After Bill Bolthouse Sr. moved his farm from Michigan to the Central Valley for the ideal, year-round harvesting conditions, Bolthouse Farms grew to become one of the world’s pre-eminent suppliers of fresh-cut carrots, one of the many products that Bakersfield’s abundant landscape provides.
Copy Points
• Bolthouse Farms
is a fourth generation family
farm that began commercial
farming in Michigan in 1915.
• Today, Bolthouse Farms is one of the world’s largest suppliers of fresh cut carrots.
• Bill Bolthouse Sr. was the “Henry Ford” of carrots.
• Bill had a vision
in the 1960s, as chain grocers
were developing their scope
and reach into American
lives. He believed if you
could supply carrots year
round, you could market
better to those chain stores
and deliver a higher quality
product to consumers.
• Bill began traveling the country: Texas, Florida, Georgia, California, Arizona, looking for a place to grow carrots year round. At the time, Bolthouse Farms was already the largest carrot shipper in the U.S.
• He moved the operation to Bakersfield in 1972, essentially “betting the farm” that Bakersfield and the SoCal region would be the most ideal environment to grow carrots year round. At the time, it was considered a huge risk.
• The cut-and-peel mini carrot (invented in 1992) is a direct result of year round harvesting and has revolutionized the carrot industry in the U.S.
• Between their fields in Bakersfield, Lancaster and San Diego, Bolthouse Farms is able to harvest every day, and therefore has no inventory of stored carrots.
• Year-round harvesting also creates year-round jobs and a high-quality labor pool.
• It’s not hard
to recruit highly-educated
people to Bakersfield. Bolthouse
just hired a Marketing Director
who was previously at E.
& J. Gallo Winery. Living
in Bakersfield gives you
90% of the California lifestyle
for about 70 percent of
the cost.
