With farmers struggling to find a market for their produce in high and low times the Dawson Trading Company Limited is developing its Easy Pickins brand as one solution to manage the influx of fresh produce during the year.

Farmers locally tend to find a central buyer or a group of individuals to sell their produce to after reaping. However, this doesn’t always pan out as planned due to the abundance which tends to occur when a crop is in season and struggle to find buyers when the season slows down.

However, Jordan Dawson sees the Easy Pickins brand, which flash freezes different Jamaican produce, as a way to build a sustainable market for farmers across the country. The 10-year-old company is one of two exporters of fresh mangoes to the United States of America, which is one of the most stringent markets to supply based on requirements and restrictions.

“We started Easy Pickins because we saw a need for produce outside of its season. So we try to procure more when it’s abundant and have the ability to supply customers with a consistent supply even out of season. Our farmers close their eyes and supply us with produce. That’s one of the strong points of the Easy Pickins products. It’s that our customers have access whether it’s in season or not,” Dawson explained in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

While the company primarily handles mangoes, it has also worked with breadfruit, ackee, avocado, sweet potato, yams, and other items with some being flash frozen. This has been improved further with the company equipped to individually quick-freeze agricultural produce like mangoes and ackee so that they don’t clump up as frozen pieces of ice. This results in the country earning foreign exchange for valuable produce made on local farms and a stable relationship established with different distributors.

As someone who has had his roots through farming in St Thomas, Dawson highlighted that a major issue which continues to plague farmers in the country is the glut which tends to arise when products are in season, but demand locally doesn’t match the supply. However, the company which processes agricultural produce for export and domestic consumption has found favour with consumers who want affordable produce even when it’s not in season. This is on top of exporting to markets like Canada and the United Kingdom.

“One of the main problems is seasonality of products in Jamaica especially for items I handle. You will find when products are highly in season a lot of product is wasted. With our increased capacity we’re actually able to take off their crops at these critical times when otherwise the mangoes or the crops would have spoiled… It’s highly beneficial to the farmers. When the goods are not in season, and they’re very scarce, it’s not that easy for the farmer to sell,” Dawson added as he looked to the potential to increase capacity for the business in short order.

The company currently operates from Lincoln Road, St Andrew, on a 5,000-square-foot space and is looking to add more farmers to its network as it bids to expand the range of products offered.

Easy Pickins secured its place on the shelves of PriceSmart and had a booth at the recent Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association 2023 Expo at the National Arena.

Dawson is currently guided by a board of advisors and an advisory committee for strategic guidance as he seeks the best route to grow his business.

Dawson Trading is seeking grant funding and other sources of finance to execute his next set of moves for the company.

“We want to have more capacity to increase the volumes of what we’re currently able to output and we want to expand our product offerings that we’re able to offer to our customers. We’re always looking for more farmers and more products as we look for people to grow with the company. We’re very interested in finding more farmers for the new and existing product lines and try to expand and build our network,” Dawson closed.