Damage to any product being shipped can be frustrating for a distributor. When the product is vegetables, any damage can ruin them. But for Kroeker Farms, damage to shipments of root onions can destroy an entire year's crop.

Due to a short growing season at its farm in Manitoba, Canada, Kroeker Farms starts its bare root onions every season in Arizona. When the weather warms up in Manitoba, the root onions are dug up and packed for shipment north.

Damage to the roots was always a problem until the company switched to durable, reusable crates with ventilation for the plants. As a result, Kroeker Farms has seen a dramatic increase in its onion yield each season while reducing shipping costs.

"We tried everything, from wire-bound wooden crates to paper boxes," said Wayne Rempel, president of Kroeker Farms.

Every option seemed to have similar problems. Most packages weren't sturdy enough to stack, and collapsed on each other in transport. The plants often didn't have adequate air flow and died along the way. Disposal of the cardboard containers was a problem too.

Kroeker Farms ultimately decided to use reusable produce containers. The change increased durability, ventilation and reusability. Storage capacity also increased with the new, larger crates that have a footprint of 24 × 16 inches, and are 11 inches tall.

With the plants packed into the crates for shipping, the rigid vertical walls of the crate carry the stacking load to provide protection against damage during shipping. Cross-stacking features allow much greater interlocking layers of crates on a pallet load than column stacking, reducing additional packaging.

Once the crates arrive in Manitoba, they are placed in ventilated storage for preservation. Previously, the plants were immediately removed, as the containers were falling apart, and then placed in storage. "There is less handling of the plants and less labor involved," explains Rempel.

When the weather is right, the plants are removed from storage and stacked on trucks and driven into the field. Fewer trips are needed since the containers stack better than previous wire containers. Disposal of the containers is no longer an issue, and the containers are flattened, with five collapsed containers taking the place on one assembled container. Now that all the containers are collapsible, they can be shipped back to Arizona in one trip, and Rempel can wait for a low-cost carrier.

With less handling of the plants and less damage to the containers, the onion crop has been flourishing. "We saw a significant improvement in the quality of the plants when they reached us, and better care of plants always translates to better yield," Rempel concludes.