“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented devastation in the floral industry and has also affected our company in many ways,” said Lane DeVries, Owner of Sun Valley, which is #9 on Greenhouse Grower’s 2020 Top 100 Ornamental Growers report with 4 million acres of environmentally controlled production. “These extraordinary conditions have necessitated us to look at ways to find a sustainable path forward.” Team members at the Oxnard facility were notified of the decision on May 13 and have been offered the option for continued employment at Sun Valley’s Arcata location.
DeVries said that many of the crops grown in Oxnard will continue to be grown at the Baja farm, while key crops like Delphinium ‘Waltz,’ Ranunculus ‘Butterfly,’ and others will continue to be grown in Oxnard exclusively for Sun Valley by contract growers.
The Oxnard warehouse will stay in operation as a cross-dock facility for flowers from Arcata, Baja, and other Oxnard contract growers.
“PV Console” will continue operations consolidating flowers from the West Coast for distribution to supermarket chains.
“We believe this decision will help fortify Sun Valley’s focus on core crops like tulips, lilies, and oris grown in Arcata, while enhancing our floral offering with products from Southern California and Baja,” DeVries said. “From the bottom of our hearts, we thank all our team members at the Oxnard location for their dedication to the company for all these years.”