The Packer
By Bob McClure, Eastern Editor
May 31, 2004
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - One of the nation’s top producers of avocados hopes to expand its retail and wholesale market share with the installation of a new, faster packing line.
Brooks Tropicals Inc., Homestead, Florida, has invested about $1 million in the new packing equipment that is expected to cut down on bruised and cut fruit while allowing for more accurate special orders.
Installation of the equipment is expected to be complete by June 1 and online June 15.
Chief executive officer Craig Wheeling said the biggest feature was the line’s soft touch, which features a half-inch of foam rubber at the dumpsite.
"It’s so soft, our designer said you can sleep on it and be comfortable," Wheeling said. "The pitch has been lowered and the foam increased, which we think will give us better fruit."
Wheeling said damaged or cut fruit on the previous line was about 5%.
"That’s a good amount of fruit," Wheeling said. "This will take care of the problem."
In addition to the soft touch at the dumpsite, the new line will include two new sizers that will sort fruit 30-size and larger.
"We designed our own cup so we could accommodate medium size and larger sizes for chain stores and wholesalers," Wheeling said.
The new equipment fit into the same area as the previous line and uses the existing electrical system. The conversion was supervised by Billy Pritchett, vice president of packing operations at Brooks Tropicals, and Al Whitworth, president of Agri Machinery Inc., Orlando, Fla.
Agri Machinery helped design and manufacture the line with assistance from Global Chains & Sprockets, Quebec, Canada, which manufactured the custom cups for the sizers.
"This will help to keep cost down to our growers and customers, as well as provide more accurate sizes," Wheeling said.
Brooks Tropicals represents about 300 avocado growers and expects to ship about 1.1 million 55-pound bushels of avocados in 2004-05. Next spring it plans to harvest its first crop of the new alpha variety, which will give Brooks a 12-month supply.
The alpha variety follows in the footsteps of the company’s most recent success story, the SlimCado avocado, which touts 30% to 50% less fat than the leading California hass avocado.
Company officials said the alpha, which will be available during the March-May window, is a better tasting variety, close to a hass, in the medium to large size range.
Meanwhile, Brooks’ year-round sales of Belize-grown papayas are continuing to skyrocket with about a 50% increase per year over the last eight years. Bill Brindle, vice president of sales management, said 2004 sales of the larger Caribbean red variety would be about 7.5 million pounds and the smaller Caribbean sunrise would be about 5 million pounds.
Brooks is also the nation’s top supplier of carambola (star fruit), which is grown on Pine Island near Fort Myers, Fla., and Homestead. Carambola sales are projected at about 1 million pounds or 142,850 7-pound flats for 2004.
In addition, the company is a supplier of mangoes, coconuts, hot peppers, sugar cane, plantain, ginger, key limes, limes, yuca, malanga, yams, chayote, calabaza and boniato.
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