From start to finish, they’re in control. If you have separate growers, separate processors, they may not have the funding to do their own marketing.” One of the linchpins to this vast network is the Dry Ranch pistachio processing facility in Firebaugh, that is managed by Meridian Growers. Built in 2021 by the ATB Growers family group, it was spearheaded by Larry Lowder and Seth Kirk with oversight by John Beaulieu as the plant manager. The 35-acre installation handles all the pistachios produced by ATB Growers and Meridian Growers. It includes a 25,200-square-foot, state-of-the-art processing plant, with an additional 72,000 square feet dedicated to distribution. There is an additional 72,000-square-foot RTE (ready to eat) processing and packaging building. Streamlined processing To appreciate just how sophisticated this set-up is, you have to know how pistachios are processed. “Usually, you would dry pistachios,” Carter says. The nuts are then sorted
send their pistachios elsewhere for this additional processing. Preparing for the future Of course, nothing about these upgrades comes cheap, “which is one of the reasons we were looking for more capital,” Carter explains.
Fortunately, Meridian Growers has found in CB&T a financial partner whose “soup to nuts” portfolio of services complements its own.
Jim Zion, managing partner, Meridian Growers
For about a year now, the bank has handled everything financially involved in exporting the company’s tree nuts, from securing the necessary documentation showing that a buyer has accepted a shipment to actually collecting the money from those sales, Hoffman explains. “Since we are part of Zions Bancorporation, we do have access to an international banking group, so we can facilitate those foreign transactions,” he says. Considering Meridian Growers’ three largest markets are China, Europe and India, this is vital. It’s also just the beginning of what CB&T can do for them, Hoffman continues. “The bank can provide lines of credit, financing,” the list goes on. Planning ahead Additionally, Meridian Growers has branched out into ancillary ventures, including handling the marketing for the Arizona Nut company, as well as a partnership with The Pistachio Factory, which produces butter, paste and flour made from pistachios supplied by Meridian Growers. Meanwhile, the firm continues to navigate the challenges of getting perishable crops to market, navigating export tariffs, ensuring that shipments arrive on time, and securing space on cargo vessels, especially in time for such events as Chinese New Year, when pistachios are widely consumed.
to remove debris and stored in a silo until needed. Once an order is received, “you have to bring the pistachios back out of the silo and sort them again [by size] to get them ready.” To save time, the Meridian Growers facility goes “through the whole sorting [by size] up front, so we know what we have,” she emphasizes. Each size is stored in its own silo. More recently they’ve added new production lines to handle more pistachios, as well as a pasteurizer and a roaster. Still on their wish list? “A sheller to crack out the nuts from the shells for the kernels,” Carter says. By having “the roasting, pasteurizing and shelling in-house, that’s a draw
for growers,” she points out. It also decreases shipping costs for Meridian Growers, which otherwise would have to
“Thankfully,” Carter observes, “we have some smart owners who think ahead.”
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