Skyview Cooling Co. was founded by John B. Smith in 1970 after he purchased Sky Valley Ice & Refrigeration in Alamosa, CO and Las Cruces, NM. The facilities provided post harvest services for the growers in the San Luis Valley of south central Colorado and the Mesilla Valley of southern New Mexico.
The company expanded operations to Arizona in 1975 with seasonal plants in Willcox, Marana, Eloy, and Scottsdale. That same year it began its future in Yuma, recognizing the great opportunities in the vegetable industry. Seeing the need for a centralized location with close access to rail and the I-8 and Highway 95, John Smith decided to build our main facility on the corner of Gila Ridge Road and Avenue 3E. This location came to define where cooling operations would take place and others would begin to follow. In 1979 Skyview started a joint venture with Western Precooling Systems and expanded market share in the next 15 years to over 26 million cartons of fresh leafy green commodities.
Ricardo Beltran is the General Manager at Skyview Cooling. He started with the company in 2001 as a dispatcher at the Mesquite, NM branch (sold in 2007). In 2013, he was moved up to manager of ESCO in Center, CO until coming to Yuma to take over as General Manager in 2014. He manages the Yuma, AZ branch in the winter and the Center, CO branch in the summer.
Skyview has maintained its dominance in the Yuma region due to its core values in providing outstanding customer service and commitment to consumers for safe and nutritious food.
