prepared food to restaurants, stores, and individual customers worldwide. While the company is based in

Santa Paula, California Santa Paula (Spanish for " St. Paula") is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amid the orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World". Santa Pau ...

, avocado production is cultivated throughout the state of California, as well as Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. Calavo Growers was established in 1924 as an agricultural cooperative and was instrumental in launching the California avocado industry. The company operates its business through three divisions including Fresh Products, Calavo Foods and Renaissance Food Group (RFG). The company has been listed on the America's Best Small Company list by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

''.

History

Calavo Growers, Inc. was founded on January 21, 1924, as the California Avocado Growers' Exchange. Due to overwhelming interest in the avocado, many California growers had planted avocado seeds that had originated in Mexico. Although slow to mature, by 1923 those avocado trees were producing a large enough crop to be marketed. The problem was the lack of a marketing outlet. The founders studied grower cooperatives that were doing well at the time such as the California Fruit Growers Exchange and adopted features that would work best for the avocado industry. In the first year, the California Avocado Growers Exchange packed the 18,000 lbs. of fruit that launched the California avocado industry. Shortly after, the growers exchange adopted the name Calavo as a brand. This was the result of a naming contest in which multiple entries were submitted combining the words "California" and "avocado". Calavo quickly became the brand name of high quality avocados. In the early 1930s, the cooperative increased its offerings to include limes, coconuts, kiwis, mangos and persimmons. Papayas were added in the late 1940s. The California Avocado Advisory board was created in 1961, Calavo played a key role in its creation and development. The purpose was to market the California avocado industry as a whole and not just the avocado growers in the cooperative. Today it is known as the California Avocado Commission. After 78 years as a growers cooperative, Calavo members voted to take the company public. In 2002, Calavo Growers Inc. was designated the ticker symbol CVGW on the NASDAQ National Market System. The seats on the company's board of directors were filled mainly with longtime avocado growers, and that remains so today.

Products

Calavo Growers markets fresh avocados grown in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Additionally, it distributes other fruit products such as tomatoes, pineapples and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

an produced

papayas The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus ''Carica'' of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and C ...

. Operations in Mexico, pack and ship fresh avocados from their 50,000 sq. ft. packinghouse while a second 90,000 sq.ft. facility prepares and packages fresh avocado products such as guacamole. Their products are distributed throughout the U.S. to retailers and foodservice operations nationwide, as well as Canada, Europe and Asia.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Agriculture companies of the United States Agriculture in California Companies based in Ventura County, California Santa Paula, California History of Ventura County, California American companies established in 1924 Food and drink companies established in 1924 1924 establishments in California Companies listed on the Nasdaq

History

Products

See also

References

External links