Home Grown: Between the farm and the table

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - In Tuesday’s Home Grown report, after fields are harvested, the crops are processed in order to make it from the farm to your table.

Ever wonder how grocery stores and restaurants have a year-round supply of your favorite produce, regardless of the season?

It’s all done through a process called transition.

“As a sourced-based processor we move our plants to follow the sun,” said Green Gate Fresh Manufacturing Manager, Avelino Fernandez.

About three weeks ago, 70 trucks of equipment and supplies moved from Salinas to Yuma, to begin winter vegetable season.

“It takes us about 75 hours when we tear down a facility which we did just recently, to starting the plant back up again," said Fernandez.

Green Gate Fresh processes leafy greens like romaine, iceberg, broccoli, celery, cauliflower, spring mix, and kale.

“From field, they harvest, we receive loads that get weighed and get placed into a cooling tube, and then we stage it at the lines, we have three cutters out there and a tender leaf wash line,” said Fernandez.

Green Gate Fresh has 300 employees and operates six days per week.

“In a week we process about 3.2 million pounds of commodities that we feed the world,” said Fernandez.

So if you spot massive convoys of trucks on Yuma roads, you may be seeing this in action.