How Our Story Began
For over 75 years, our family-owned and operated farm has been dedicated to delivering the finest produce to your table. It all began with Raymond Bland’s modest 50-acre farm, where he initially grew peanuts and corn, and later expanded to include tomatoes.
Back in the late 50s and early 60s, the entire Bland family was hands-on, packaging, grading, and shipping our fresh produce to distant markets. Young Delbert Bland, Raymond’s son, was right in the middle of the action, watching with wide-eyed wonder as tractor-trailers carried their harvest across the country. As Delbert grew up, his fascination with farming turned into a passion. He was determined to bring something extraordinary to Bland Farms, and that he did when he planted his first crop of Vidalia Sweet Onions. Through hard work and determination, Delbert made this sweet, mild onion a household staple and grew Bland Farms into the largest grower, packer, and shipper of Vidalia Sweet Onions.
Mail Order Business
After releasing a small ad in a new publication titled Southern Living Magazine, business took off and the Vidalia Sweet Onion gained national notoriety and differentiation with Bland Farms’ implementation of PLU stickers to ensure that Vidalia Sweet Onions were never confused with conventional onions.
Controlled-Atmosphere Storage Rooms
In 1990, Bland Farms took an innovative and bold step by building and utilizing the latest in fresh produce preservation technology, controlled-atmosphere storage rooms. These rooms extended the availability of Vidalia Sweet Onions from two months to four months.
Frozen Foods
In 1995, Bland Farms entered the frozen food market by offering frozen onion rings and chopped onion bits, quickly becoming the nation’s third-largest distributor of such products.
Cross Docking facility in Donna, Texas
In 2008, Bland Farms opened a new cross-docking facility known as Bland Distribution Services, a cold storage and distribution center for fresh, frozen, and dry goods. It specializes in consolidating loads, layer-picking shipments, reconditioning-repacking, and quality-assurance inspections, in addition to other quality services.
First in the Industry to Market Sweet Onions Year-Round
Bland Farms has evolved from a seasonal operation into the industry’s first to market sweet onions year-round. This family-owned farm now operates domestically in Georgia, Texas, Nevada, and California, and internationally in Peru and Mexico.
Following in his father’s footsteps, CEO Troy Bland has continued the tradition of Innovation Through the Generations at Bland Farms.
State-of-the-art Packing Facility
- Entirely controlled atmosphere, allowing for precise control of humidity, airflow, and temperature throughout every stage of the drying and packing process
- Four-lane cup sizer, allowing us to run hundreds of onions per second
- Series of e-bagging machines that use a material that has less plastic and is 100 percent recyclable
- New cooling and drying rooms that reduce energy usage and waste
Sand Candy Produce
- Developed sweet potato partnership with major North Carolina sweet potato grower Battleboro Produce
- Diverse growing regions in Georgia and North Carolina for longer growing season
- Year-round supply
- Full marketing and promotional services
Diverse Team of Experts Across All Growing Regions
- Full-time agronomists
- Growers, packers, and shippers
- In-house marketing coordinator
- Quality control experts
- Food Safety Specialists
