Lane Southern Orchards and Taylor Orchards Merge; Mark Sanchez, Jeff Wainwright, and Duke Lane III Comment
FORT VALLEY, GA – Joining forces are Lane Southern Orchards and Taylor Orchards, consolidating acreage, facilities, and innovation. The merger creates one of the largest peach and pecan operations in the States, combining packed peaches under the Lane Southern Orchards label.
“We couldn’t be more excited about opportunities this merger creates. Synergies between our farms create new efficiencies and offer further opportunity for growth,” said Lane Southern Orchards CEO Mark Sanchez and newly appointed President of Farming Operations Jeff Wainwright, according to a recent press release.
With this new merger, Taylor Orchards’ 3,000 acres of peaches and 950 acres of peanuts and soybean row crops will combine with Lane Southern Orchards’ 2,000 acres of peaches and 3,500 acres of pecans. While this consolidation makes for a huge expansion, the company’s growth looks to take on 700 acres of new peach production and 1,000 new acres for pecans by the end of 2018. In all, this will amount to over 10,000 acres for Lane Southern Orchards.
“This additional supply of peaches allows us to be a better supplier to existing customers and expand our customer base as well,” said Duke Lane III, Partner in Genuine Georgia and Director of Sales for Lane Southern Orchards. “From a sales and marketing perspective, you can engage consumers in creative ways with nearly 6,000 acres of Georgia peaches. It is going to be an exciting summer for Georgia Peaches!”
Both companies have deep roots, with Taylor Orchards’ line tracing back to the 1940s and Lane Southern Orchards’ operations going all the way back to 1908, but operations for both companies have been kept up to speed and modernized with the implementation of cutting-edge technology in growing, packing, and packaging. With so much modernization, Lane Southern Orchards has not forgotten about the simple touches that make it so uniquely desired, and every box filled with fruit is hand-picked and hand-packed for consumers.
How will this merger impact the peach market, and will it influence other industry members to merge themselves? AndNowUKnow is looking for answers to keep you up-to-date with the latest!
