Pampa Store

Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Neuquen, Argentina

Bridges Produce has partnered with Pampa Store in order to handle the complicated and challenging logistics and grower support services required to participate in the organic international marketplace. In 2006, Pampa Store assisted in building a state of the art packing house and a high efficiency irrigation system for organic asparagus grower Armando Castillo.

Castillo grows organic asparagus in the rich soils of the Province of Mendoza and irrigates with water from the snowpack of Mt Aconcagua in the Andean Mountains. Castillo had been using the organic method to grow his asparagus because he recognized that it was a more sustainable and better way to care for his land, however, he had always shied away from the paperwork of becoming certified. Pampa Store recognized that Castillo was missing the extra financial reward for growing his asparagus organically and they helped to get the certification in place.

Pampa Store also assisted in the installation of a new apple and pear packing line for the Lozano family. The Lozano’s immigrated to Argentina from Spain and as pioneers established themselves in the Rio Negro Valley on the edge of the Andes. There are 14 members of the family involved in the business. Jose, the youngest, is the President and others work at the farm and the packing house handling all the details of growing, packing and shipping the fruit. The Rio Negro valley is an ideal climate for growing organic fruit because it receives very little rain fall but has ample supplies of pristine water from the Andes Mountains just to the west. Because of the low rainfall and low humidity many of the insect and disease problems that many organic growers face are not a factor in the Rio Negro Valley.