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  • December 2022
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Mission Produce in 2022

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:30
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Abstract

Founded by CEO Steve Barnard in 1983, California-based Mission Produce was a leading supplier of Hass avocados with a global sourcing, marketing, and distribution network and $892 million in 2021 sales. Barnard had been influential in the global avocado trade’s transformation in recent decades. For instance, Mission’s use of ethylene gas ripening for avocados had allowed it to supply consistently ripe avocados to the U.S. market for the first time. Moreover, Mission had established an early presence in key avocado-growing countries, including Mexico and Peru, as they were on the cusp of gaining access to the U.S. and other key import markets. Barnard believed Mission’s scale, global presence, value-added offerings, and vertically integrated model gave it many advantages in the maturing avocado market. Yet, he recognized the challenges Mission would face in the years to come. In its supply network, these included political instability, declining cost advantages, and the high cost of land in California. Perhaps most of all, water scarcity and cost were mounting concerns with no obvious fix.
Mission recently entered the mango category, which, in the U.S., shared notable traits with the 1990s avocados market: mangos were a relatively minor U.S. product that many consumers did not know how to prepare, and their ripeness was variable at retail. Like avocados, mangos could be ripened with ethylene gas in destination markets, but they were more easily damaged during handling and had a shorter shelf life post-harvest.
Some observers speculated (though Barnard disagreed) that the avocado market had passed its peak. Still, Barnard believed Mission could continue expanding by leveraging its top-tier service to customers, consistency of fruit quality and supply, and continued diversification of supply and sales. Would avocados remain a desirable business over the long term? What could Mission do to improve its competitive position, reduce risk, and promote demand? Should Mission try to transform the mango category as it had avocados?

Keywords

Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; California; Peru; Guatemala; Colombia; Mexico; Chile

Citation

Reinhardt, Forest, Jose B. Alvarez, and Natalie Kindred. "Mission Produce in 2022." Harvard Business School Case 723-026, December 2022.
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About The Author

Forest L. Reinhardt

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

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    Methane Abatement Costs in the Oil and Gas Industry: Survey and Synthesis

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    Barilla: Feeding the Future

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    U.S. and Global Agriculture: The Next Four Years

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More from the Authors
  • Methane Abatement Costs in the Oil and Gas Industry: Survey and Synthesis By: Joseph E. Aldy, Forest Reinhardt and Robert N. Stavins
  • Barilla: Feeding the Future By: Sophus A. Reinert, Forest L. Reinhardt, Dante Roscini and Carlota Moniz
  • U.S. and Global Agriculture: The Next Four Years By: Forest Reinhardt, Sarah Dankens and Natalie Kindred
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