Sunsweet Growers Incorporated is an American
agricultural marketing cooperative
An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity.
A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperativ ...
founded in 1917 as the California Prune and Apricot Growers Association. Sunsweet is headquartered in
Yuba City, California
Yuba City (Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistic ...
, USA. The company operates the largest
dried fruit
Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to th ...
plant in the world.
Products
Sunsweet manufactures a variety of dried fruit and juice products, although it is best known for prunes. The company produces and distributes prunes,
prune juice
Prune juice is a fruit juice derived from prunes (dried plums) that have been rehydrated. It is a mass-produced product that is often produced using a hot extraction method, and juice concentrate is typically produced using a low-temperature ext ...
, cranberries, apricots, nectarines, pineapples, mangoes and dates. Other recent Sunsweet products include Ones (individually wrapped prunes), Jumbo Red Raisins (from large red flame Chilean grapes), PlumSweets (chocolate-covered prunes), PlumSmart plum juice, and Specialty mangoes, blueberries, cherries, and berry blends.
Prune market domination
The company controls more than two-thirds (2/3) of the prune market worldwide.
United States
Forty thousand (40,000) cases of fruit are marked and sealed for distribution daily at the factory headquarters while its juice products are bottled in
Fleetwood, Pennsylvania
Fleetwood, also called ''Schlegelschteddel'' in Pennsylvania Dutch, is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The population was 4,085 at the 2010 census. It was home to the Fleetwood Metal Body company, an automobile coachbuilder purchased ...
.
[
Over half the growers in California belong to Sunsweet.
]
Chile and France
In Santa Cruz, Chile, in 2004 after the two consecutive years of crop disaster 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 ...
, Sunsweet completed a prune drying facility where it made plans to grow and process the dried fruit in an attempt to avert any future disaster says. The entire U.S. exports about 48% of prunes worldwide while the two major competitors, Chile produces 13% (partially due to the Sunsweet facility and growing) and France only about 12%.
References
External links
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Yuba City, California
Agricultural cooperatives in the United States
Agricultural marketing cooperatives
Agriculture in California
Companies based in Sutter County, California
American companies established in 1917
Food and drink companies established in 1917