Pacific Coast Trading Company Expands with New Organic Onion Partnership in Mexico

Pacific Coast Trading Company’s new plot of organic onions in Baja, California, bridges the growing season gap, allowing the company to offer organic onions year-round.

The more than 400-acre piece of land, located on the central Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula of Mexico, sprouted after 10 years of work by father-and-son team Elias and Gabriel Berry. Elias is credited as the founder and developer of this growing region, which now holds more than 5,000 acres of fertile, agricultural land. Enrique Rubio serves as the operation’s CEO.

Enrique Rubio, Gabriel Berry, Brad Sumner, and Elias Berry

While brussels sprouts, strawberries, and other crops grow prolifically in this valley, onions are the focus of this partnership with Pacific Coast Trading Company. Pacific Coast Trading Company was initially established as a subsidiary of Pacific Coast Fruit Company. Pacific Coast Fruit began in 1977 and grew into one of the largest independent conventional and organic produce distributors in the Pacific Northwest.

The Pacific Coast Trading Company subsidiary spun off of Pacific Coast Fruit in spring 2022 in order to "invest in specialized employees and strategically placed warehouses, to increase its buying power and to help distribute a vast variety of produce from both large and small growers,” according to the company’s press release.

Brad Sumner, Category Sales Manager, Pacific Coast Trading Company

Brad Sumner is the category sales manager for conventional and organic onions at Pacific Coast Trading Company. Sumner has added the assortment of red, yellow, and white organic onions from Mexico to his portfolio of onion suppliers in Washington, Idaho, and the Antelope Valley of California with whom he has partnered for decades.

After 30 years in the onion industry, this new plot in Mexico represents the “final piece in a year-round plan” to supply customers with high-quality onions. Both unpredictable weather patterns and supply chain interruptions prompted Pacific Coast Trading to shift to a model with more opportunity to influence strategy, marketing, and overall direction, said Sumner.

Pacific Coast Trading Company onions

“In order to make sure our customers get a consistent flow of supply, we knew we needed to [build a relationship] more to the actual grower who is growing things for us,” he said.

“In order to make sure our customers get a consistent flow of supply, we knew we needed to [build a relationship] more to the actual grower who is growing things for us.” - Brad Sumner

“This is the first very significant onion growing field we have put together. We’re developing direct relationships with growers who have product in the dirt. Getting to the dirt is really important,” Sumner said. “[This program] allows me to fill my supply chain and get my teammates more onions consistently.”

The project began with an idea proposed at a trade show in summer 2022, only a few months into Pacific Coast Trading Company’s independent existence. The idea paired a proven distribution company with a prolific agriculture operation in Mexico interested in growing organic onions for the first time.

Organic yellow onions in a row

Sumner credits the Berry family with their vision for Baja Onion and for scouting the temperate coastal mesa of El Rosario where the plot is now planted, as well as for their significant investments in brand-new, state-of-the-art infrastructure, including those approved for certified organic operations.

“[Elias and Gabriel Berry] should be applauded for what they’ve done,” Sumner said. “It’s a lot more work to farm organic onions and keep them organic.”

“This is the first very significant onion growing field we have put together. [This program] allows me to fill my supply chain and get my teammates more onions consistently.” - Brad Sumner

El Rosario, the oldest permanent settlement in Baja, offers a cool and breezy climate, with temperatures still conducive to growing into the early fall. While mainland growers in Mexico must stop growing crops like onions by summer, Sumner estimates the Baja plot will be harvested until October. This extended season helps Sumner provide a useful overlap at the beginning and end of his US partners’ growing seasons.

Pacific Coast Trading's Baja onion partnership is exclusive, which means Sumner enjoys a nearly guaranteed source of onions and can provide full oversight of harvesting, packing, and deliveries.

“When I tell my customers I’ve got this coming to you, I am much more confident in what I am sending. It’s a full service I can provide.” Sumner said. “We can offer six-month pricing, three-month pricing, and be able to present a price for that time frame because we know we have the product behind us.”

Sumner plans an expansion into other alliums at the El Rosario plot, including organic shallots and garlic as well as varieties of sweet onions. Ideas to develop future, full-service plots for commodities like squash or potatoes may be on the horizon.

“It’s a lot more work to farm organic onions and keep them organic.” - Brad Sumner

By mid-June, Sumner watched the first loads of Baja Onions leave the fields, only 10 months after the project’s initial proposal.

“I am over the moon. It’s late, but hard work has paid off,” Sumner said. “With the relationships Pacific Coast Trading Company already has with our onion growers in California, Washington, and Idaho, our future looks great.”