We are always interested in purchasing fresh, high quality produce from farmers we don’t currently know. If you are an organic grower interested in developing an ongoing relationship with us, we’d like to hear from you.
Relationships & Communication
We want to establish a strong working relationship with you, whether we buy occasionally or every day of the year. Like any healthy relationship, communication is essential. We consider accurate harvest forecasting, reliable performance and fulfillment of agreements critical. We ask that you keep us updated as information changes, and let us know who else sells your goods; we can’t effectively work for you unless we know where your products are in the marketplace.
Certification
If your operation has organic certification, we’ll need you to send us a copy of your documentation. If you have not received organic certification, we may not be able to carry your produce, or it may limit our purchase volume.
Labeling
As a Certified Organic Handler, we require all wholesale packages, boxes, or bags to be clearly and legibly labeled with:
- The farm, grower or label name and location
- Identity of the contents (variety or product name)
- Quantity (net weight or count per package)
- Certification agency of the grower or packer, if sold as organic
- Country of origin
Pack
Professional packing of product with consistent sizing, grading, and quantity in each box is key. Standard packs exist for just about all produce items, but may vary from region to region. Since we ship over long distances we need to ensure our produce can endure the voyage, and we like to offer our customers the best produce we can find. If you are unsure how to pack your crops, just ask us.
Post-harvest Cooling
Many fruits and vegetables benefit from cooling prior to shipping. For greens, trimming and bunching should be consistent throughout the pack. If you sell bunched roots, bunched greens, bunched green onions, or lettuce, the product must be hydro-cooled. Broccoli and corn must be hydro-cooled and iced on top.
Shipping and Transportation
You can arrange shipment yourself, or we can pick it up. If we pick up, we’ll need access to a loading dock, a pallet jack and/or a forklift, and space for a large truck to turn around.
Paperwork
We want to pay you for your hard work as easily and quickly as possible. To help make that happen, please provide:
- An itemized Bill of Lading (BOL) or invoice with each shipment
- Our VV Purchase Order number, which will be assigned by our buyer in advance of shipment
- Identification of your certification agent on both invoices and BOLs for any product sold as organic