How a Michoacán Grower Said Goodbye to Delayed Payments with ProducePay
Improved Cash Flow
Access to Buyers
Trade Protection
The produce industry is complicated. For growers, top of the list when it comes to challenges? Cash flow.
Dealing with late buyer payments is a constant burden, impacting a grower’s ability to invest in new equipment and materials for the following season. Late payments stacking up creates real strain for growers, leading to financial instability and insecurity.
We worked with a grower in Michoacán, Mexico, which was experiencing challenges with getting paid. Happily, the grower was able to solve its concerns through ProducePay.
The Challenge: Delayed Payments from US Buyers
This Mexican produce company operated an annual fixed-price program in the US, where they had established strong relationships with cucumber, raspberry, and blueberry buyers.
In a major company push, they expanded into avocados, driving a broad selling campaign across the US.
However, despite establishing good links with buyers – the grower had no guarantee of reliability or timely payment.
After a whole year of trading, the grower was still struggling to collect payments from its customers. In some instances, it was even failing to collect payment at all.
The Solution: On-Time Payments with ProducePay Marketplace
The Michoacán grower reached out to ProducePay for help. We invited them to Marketplace, our popular produce buying and selling platform. Here, they were able to find buyers who were pre-vetted and had a proven track record of reliability. By connecting with new buyers, they were able to expand their client portfolio and increase their shipment volume.
We also offered the grower our Quick-Pay+ financing service. This enabled the company to receive a guaranteed 96% of the value of each shipment – within 24 hours after the company’s US customers had received the load.
The Power of Trade Protection
The company’s decision-makers also rapidly recognized the importance of Marketplace’s trade protections. Our platform protections guarantee that produce sellers are protected under the PACA Law, meaning that US buyers are legally required to pay for the perishable fresh produce they purchase.
With ProducePay, the grower is now able to reliably receive payments on time. The company has increased its cash flow, and can now pay its laborers in reliable, repeatables windows.
One of the company’s managers said:
“ProducePay helped us a lot with our avocado trading. We’ve also been able to access commercial protections that we’ve never had before.”
Due to our privacy policy, we reserve the right not to mention the names of our customers.
