Empire Foods

    By Art Nadler

    High in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Northern Nevada sits Empire Farms, a 10,000-acre agricultural facility known worldwide for its virus-free garlic seed and low-bacteria onions.

     

    The farm is located in the town of Empire, about 90 miles northeast of Reno, NV. Empire Farms is a division of the Empire Group, which also includes a storage and distribution center in Sparks, NV.; a research division in Davis, Calif.; and a geothermal resource plant in the San Emidio Valley in Empire, NV.

    The Empire Group produces approximately 22 million pounds of garlic seed and 27 million pounds of dehydrated garlic and onions a year. The company, which posted nearly $45 million in gross production for 1999, is one of only five companies in the United States that produces dehydrated garlic and onions. It is the only company in Nevada - and one of a few in the world - that produces virus-free garlic seed.

    "Our soils freeze very hard in the winter, and there is low bacteria counts in the soil,'' says Michael Stewart, who founded Empire Farms in 1982. "We cultivate all of our own products. We deal with all the major food and spice manufacturers in the world.''

    The dehydration facility in Empire, NV., uses geothermal heat from an underground water source that is 307 degrees Fahrenheit. Stewart says the natural heat is more evenly produced and, as a result, the color in garlic and onions after dehydration is better balanced. Besides using heat for dehydration, the Empire Group also sells 35,000 megawatts of geothermal power a year to the Sierra Pacific Power Co.

    The Empire energy portion, Stewart says, generated $2,302,000 in revenue in 1999. The farm alone did $16,731,000 in gross production in 1999. Four of the five producers of garlic in the United States are located in California, says Mike Ingram, facility manager for Empire Foods. Yet, Empire sells its seed garlic to California because the state's garlic isn't virus free.

    "We also get a higher yield (from the garlic bulb),'' Ingram says. "Nevada is becoming a major player in the garlic seed industry."

    Empire Foods doesn't sell retail, opting instead to deal on the industrial level with major producers of foods and spices. Spain buys the company's garlic seed, as does Germany and New Zealand. "We sell as much as 40,000 pounds at a time to industrial customers,'' Ingram says while walking through Empire's 130,000 square-foot distribution center in Sparks.

    The center is capable of storing 17 million dehydrated pounds of onions and garlic, which is needed because the plant in Empire produces approximately 90,000 pounds of dehydrated garlic and onions a day.

    Ingram says Empire employs around 350 people during the peak season of operation from July through October. Processing is then done from May to January, he says.

    Stewart grew up in Yerington, NV., and graduated from the University of Nevada in Reno with a degree in agriculture. He hit on the idea of forming Empire Farms after noticing that there wasn't any snow on a hill in Empire. NV. He hired a geologist and soon discovered the underground geothermal reservoir.

    "I bet the farm,'' Stewart says of the chance he took in the beginning. Fortunately, for both him and the state of Nevada, his intuition proved Fruitful.

    For more information, contact: The Empire Group, 1755 Purina Way, Sparks, NV. 89431. Phone: (775) 331-4111. FAX: (775) 331-1576.

    Web Site: www.octanestudios.com/empire