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History
In the early part of the 20th century many of the hills in the Arroyo Grande area and much of the coastal hills between Avila Beach and Pismo Beach were farmed by Japanese families who planted bush peas each spring. Some of the farms extended to the very edge of the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
In 1922 the pea growers of the Pismo Beach area banded together to form Pismo Pea Growers Association with George Fukunaga as its manager. The assembly of the association provided the growers with a centralized marketing capability. Soon after the formation in 1925, the growers in the Arroyo Grande area followed suit forming the Arroyo Grande Pea Growers Association.
It was with the merger of these two organizations that Pismo Oceano Vegetable Exchange (P.O.V.E.), as it is know today, was organized as a nonprofit cooperative. The first manager of P.O.V.E. was the younger brother of George Fukunaga, Bob Fukunaga. As a Hawaiian born and educated individual, Bob was proficient in both English and Japanese. The fact that he was a U.S. citizen was important at the time because there existed a California state law titled the Alien Land Law (enacted in 1913, but declared unconstitutional in 1952) that prohibited all U.S. aliens of Asian origin to own or lease any land. U.S. citizens like George and Bob Fukunaga helped lease the land for the Japanese families to farm.
Company website: http://www.pove.net
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Production
As a growing and shipping company, production begins when the seed or seedlingly is planted into the ground. Once the plant reaches maturity, the product is packed by hand or in some cases, packed using an off-ground packing machine. After the product is placed in boxes, trailers transport the vegetables to the POVE facility to consolidate until shipping.
Food safety is another concern and focus when considering vegetable production. Pismo Oceano Vegetable Exchange activiley take place in food safety testing through the use of PrimusLabs, which offers a third party audit for testing that covers industry established guidelines for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).
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Pismo Oceano Vegetable Exchange
PO Box 368
Oceano, CA 93475
Sales: (805) 489.5770
Shipping: (805) 489.6517
Accounting: (805) 473.4930
Email: jesse@pove.net
Commodities Supplied by
Pismo Oceano Vegetable Exchange
Sales Contacts:
Jesse Perez
Sales Manager
Email
phone (805) 489.5770/fax (805) 489.7058
Dennis Belden
Sales
Email
phone (805) 489.5770/fax (805) 489.7058
Joe Stewart
Sales
Email
phone (805) 489.5770/fax (805) 489.7058
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