Challenges
In addition to crop price declines, consumption of canned fruits – PCP’s primary product –and retail sales were dropping primarily due to misperceptions regarding the nutritional value and packaging of these products. PCP was seeking to boost its marketing efforts, a core competency of the organization, through a strategic campaign to educate consumers on the benefits of consuming canned fruits, as well as its other produce products. Yet, in light of other downward financial pressures facing the industry such as increasingly severe natural disasters, rising input costs, boosted competition from cheaper foreign imports, and residual COVID-19 impacts, additional funding streams were needed to support these critical marketing and education efforts.
Solutions
Morrison advised the cooperative to apply to multiple grant programs and assisted in developing projects that both meaningfully advance PCP’s marketing goals and strongly align with the specific grant program’s priorities to ensure maximum competitiveness. With Morrison’s help, PCP applied for the following grant programs to boost its marketing and production capacity: Value-Added Producer Grant, which supports marketing and processing costs for new value-added products and grants priority points to cooperatives such as PCP; California Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and the Oregon Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, which funds marketing and education projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops grown in the respective state through; and Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grant, which supports acquiring of food processing equipment and infrastructure for the production of value-added products.
Successes
PCP was successfully awarded a total of $4.86 million in grant funds for the following Morrison-supported proposals: three Value-Added Producer Grants; two California Specialty Crop Block Grants; one Oregon Specialty Crop Block Grant; and one Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grant. Grant funding has supported highly successful educational and marketing campaigns of various PCP products and crops; processing and distribution costs related to making these products; and cutting-edge fruit processing equipment to ensure the sustainable processing and efficiency of PCP’s processing operations.
About the client
Pacific Coast Producers (PCP) is a non-profit farmer owned cooperative founded in 1971 committed to growing, processing, and supplying the finest shelf-stable processed and canned fruit products. Crops grown and processed by PCP grower-owners – from family farms located in California – include apricots, peaches, pears, apples, grapes, cherries, and tomatoes. PCP’s processing facilities serve over 350 growers by processing and packaging produce that is nationally distributed into retail, foodservice, and industrial markets.
