By Christine Johnson, Chair, Young Farmers and Ranchers
The Young Farmers and Ranchers group had the pleasure of touring the Pandol Cold Storage in early August. You might recognize the Pandol brand if you shop in grocery stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, Sprouts, or Albertsons. Their signature grape varieties, such as Sugar Crunch and Sweet Celebration, are recognized all over the world. Located near Delano on the Porterville/Famoso Highway, the facility is impressive. Spanning an area of over 30 acres, the campus includes a modern cold storage/packing facility and a state-of-the-art office building. I was amazed that our group could receive such an exclusive, personal tour.
We specifically planned the tour for the middle of summer, when we could enjoy the cooler temperatures inside chilly storage rooms. It was definitely a relief from the heat!
Approximately 23 people showed up. Our tour guide was Luis Katsurayama, Director of Post-Harvest Operations. He began with a safety talk before we all set out toward the packing entrance, wearing safety vests. Even on a Saturday, truck drivers were loading and unloading, with forklifts whizzing about trying to keep up with the enormous amount of inventory. Grapes were picked and packed by crews directly in the fields.
Did you know that within a span of two hours, a grape is picked from a surrounding vineyard and trucked to the storage facility? Within another 45 minutes, boxes are received, given a unique digital ID, carefully wrapped into pallets, and sent to a pre-cool room, where a delicate process of temperature transition takes place. This is where the magic happens. The grapes are slowly “put to sleep” for 3.5 hours in the precool room. With the help of a forced air heat exchange system, sulfur dioxide is applied to kill any fungus. Luis explained that the optimal temperature for keeping the glucose levels stable is 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pallets are then inspected a second time to verify packing variety and whisked away to a cold storage room. The typical storage time is six days before the grapes head to their final grocery store destination by truck or train. As I mentioned, the facility is huge. There are six pre-cool rooms and 10 cold storage rooms. At the time of our tour, the inventory was 260,000 boxes of grapes. The capacity of the facility is 967,000 boxes. That’s a lot of grapes!
Our tour wrapped up in the packing room, where an assembly line was waiting for product. The entire room was certified to organic standards and could accommodate blueberries, which are another Pandol product. Afterward, we had a quick YF&R meeting back at the office break area. Some of the guys cooked up delicious carne asada for lunch, and our group was able to hang out for a while. The tour would not have been complete without a taste test! Lunch included a variety of green and red grapes, which of course tasted amazing.
Thank you to siblings Stephanie and Matt Pandol III, who coordinated the tour and allowed us to experience behind the scenes at such a fascinating operation. This was definitely one of our most popular tours, and I believe everyone could sense the hospitality and kindness of our hosts.
If you are between the ages of 18-35 and interested in agriculture, we hope to see you at our next event. Stay updated through our email newsletter or social media. Our 2024 activities are wrapping up, and soon we will have elections for next year’s officer positions. Let me know if you’re interested in getting more involved! We love to see new faces and hope that this group can continue to provide hands-on agriculture education for young professionals in Kern County.
Email: KernYFR@KernCFB.com
Instagram: @Kern_YFR
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