The crop sets the schedule
Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. It covers everything from grinding grain into flour to the complex industrial methods used for convenience foods. A packing house sits at the front of that chain: fruit, vegetables or nuts come in from the field, and they are sorted, washed, graded, cooled, boxed and shipped. The work is intense and brief, and the facility is staffed for the harvest rather than for the calendar year.
That structure is what makes cash tight. The costs of the harvest window arrive together, but the money from the buyer arrives later.
Seasonal labor comes first
When the crop is ready, the shed needs sorters, packers, forklift drivers, quality-control staff and supervisors, all at once. Wages are paid weekly or biweekly, payroll taxes follow, and overtime climbs as lines run long to beat spoilage. A packer who ships to a retailer or distributor on invoice terms may carry two or three weeks of full payroll before the first check clears.
The next hire matters too. A shed that cannot staff a second shift in a peak week turns away product, and fruit that is not packed this week is not worth the same next week.
Cold storage and the power bill
Refrigeration is the quiet core of a packing house. Pre-coolers, cold rooms, loading-dock coolers and refrigerated trucks have to hold temperature around the clock during the season. Compressors, evaporators and controls are expensive to replace, and a failure in peak week can threaten the whole stock in the building. The electric bill in a cold-chain facility is large and keeps coming during slow stretches between harvests.
Equipment lines that wear and age
- Sorting and grading lines with optical sorters, conveyors and scales
- Washing and sanitizing systems that must meet food-safety expectations
- Packaging and labeling machines with parts that wear in the heat of the season
- Pallet jacks, forklifts and racking for the shipping dock
- Refrigerated trailers or leased trucking to move product to buyers
Most of these purchases cannot wait until after harvest, since they are needed at the moment product is flowing.
A timeline, for illustration only
| Week | Cash event |
|---|---|
| Before harvest | Cold-room service, line repairs, packaging supplies bought |
| Week 1 to 2 | Crew hired; first payrolls run; produce arrives |
| Week 3 to 5 | Peak volume; overtime; freight bills |
| Week 6 to 8 | Buyer invoices come due, in some cases later |
In this picture, the shed funds roughly a month of costs before the receipts catch up. This is an illustration, not our terms or a typical outcome.
Regions and the mix of crops
Packing and processing operations in California are concentrated in agricultural regions, including the southern and northern Central Valley, the Central Coast and the Imperial Valley. Each region has its own crop calendar, so a shed can have a long, steady run or a short, sharp one. The cash pattern follows the crop: owners in a short-window region have to cover their costs fast, while owners in a long-window region may have gaps between lots.
How to apply
If your next harvest depends on hiring and equipment decisions that cannot wait, a funding decision based on your bank deposits can move at the pace of the season. The application takes about five minutes. We ask for roughly three months of business bank statements and use a soft credit pull; no tax returns are required. FICO 500 and above is considered, funding runs from $25,000 to $5,000,000, and money can arrive in as little as 24 hours. Sole proprietors can apply. Start your application.