Bulk bags shipped to California

Who fills bulk bags in California

The valley's harvest bags

The San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys grow almonds, pistachios and walnuts, and harvest runs from late summer into fall. Nuts are shaken, swept or caught, then hulled, dried and shelled. Kernels and in-shell nuts are food, so they go into new, food-grade bags, usually with a liner and a spout bottom.

The Sacramento Valley also grows rice. Milled rice for food goes in new bags; seed rice goes in new uncoated bags that let it breathe, with a pouch for the seed tag.

Because nut harvest is compressed, hullers ask for bags in volume before the first shake. Tell us your bags per day and the yard ZIP, and we'll work out bales, pallets and trucks up CA-99 or I-5.

Minerals from the desert and the coast

The Mojave Desert produces borates, mined around Boron, and Lompoc on the central coast is known for diatomaceous earth. Both ship as powders in bulk bags.

Diatomaceous earth is very light, so a 2,000 lb SWL bag is rarely the limit; the volume is. A tall bag or a baffle bag holds more of it in a stable cube. It is also dusty, so coated fabric, a liner and spouts top and bottom keep it in. Borates are denser and pack into a shorter bag at the same weight.

Gypsum is spread on many Central Valley fields to help water soak into sodic, crusted soils, and orchard growers apply it between rows. A spout bottom hung from a tractor-mounted frame meters it straight into a spreader, and gypsum is one more load that suits inspected multi-trip bags.

Ports, passes and long distances

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach share San Pedro Bay, and the warehouses behind them spread east into the Inland Empire around Ontario and Fontana. Plastic resin, food ingredients and chemicals come in and go out through them, and plenty of it moves in bulk bags.

Resin pellets can build static as they pour. The bag type comes from your site's hazardous-area assessment: Type B where no flammable vapour is present, Type C grounded at fill and discharge, or Type D. Oakland serves the same trade for Northern California, and the Ports of Stockton and West Sacramento handle bulk and bagged cargo inland.

California is long, and a load from the north end to the south end is a full day's drive or more. I-5 runs the whole length, crossing the Grapevine over Tejon Pass between Bakersfield and Los Angeles. CA-99 runs up the San Joaquin Valley through Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto and Stockton. I-80 climbs over Donner Pass toward Nevada and can be under chain controls in winter.

I-10 runs east from Los Angeles through the Inland Empire; I-15 goes northeast through the Cajon Pass; I-40 starts at Barstow and heads east across the Mojave.

• Central Valley: I-5 and CA-99
• Inland Empire: I-10 and I-15
• Bay Area: I-80, I-580 and I-880
• High Desert: I-15, I-40 and CA-58

Dairies, vineyards and the southern deserts

Tulare, Kings and Merced counties are dense dairy country. Those herds eat almond hulls left over from hulling, cottonseed, and mineral premix that arrives in duffle-top bags with a spout over the mixer wagon. Minerals can go in an inspected 6:1 bag if the nutritionist and the dairy accept it.

Napa, Sonoma, Lodi and the Central Coast grow wine grapes, and winemakers use diatomaceous earth as a filter aid. That ties the Lompoc mines to the cellars: the powder arrives in lined bags and is weighed into a filter as a slurry. Because it touches wine, new food-grade bags are the rule.

Farther south, the Salinas Valley grows lettuce and other vegetables in the cool coastal air, and the Imperial Valley along I-8 grows winter vegetables and alfalfa under Colorado River irrigation. Both buy fertilizer and seed by the bag before planting.

The coast and the low deserts add their own crops. The Oxnard Plain grows strawberries and celery, the Santa Maria Valley grows strawberries and broccoli, and the Coachella Valley near Indio grows dates and table grapes. Each district buys fertilizer, compost and amendments by the bag before planting.

Quotes, pickups and what to send

Send the product, SWL, top and bottom, static type, liner if any, and the ZIP of the fill line. A huller with a yard in Fresno and another in Modesto can be priced as two drops.

After harvest, hullers and mills are often left with bales of empties. Send a count and photos; 5:1 single-trip bags go to recycling, inspected 6:1 bags may be bought back for non-food loads.

California sets its own rules for diesel truck engines through the Air Resources Board, and carriers hauling in the state have to meet them. We book carriers that do. If your yard has idling limits or check-in rules for trucks, add them to the request.