WG Member David Martella Passes Away

September 15th, 2016

Western Growers wishes to extend its condolences to the family and friends of David Martella, a Western Growers’ member who passed away on September 13, 2016. David was owner of the Salinas-based Martella Farming Company and was an independent grower for Tanimiura & Antle and a consultant for Ippolito International.

He attended California State University, Fresno graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Ag Business in 1985. 

A celebration of life will take place on tomorrow on Friday, September 16th at 3 p.m. at the Corral de Tierra Country Club.

Martella Obituary

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AB 1513 Safe Harbor Town Hall Added in Imperial Valley

September 20th, 2016

A new AB 1513 Safe Harbor Town Hall in the Imperial Valley has been added to the series of town halls previously announced last week. The town hall will take place on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, at 9:00 A.M. at the Farm Credit Ag Center, 485 Business Pkwy, Imperial, CA 92251.

As with the other town halls, the event in Imperial is designed to provide important insights from legal experts and fellow employers to help you reduce your risk of liability, and overcome the technical compliance challenges of AB 1513’s safe harbor provisions.

 Topics include:

  • Timing of issuing back payments
  • Required backup documentation
  • Working with farm labor contractors to perfect safe harbor compliance
  • Required due diligence for locating eligible workers
  • Utilizing multiple methods of calculating back payments
  • Submitting back payments to the labor commissioner’s Unpaid Wage Fund
  • Dealing with stale checks

REGISTER FOR THE IMPERIAL VALLEY TOWN HALL

Complimentary juice, coffee, and fruit will be offered during break services at each event.

For more information about town hall events, contact Bryan Nickerson at (949) 885-2392. For questions about AB 1513, contact Jason Resnick at (949) 885-2253.

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Low–flying Helo to Conduct Survey in Southern SJ Valley

September 22nd, 2016

Starting on September 30, 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will begin groundwater and geologic testing using a low-flying helicopter to collect and record geophysical measurements for scientific research purposes. The work will occur near the towns of Lost Hills, Buttonwillow and Cawelo in the southern San Joaquin Valley. The testing is being done in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board and will last one to two weeks. USGS issued an advisory in accordance with FAA regulations and to serve the public interest.

More information about this project can be found by going to http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/groundwater/sb4/regional_monitoring/index.shtml.

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AB 1513 Safe Harbor Town Halls Start Tomorrow

September 27th, 2016

AB 1513 introduced new wage and hour requirements for piece-rate workers, fundamentally changing labor costs for many agricultural employers, and leaving some vulnerable to liability for back pay and penalties.

During this transition, the new law offers a conditional “affirmative defense” to claims for damages or statutory penalties based on an employer’s alleged failure to pay compensation for rest periods and other nonproductive time. In other words, you have options — but it’s critical that you thoroughly understand these compliance requirements in order to lower your risk of liability.

Learn How to Protect Yourself from Potential Liability

If you’re a farm employer or labor contractor, and are planning to make payments to current or former employees pursuant to Labor Code Section 226.2(b), please join us for an upcoming AB 1513 safe harbor town hall discussion. You’ll learn important insights from legal experts and fellow employers to help you reduce your risk of liability, and overcome the technical compliance challenges of AB 1513’s safe harbor provisions.

Topics include:

  • Timing of issuing back payments.
  • Required backup documentation.
  • Working with farm labor contractors to perfect safe harbor compliance.
  • Required due diligence for locating eligible workers.
  • Utilizing multiple methods of calculating back payments.
  • Submitting back payments to the labor commissioner’s Unpaid Wage Fund.
  • Dealing with stale checks.

AB 1513 Safe Harbor Town Hall Dates and Locations (click link for location and to register)

Coastal Dates

Salinas – September 28, 2016 @ 1:30PM

Santa Maria – September 29, 2016 @ 9:00AM

Oxnard – September 29, 2016 @ 1:30PM

Central Valley Dates

Selma – October 5, 2016 @ 9:00AM

Bakersfield – October 5, 2016 @ 1:30PM

Imperial Valley Date

Imperial – October 18, 2016 @ 9:00AM

Complimentary juice, coffee, and fruit will be offered during break services at each event.

For more information about town hall events, contact Bryan Nickerson at (949) 885-2392. For questions about AB 1513, contact Jason Resnick at (949) 885-2253.

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PRESS RELEASE: Western Growers Establishes Strategic Alliance with JLT to Provide Global Insurance Solutions

September 6th, 2016

New alliance expands Western Growers’ worldwide insurance offerings to food and agribusiness industry

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (September 6, 2016) – Western Growers Insurance Services, Inc. is expanding its global reach through a new strategic alliance with JLT Specialty USA, one of the world’s leading insurance brokerages. The alliance provides Western Growers the ability to now offer agribusiness and food clients direct access to global insurance carriers. Additionally, this relationship provides the opportunity to tap into offices around the world and the ability to meet specific company needs with the help of subject matter experts.

“By developing a strategic global alliance with JLT, we’ve advanced Western Growers’ insurance brokerage by 10 years,” said Jeff Gullickson, Senior Vice President of Western Growers Insurance Services. “Now with access to 140 offices around the world, the food and agribusiness industry can utilize JLT’s broad spectrum of international insurance resources and receive tailored insurance, risk management and financial solutions across the globe.”

The alliance affords all of Western Growers’ 2,400 members direct access to virtually any global insurance company, providing a massive advantage to businesses who are already operating or looking to open operations in other countries. All members can now leverage the expertise of local professionals in foreign countries to ensure full compliance with other countries’ insurance laws and regulations.

Additionally, Western Growers and JLT collaborated to create an industry-leading cargo insurance coverage solution and administration platform exclusively available to Western Growers’ members. This combined coverage solution and administration platform enables members to effectively manage their cargo programs at the lowest possible premium costs. The partnership will also offer a combined coverage solution called WESTERN GROWERS SHIELD™.

With WESTERN GROWERS SHIELD™, members will receive an insurance program, as well as continuous and unbroken transit coverage for all product shipments to and from all points on the globe. This solution includes Cargo, Contamination, Recall and Non-Physical Damage loss of income. The Cargo solution and WESTERN GROWERS SHIELD™ solutions can include iCargo®, a world class, leading cargo software application that helps members administer, monitor and provides analytical support for future cargo shipments and strategies.

“We are thrilled to partner with Western Growers as their members will now be able to take advantage of our global insurance solutions and for the first time have access to a world class cargo software package,” said Mike Rastigue, Executive Vice President and West Coast Sales Leader at JLT Specialty USA. “At JLT, we value the importance of robust data and our insurance solution will now provide members data, analytics and modeling to aid in strategic risk management solutions. Members will have access to claims experts in specific sensitive coverage areas, including product liability and Cargo, among others.”

About Western Growers:
Founded in 1926, Western Growers represents local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in Arizona, California and Colorado. Our members and their workers provide half the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, including half of America’s fresh organic produce. For generations we have provided variety and healthy choices to consumers. Connect with and learn more about Western Growers on our Twitter and Facebook. 

About Jardine Lloyd Thompson:
Jardine Lloyd Thompson is one of the world’s leading providers of insurance, reinsurance and employee benefits related advice, brokerage and associated services. JLT’s client proposition is built upon its deep specialist knowledge, client advocacy, tailored advice and service excellence. JLT is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and owns offices in 40 territories with more than 10,600 employees. Supported by the JLT International Network, it offers risk management and employee benefit solutions in 135 countries. For further information about JLT, please visit our website www.jlt.com  and follow us on LinkedIn at JLT Group and Twitter @JLTGroup.

JLT Specialty USA:
JLT Specialty USA is the U.S. platform of the leading specialty business advisory firm, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group. Our experts have deep industry and product experience serving leading U.S. and global firms. Our key to client success is our freedom to be creative, collaborative, and analytical while challenging conventions, redefining problems, creating new analytical insights, and exploring new boundaries to deliver solutions for each client’s unique business and risks. For further information about JLT, please visit our website www.jltus.com and follow us on LinkedIn at JLT Specialty USA and Twitter @JLTSpecialtyUSA.

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PRESS RELEASE: Western Growers’ Statement on AB 1066 Being Signed into Law

September 12th, 2016

Statement of Western Growers President and CEO Tom Nassif on Gov. Jerry Brown signing AB 1066 into law:

“The Governor has set in motion a chain of events that will cause workers in our fields to lose wages.  It is one thing to dismiss the rationale for a seasonal industry to have a 10-hour overtime threshold rather than an eight-hour threshold.  It is something entirely worse to dismiss economic reality.  Our farmers compete with farmers in other states and countries with no overtime costs, far lower minimum wages, reliable water supplies and far less regulatory burden.  California farmers will have no choice but to avoid even higher costs of production and they will utilize a number of strategies, including reducing work shifts and production of crops that require large numbers of employees.  The box stores, grocery chains and restaurant companies that buy fresh produce can and will purchase from growers in other states and countries to keep prices down.  They don’t care about the high costs of operating in California.  Neither, apparently, do a majority of the California Legislature or the Governor.”

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PRESS RELEASE: Western Growers’ Board of Directors Endorses Senator John McCain

September 21st, 2016

The Western Growers Board of Directors has unanimously endorsed Senator John McCain.

Tom Nassif, President and CEO of Western Growers, issued the following statement: “In a recent column, I wrote, ‘We need fewer politicians and more statesmen.’ John McCain is among the statesmen we need now more than ever. Throughout his career, Senator McCain has sought to advance pragmatic conservative solutions to some of our most challenging problems. He is a leader among those who place problem-solving ahead of gridlock. We are proud to once again endorse Senator McCain for reelection to the U.S. Senate and we look forward to working closely with him next year and in the years to come.”

“I am honored to have the support of Western Growers,” said John McCain. “Western Growers represents some of the hardest working people in America who produce the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, including half of its fresh organic produce. I am grateful for the support of an organization that is creating jobs, protecting crops and water resources, and supporting those who feed our country.”

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Western Growers Opposes Proposition 55

September 28th, 2016

The Western Growers Board of Directors has unanimously voted to oppose Proposition 55 on the 2016 California ballot.

Tom Nassif, President and CEO of Western Growers, issued the following statement: “Proposition 30, passed by California voters four years ago, was intended as a temporary measure to stabilize funding for essential state services impacted during the recession, most notably education. However, that measure exacerbated the state’s over-dependence on the boom-or-bust fortunes of the highest income earners, making the next economic downturn harder to weather than the last. This is manifestly dangerous and foolish tax policy, and Proposition 55 would extend it for another 12 years. Our elected officials ought to facilitate a serious discussion that leads to greater revenue predictability and stability. This should include reforming the income tax structure, operating the state within the confines of a balanced budget and accelerating the pace of savings during periods of surplus.” 

Western Growers previously announced its opposition to Prop 53, which could block badly needed water supply projects and water infrastructure in the state.

Western Growers has not taken a position on any of the other 2016 California ballot propositions.

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GMO LABELING LAW What Does the New Federal Law Do?

September 2nd, 2016

By Dennis Nuxoll

On July 31, 2016, President Obama signed legislation into law that addressed a long running debate: Are genetically modified organisms (GMOs) safe and should genetically modified food be labeled?

The driving force behind a national labeling movement was a Vermont law requiring labeling for GMO products, excluding those in dairy and meat, which went into effect this past July with penalties and fines for violations slated to start January 1, 2017. In response to Vermont’s legislation, major food companies, such as Campbell’s and Kellogg’s and retailers like Walmart and Safeway, indicated they would comply in the absence of a federal fix. But adhering to the law would have presented some logistical problems.

While some of these companies have the ability to segregate and label applicable product (i.e., bread baked within individual Safeway stores), others were faced with production and labeling issues making it harder for them to comply (i.e., it’s more difficult to label boxes of cornflakes meant only to be sold in Vermont stores). With many other states debating labeling initiatives, there was a real fear that grocery stores would be overwhelmed with multiple labels. It’s against this backdrop of potential chaos that Congress enacted a federal fix.

Currently, 64 countries around the world label GMO products, including all European Union member states, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Brazil, Russia and China. In the United States, GMOs are regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). FDA has responsibility over products that people eat, and has said for years that GMO foods are safe to eat. USDA makes sure that all new GMO plant varieties pose no pest risk to other plants. EPA regulates pesticides, including those bioengineered into food crops, to make sure that pesticides are safe for human and animal consumption and do not pose unreasonable risks of harm to human health or the environment.

What does the federal GMO labeling bill do?

The recently-signed bill necessitates labeling on all food packages that contain GMO ingredients, and immediately preempts all state-level labeling laws, including Vermont’s. The law directs USDA to begin the process of deciding what food manufacturers will be required to label within the statute’s terms. The agency is supposed to complete this process within two years.

The new national law is as important for the labeling it does NOT require as for the labeling it does require. Though it defines, for the first time, the foods that need to be labeled as GMO, it also acknowledges that not all crops produced by genetic manipulation need to be labeled. For example, if genetic manipulation is used to create a product that could “otherwise [be] obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature,” it does not have to be labeled. Clearly, this makes sense since traditional breeding has been hybridizing crops for centuries—the use of DNA technology to make that process more precise is merely an evolution of existing techniques. The law also exempts products from being labeled at retail food establishments (i.e., McDonald’s, Starbucks) and certain small food manufacturers.

The law also provides some flexibility to producers, allowing them to choose what type of label they use, though USDA has not finalized regulatory guidelines on this issue. The language in the law says producers can use simple text labels, like those that already appears on food packages, or a QR code that directs consumers to the company’s website when scanned with a smartphone. A company can also choose to set up a 1-800 number to answer consumer questions.

To ensure notifications are working as intended, USDA will conduct a study within one year of the bill’s enactment to determine if these non-food package options are technically achievable for most consumers. The study will explore if options like the QR code are providing consumers with necessary access to information about the product.

Additionally, the labeling law allows a producer to voluntarily label all certified organic food as GMO-free. However, producers must go through a verification process to voluntarily label any other foods as not containing GMOs. In prescribing the verification process, the law prevents producers who aren’t required to label products from enjoying a converse marketing advantage from labeling their products as GMO-free.

What does the bill mean for the produce industry?

As written, the law does not greatly impact the fruit and vegetable sector. Why? First, with a couple of rare exceptions (papaya), the fresh produce our members provide consumers today are not the result of genetic manipulation. The overwhelming majority of fruits and vegetables on the market today are products of decades—if not centuries—of conventional breeding. Accordingly, most of the produce SKUs in the grocery store today will never need to be labeled.

Secondly, as discussed, since organic regulations already prevent the use of GMOs in all organically-certified products, organic produce does not need to be labeled, eliminating involvement by fresh produce farmers.

Lastly, the law addresses both genetic and DNA manipulation processes, specifically defining which techniques are GMO and which are not. As referenced previously, DNA manipulations that produce a product that could have been created using standard breeding techniques do not require labeling. As an example, this means if a producer uses DNA technology to identify and implant drought resistant traits from a wild tomato into a commercial tomato variety, then the product would not have to be labeled as GMO since traditional breeding could achieve the same result. Such a technique is merely an evolution of existing breeding, allowing producers to do things with more precision than had previously been accomplished. On the other hand, the use of DNA technology that identifies and implants traits from spinach into a commercial citrus tree to produce a particular result, such as providing resistance to citrus greening, would need to be identified as GMO. Since most current or contemplated uses of DNA technology in the fresh produce industry involves the former technique and not the latter, it is likely our members will not need to label much in the future.

Western Growers will continue to keep members abreast of the regulatory implementation of this law or any proposed changes that might directly affect the fresh produce industry.

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A Meandering Path to the Helm of the Family Business

September 2nd, 2016

COMPANY BACKGROUND: H.W. Mann was founded in 1939 by H.W. “Cy” Mann as a fresh carrot packing operation.  Soon thereafter, the company started growing, packing and shipping many other vegetables, including broccoli.  In the 1950s, Mann began experimenting with liquid ice on its broccoli, which was one of the major innovations that kept the product fresh and helped it gain customers across the country.  Broccoli became Mann’s flagship item for more than a half a century.  The 1950s also saw Mann hire a young fieldman name Bill Ramsey.  About a decade later, Ramsey hired Don Nucci as office manager.  In 1976, Ramsey and Nucci became Cy Mann’s partners.  The Nucci and Ramsey families have been running the company ever since, as it morphed in many directions and added many different commodities.

 

RISE TO THE HELM: Lorri was one of four Nucci children that came into the family business at a very young age.  She was born the year her father started with Mann and remembers stuffing envelopes for marketing purposes in the family’s garage as early as the 8th grade.  She worked for the firm during the summers and joined the marketing department full-time after graduating from Santa Clara University in the mid-1980s.  A decade later, she was married to Tom Koster, who was Mann Packing’s sales manager, and had started her family.  In an effort to “do her own thing” and create a more flexible work environment, Lorri stepped away from the company and got involved in some other endeavors.  However, her heart was always with the family company and she was never shy about sending her brother, the late Joe Nucci, her ideas about the company’s direction.  Joe had stepped into a leadership position and it wasn’t too long before he asked her to come back in a consulting role in the early 2000s.

Tragically, Joe died in 2005 and patriarch Don Nucci passed away the following year.  Lorri became co-chairman of the board representing the Nucci side of the partnership.  In a work/life balance decision, Tom Koster stepped away from the firm “and became Mr. Mom” allowing Lorri to devote full-time to the family business.

 

CHANGING THE BUSINESS FOCUS: Throughout the latter part of the 20th Century, as Mann helped to popularize broccoli, more and more people started to grow and sell it and it became more of a commodity.  As such, Mann reduced its broccoli presence and upped its participation in other fresh items, most notably squash and sugar snap peas.  The firm developed its own proprietary varieties of sugar snap peas that has given it a distinct competitive advantage.  Koster said today it is the company’s “flagship” item.

 

WOMEN OWNED & OPERATED: Because of the gender makeup of the heirs of Bill Ramsey and the late Don Nucci, it became apparent earlier this decade that Mann Packing could qualify as a women-owned and operated organization.  In today’s social justice environment, such organizations have a special designation along the same lines as companies owned and operated by minorities or those owned by members of the LGBT community.  By 2012, Mann Packing had achieved that designation and Koster is very proud of the fact.  She said it is not an idle boast but one that must be backed up in action.  In fact, the certifying organization examines the minutes of the board meetings, the organization’s structure and the ownership life of every share.  To Koster, the designation “turns a win-win into a win-win-win.  At the end of the day, it is a point of differentiation from our competitors.”  For some customers, especially those that are publicly traded, doing business with such a firm is a sought-after factor.

But Lorri said it also has a practical application.  “We are ‘moms’ doing business with ‘moms’.”  As such, she believes the leadership of Mann Packing does have first-hand knowledge of what their customer base is looking for.

 

CONNECTION WITH THE PAST: While Don Nucci has unfortunately passed away, Bill Ramsey still wears the title of Chairman Emeritus and is a daily visitor to Mann’s office complex.  “He is our walking historian,” Koster said, noting that he often talks of where the firm came from and the history behind its growth.

She said the firm continues to be family owned and operated and the culture of entrepreneurship that began more than 75 years ago still exists today.  Dick Ramsey, Bill’s son, is vice chairman of the board and the third and fourth generation of family members appear to be poised to make their presence known in the years ahead.

 

WORK/LIFE BALANCE: While Lorri’s husband did take a leading role in the child-rearing arena as she ascended to the top spot at Mann, she did not fade into the background in that regard.  In fact, Lorri says raising her children is the most important job she and her husband have.  She calls herself a “baseball mom” referring to the many games and activities she has attended in support of her two sons’ baseball endeavors.  And Tom Koster became the athletic director at Palma School a couple of years ago, parlaying his parental involvement into a new career.

 

WESTERN GROWERS CONNECTION: Lorri remembers attending Western Growers events growing up and specifically recalls the year Bill Ramsey served as chairman.  She also fondly recalls working with several different WG staffers over the years hosting tours for one group or another, including several politicians who were being exposed to the fresh produce industry.  “I have been involved in many different produce organizations and I very much appreciate that Western Growers is very clear as to who they represent…and that is the grower.  I love the clarity of the mission.”

Koster joins a select handful of women who have served on the Western Growers board.  She notes that Western Growers has been somewhat of a legacy board, and that there is only a small pool of women who are the top decision makers in their organization.  Western Growers is led by the leaders of its individual member firms.  “There are not a lot of women who meet the requirements,” she said.

 

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ANNUAL MEETING SEMINAR Civil & Criminal Product Liability To Be Explored at Hawaii Convention

September 2nd, 2016

A trio of experts will discuss the issues surrounding liability when a foodborne illness surfaces at the Western Growers 91st Annual Meeting in November.

The meeting will take place at the beautiful Grand Hyatt in Kauai in Koloa on the island of Kauai, November 6-9.  The “Foodborne Illness: Criminal & Civil Liability” workshop will be held on the afternoon of Nov. 7, beginning at 2:30 p.m.  WG Board Member Stuart Woolf of Woolf Farming & Processing, Fresno, CA, will be the moderator for the all-important session.

“We’ve put together a very impressive panel to discuss both the civil and criminal ramifications of a foodborne illness,” said Jason Resnick, vice president & general counsel for Western Growers.

Well-known plaintiff attorney Bill Marler will look at civil penalties from the victim’s viewpoint, while defense attorney Sarah Brew will discuss the issue from the company’s perspective.  The criminal liability expert on this panel is Dan Jarcho, an attorney whose practice has focused on litigation involving the Food and Drug Administration and industries that FDA regulates.

Resnick said that in the vast majority of cases involving foodborne illnesses caused by fruits and vegetables, civil liability, rather than criminal liability, is at the forefront of the case.  But he noted there have been a few cases where criminal liability has been prosecuted…most notably the Colorado melon case.  In that case, the owners did spend some time in jail for their actions or lack thereof.  Resnick said it behooves all produce industry companies to understand the issues surrounding foodborne illnesses very well.  For the most part, prevention is one’s only defense.  Strict liability is assumed when the public falls ill because of contamination.  A company can mitigate the damages, he said, but in almost all cases a financial settlement is the result.  Preventive actions taken before the contamination are key to avoiding criminal liability.  The WG general counsel said there is much prosecutorial discretion involved in criminal cases with negligence or intentional wrongdoing before the event which determine the type of remedies pursued.

Following is a brief biography of the three panelists.

Sarah Brew leads Faegre Baker Daniels’ food litigation and regulatory practice.  She has a national reputation for effectively representing food processors, distributors and retailers in foodborne illness and contamination cases, commercial litigation and supply chain disputes, and consumer fraud labeling class actions.  She also counsels and provides practical risk management advice to food and dietary supplement clients on labeling and regulatory compliance matters, including the Food Safety Modernization Act, product recalls and reportable food registry events, FDA and USDA inspections and enforcement actions, and supply chain management and related contracts.

Dan Jarcho has represented companies in many legal actions involving the FDA and its regulations.  He regularly counsels clients about resolving regulatory compliance disputes with FDA that could lead to litigation, including disputes over inspections, Form 483 observations, warning letters, recalls, and import alerts.  He has represented clients in both FDA-related civil actions for seizures, injunctions and in a wide variety of criminal investigations initiated by FDA.  He also has significant experience representing plaintiffs in lawsuits challenging FDA regulatory actions under the Administrative Procedure Act.  Jarcho also has litigated the federal preemption defense in a large number of product liability lawsuits involving products regulated by FDA.

Bill Marler of Marler Clark LLP is a well-known personal injury lawyer and national expert in food borne illness litigation.  He has been a major force in food safety policy in the United States and abroad.  He has represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused serious injury and death.  Marler Clark is considered the nation’s foremost law firm representing victims of foodborne illness.  He began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993 when the infamous Jack in the Box E.coli contamination surfaced.

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Inteligistics Advances Food Safety with Innovative Temperature Measuring Technology

September 2nd, 2016

Rao Mandava was born into a farming family in India and grew up learning how to harvest rice, tobacco and various vegetables from his father. After years of exploring different careers and countries, Mandava came back to his original farming roots through Inteligistics.

Inteligistics was launched by Mandava more than 10 years ago to provide the fresh produce industry with a solution to ensure quality and freshness using temperature monitoring, humidity visibility and product tracking. “Our technology assures that perishable produce is safe, fresh, edible and saleable for longer periods of time,” said Mandava.

When going to the grocery store, it can be unclear how long a head of lettuce or a package of grapes may stay fresh. Produce can last between a few days or as long as two weeks, Mandava remarked. “Quality is uncertain so customer satisfaction is inconsistent. Our monitors deliver quality certainty which is important to the consumer and the success of the growers, shippers and retail stores.”

Inteligistics’ solutions provide pulp temperature monitoring for fresh produce. A sensor actually touches the product being monitored, starting from the field through to the cooling and shipping process, and even to the retail store shelves. “No other competitor has end-to-end technology visibility,” said Mandava. “Other companies either measure temperature as the produce is transported or in specific locations in the field. Our technology starts from the field and monitors the same box or pallet of produce all the way to when the consumer buys it. We automate this process and provide full traceability throughout the distribution chain.”

Live temperature visibility from field to store gives growers, shippers and retailers insight on how to best prioritize the cooling of produce. Increased cooling efficiency and an unbroken cold chain leads to higher quality products, longer-lasting produce, more accurate inventory management, greater supply chain confidence, decreased food waste/spoilage and stronger customer relationships.

The technology is part of the Internet of Things and uses wireless sensors and direct communication between devices to provide users with insightful and actionable information to help improve cool chain and supply chain performance. For example, the “InteliTemp” solution automatically identifies the current product temperature and sends updates to the user’s laptop or smartphone using cloud-based technology.

The foundation of Inteligistics formed when Mandava was working for Westinghouse Electric Company, serving as the vice president of its automation division. There, he played a key role in developing technology that would later provide the U.S. Navy with the ability to identify and assess the condition of equipment located in 600,000 containers around the world.

“We created a truly agile platform and it was great. After that, I knew I wanted to take this technology to assist other industries in solving their problems,” said Mandava. And that is what he has done with the help of the Inteligistics’ team of engineers, innovators and business experts.

In addition to enhancing food safety and assisting customers in becoming compliant with the new food safety standards (FDA Food Safety Modernization Act), reducing food waste is a top priority for the company. With 40 percent of food being thrown away annually in the United States, Inteligistics aids companies in significantly increasing the shelf life of products and in minimizing respiration-related shrink. Customers are able to sell more of what they produce, thus enhancing their revenue and profits.

“Our population is growing and we are running out of resources to produce enough food for everyone. If we can reduce 15 to 20 percent of the waste, we’ll be able to feed about 10 percent more of the U.S. population that is in need of proper nourishment,” said Mandava. “Our solutions help identify which products are still fresh and maximizes how long produce is kept on the shelves.”

The company currently offers five product solutions and is looking to expand their offerings by tapping into the resources of the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology. As one of the inaugural residents of the Center, Inteligistics immediately started building relationships with potential customers and enhancing their products with the help of WG.

“Being connected with Western Growers is an honor for us,” said Mandava. “We know that by being in the Center, we will gain first-hand knowledge of industry’s changing needs which will enable us to gear up tech to solve those issues.” The company was the first to place a full-time professional employee at the Center.

Inteligistics has already had the opportunity to speak to and build relationships with nearly 40 WG member companies about their solution in March during the first of the Center’s Tech Talk Series. Additionally, with the help of Hank Giclas, WG senior vice president of strategic planning, science and technology, Inteligistics is in the midst of conducting an industry-wide pilot to analyze and estimate shelf life of produce, using technology developed by UC Davis. To learn more about the pilot or the solutions Inteligistics offers, visit http://www.inteligistics.com/.

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PRECISION AGRICULTURE Duncan Farms, Metrics and Useful Data

September 2nd, 2016

WG&S recently sat down with Will Feliz, president of /Duncan Family Farms of Arizona to discuss precision farming and the use of data.

By Yvete Minor

Duncan Family Farms has been farming for decades. Tell us a little about your history.

Arnott Duncan grew up in a fourth-generation farming family. Arnott ventured out on his own in the mid-1980s and started his own operation growing conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. In the mid ‘90s, the farm expanded into organic production, growing organic baby leaf items including several different varieties of lettuce and greens. And, in 2010, they started a specialty crop program that includes kales, chards, beets, romaine hearts and culinary herbs. Considered one of the leading organic growers in the United States, Duncan Family Farms is based in Goodyear, Ariz., and has growing operations in Yuma, Ariz., and in Imperial Valley, Cuyama Valley and Nipomo, Calif.

 

How has the technical revolution impacted operations at Duncan Farms?

We continue to look for any and every type of technological innovation that will improve our operations, the quality of our products, agronomic efficiencies, and that make the lives of our team members better. For example, we use an automated harvesting system for our tender leaf items.

Part of our team traveled to Europe to tour several manufacturer and grower operations to identify the latest trends that are there. We ordered our new piece of harvesting equipment from the Netherlands about two seasons ago and have another custom-made piece of equipment coming this season.

In addition, we’ve identified a few pieces of equipment, both here in the States and in Europe, which we will be using for our tillage and planting process as well as in our transplanting operation.

And, we just approved an initiative to work with Trimble on its Precision Agriculture Solutions platform that includes a database and monitoring equipment. We anticipate that will help us access the data that we are currently curating throughout our farm system and harness it to make better, more efficient, and more effective agronomic and operational decisions.

 

What will you be monitoring?

Our systems will monitor activities like irrigation and tillage tractor work.  The monitors will go beyond an isolated sensor system to include analytics such as how many acres per hour we can plant, the levels of moisture in our fields, and other related factors that we will then be able to archive and analyze to determine on an acre-per-acre basis what is working and, more importantly, what is not as efficient as we would like it to be.

Precision agriculture is still in its infancy in our segment of the industry, however, we are really starting to see interest grow and innovations evolve because there is recognition of the power of Big Data, and little data, for that matter.

 

What process did Duncan Farms follow in choosing this approach to precision agriculture?

It’s been a year-long process. We assembled an internal task force, headed up by our supply chain team and consisted of members from our IT, operations, harvest, human resources and finance teams, who started researching different solutions and different companies that offer precision agriculture. We narrowed it down and then asked several to prepare presentations. We conducted several rounds of interviews and we asked them to actually integrate their platform with our planting and production schedule. We then determined which solution would have the best opportunity to work within our system, which allowed us to make a final decision on the solution to pursue.

 

How did you decide that an all-encompassing platform versus those that isolate, say H20 or other factors, was the place to start?

For Duncan Farms, we want to become more effective with the resources we use. With this platform, we will become more efficient and have more robust monitoring and analytic capabilities, which will allow us to create metrics and reporting that support our team’s efforts in making better decisions.

Precision ag entails all of it, including aerial imagery. As we collect all the data from these independent variables into the database, we can determine if we need to focus on one, major function or another, or multiple…it will be interesting to find out.

From what we gather, many of the innovations that the startups in the Center (Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology) are focusing on could easily tie into an all-encompassing precision agriculture database like the one we are securing. So if someone wanted to focus on water consumption and efficiencies or soil content first, they could start with collecting that data in an electronic format that could be uploaded into a platform that would aggregate multiple variables as they are added into the overall picture of an operation.

 

How would you encourage other WG members to get started in learning more about the startups and their innovations as well as exploring ag tech solutions in general?

To start, Western Growers’ webinars and Lunch & Learn opportunities are fabulously well-attended by our team because they are well done and we think they are tremendous vehicles for valuable information.

You know, innovators are in constant R&D mode and it would be an interesting opportunity to have a startup partner with an active member to discuss what they are both doing and partner to innovate pilot programs.

 

As a sponsor of the Center for Innovation & Technology, what would success look like, and what are you hoping it evolves into?

When the Center is consistently assisting startups to get off-the-ground and turning-out solutions that we and other members can effectively deploy in a meaningful way for the benefit of our businesses and helping the marketplace—that is success.

In addition, we hope the Innovation Center continues to be a beacon to entrepreneurs, to gravitate towards, and to bring better technology solutions for our industry. It is very important for innovators to have a place to go to help them promote and propel their ideas.

It is really important that, as an industry we continue to foster and support the innovation initiative. When you stop to think about the resource constraints that we are currently under, they are nearly crushing; and we have to come up with solutions that allow us to continue successfully for decades to come. Technological advancement is the key to that.

Clearly, we believe it is critical that we have smart people coming up with great ideas from which we all have an opportunity to benefit. And, “we” is the collective, not just Duncan Farms, but the industry. We need to get there quicker—for everybody.

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California-Style Labor Laws Could Appear on Arizona’s Ballot

September 2nd, 2016

By AnnaMarie Knorr

The unions have not been shy in taking advantage of Arizona’s low threshold to refer laws to the ballot.  In 2006, they created Arizona’s first minimum wage law through the initiative process.  Ten years later, they are at it again.

The Fair Wages and Healthy Families Initiative, as filed by the unions, would increase the minimum wage in Arizona to $10 in 2017 then gradually to $12 by 2020.  And then, beginning in 2020, Arizona’s existing annual inflation index would return to ensure the wage rate increases every year.  The initiative language also provides 40 hours annual “earned paid sick time” for employees of large employers (more than 15 employees) and 24 hours for those of small employers (15 or less employees).  The initiative states that time accrues at one hour earned for every 30 hours worked, and it is still unknown if employees who work overtime can accrue paid sick leave hours in excess of the 24 and 40 hours mandated in the initiative language.

The proposal also stipulates that time may be used to address circumstances caused by illness of employee or employee’s family, public health emergencies, or domestic violence.  It prohibits retaliating against employees using the benefit, and exempts employees participating in a collective bargaining agreement.  The language also provides for counties, cities and municipalities to set their own wage and hour regulations above the requirements in the initiative.  Under current law, wage and hour regulations are subject to state preemption.  In anticipation of the state initiative passing, the city of Flagstaff has a local initiative being circulated to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

The initiative was originally filed this spring, after months of negotiations with the Arizona Restaurant Association (ARA) on a legislative referendum to raise the minimum wage in exchange for a preferred tip credit calculation were unsuccessful.  Western Growers supported an effort by ARA to block the union signature gathering efforts, but it was unsuccessful and they filed 270,000 signatures to put the minimum wage and paid sick leave initiative on the November 2016 Ballot.  The threshold to qualify for the ballot was 152,000.  After an initial review, the secretary of state threw out over 30,000 signatures.  With 240,000 valid signatures left, counties are now required to sample check the signatures and report back to the secretary of state’s office.

Much to the credit of the ARA, they have continued the fight into the court system where they are challenging the validity of signatures that were submitted.  State law in Arizona requires that a signature gatherer register to collect petition signatures with the secretary of state.  They must also be eligible to vote in Arizona, which means over the age of 18, no felony record and a legal citizen.

The hearing to dismiss signatures collected illegally was successful in getting several petition gatherers deemed ineligible to collect signatures.  How many signatures are invalidated remains to be seen and the fate of the initiative will be determined by the courts and the signature validation rates that will be established by the counties.  However, should it qualify, the state and local chambers of commerce, business organizations and industry will have to step up their efforts to defeat the measure in November.

If the legal challenge is successful and the minimum wage and paid sick leave initiative is removed from the ballot, it will be a temporary victory for businesses in Arizona.

A separate initiative capping hospital executive pay is also on the ballot in Arizona as a result of union frustration.  It is clear that the unions have found their way into Arizona politics via the initiative process.  Should they be successful at the ballot box, how long will it be until they focus their efforts at the candidate races?

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Legislator Profile Senator Mike McGuire represents California’s 2nd District which stretches from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon Border

September 2nd, 2016

(Editor’s Note: The questions and answers have been paraphrased for clarity and brevity.)

 

Mike McGuire first ran for elective office at the age of 19 and became a state senator in 2014 at the age of 34.  In both instances he was one of the youngest ever elected to such a position in California. (Senator McGuire was interviewed prior to the devastating August Lake County fire.)

 

Where did you grown up and tell us about your early years?

I was born and raised in Healdsburg (CA) and graduated from Healdsburg High School.  I was raised by my grandma and mom as my parents divorced when I was very young.  My family on my grandmother’s side were prune growers and then we transitioned into grape growers.  I can’t say enough about what my grandmother did for us.  She took us in and helped raise me.  My mom worked full-time so my grandmother was there for me.  I was always involved in agriculture on our farm and FFA (Future Farmers of America).  It changed my life.  I was doing what I loved—I was outdoors, in the dirt and raising animals.

What did you do after high school?

From a young age I was expected to contribute and I did.  I worked full-time in high school.  I started by working at the local radio station where I stayed seven years and then I went to the local television station where I was for six or seven years.  I loved it.  I was working in production and marketing and thought my career would be in that industry.

 

You were elected to School Board at a very young age.  How did that happen?

When I was in high school, it always bothered me that our high school had a lot of problems.  The roof was leaking.  The boiler would go out.  I thought it was strange that the teachers, administrators and everyone else expected success, but we were operating under difficult conditions.  So a year after I graduated from high school, I ran for the Healdsburg School Board in 1998.

My grandmother always told me to do three things: work hard, work together and never take no for an answer.  I ran against two incumbents and worked harder than anyone else.  I walked the district and knocked on a lot of doors.  I ended up getting the most votes and becoming one of the youngest school board members ever elected in California.

I am very proud of the fact that during my service to the School Board we were able to get a bond passed to rebuild the high school and rebuild the middle school.

 

Did you pursue your education at the point and what was the focal point of your life?

I went to Santa Rose Junior College for two years and then on to Sonoma State to get my bachelor’s degree.  And then I received my masters at USF (University of San Francisco).  I was very focused on the community.  After serving on the school board I ran for city council and served for six years.

It was during that time that I quickly realized the importance of agriculture to our state and my community.  Ag is the heart of the California economy.  Family farms are the backbone of our community.

 

In 2014, you decided to run for the State Senate. Tell us about your district.

My senate district is the largest district in the state of California.  It goes from the Golden Gate to the Oregon border and encompasses parts or all of seven counties.  My district contains 40 percent of the state’s coastline.  It is a very diverse district.  I have Marin County, which is the richest district in the state and Lake County, which is one of the poorest.  My district has a lot of wealth and very low unemployment at its southern end in Marin, but as you go north, we have more unemployment and poverty.  Mendocino has the second highest percentage of homeless people per capita in the state.

My district also has many valuable assets.  We grow more oysters than anywhere in the state especially in the clean bay water in Humboldt.  That industry has brought a lot of jobs to Humbolt.  We have the most craft breweries and the most wineries in the state.  We also grow the most marijuana.  Sixty percent of all the marijuana in the state is produced in four of my counties: Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino and Trinity.

 

When you ran for the State Senate did you have a signature issue?

My number one issue was to improve our public school system and make it very strong.  I am very grateful to have graduated from Healdsburg High School and to have participated in FFA.  I’m not sure what I have would have done without it.  We need to provide similar opportunities for every child in the state.  I came into office wanting to make more investment in our schools.  We need to bring funding up to pre-recession levels.  And I am especially passionate about improving our technical education in high school.  Seventy-two percent of our high school graduates will not end up getting a degree from a four-year college.  We need to have more career training classes for these students.

I had a big ask when I came into the Legislature.  I was looking for $1 billion to invest in education and especially in career training and job skill classes.  We were able to secure $900 million and that is going to be able to fund many new programs.  We need ag science classes throughout the state.

In my district, Marin and Sonoma’s economies are on fire, but the further north you go, the more unemployment you see.  We have to focus on the rural economies and focus on job creation in those communities.  That includes bringing high-speed internet to rural California.

We also have to invest in our infrastructure.  We have crumbling roads, streets and highways in our state, especially in the rural communities.  For every $1 billion we invest in infrastructure, we create 14,000 jobs.

Poverty is an area I am very concerned with, especially in the rural areas.

 

You saw eye to eye with agriculture on the overtime exemption for ag work.  Explain your position?

The California economy is very much dependent on a healthy agricultural community.  I have significant agriculture in my district, including pear orchards and the wine industry.  I am very focused on the health and well-being of that sector.

But I did vote to increase the minimum wage.  Two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women and they need our help.  We have had record economic growth in California and there are a couple of major reasons for that.  One is low gas prices, which puts more money in the pockets of consumers and they spend that money to buy things.  And we have also had higher wages.  Higher wages result in a more robust economy.

 

As you mentioned earlier, marijuana production is a driver of the economy in your districts, what are your thoughts and concerns about legalizing marijuana?

I do have concerns about the recreational marijuana proposition.  Five of us were able to put together and pass historic rules, regulations and safeguards for the cultivation of medical marijuana.  We were able to get marijuana designated as an ag crop regulated by California Department of Food & Ag.  It must be regulated now including pesticide and fertilizer use.

We were able to limit cultivation to one-half acre plots indoors and one acre outdoors.  The proposition (on the November ballot) does not include that restriction.  There are enormous concerns in the North Coast, (that once the proposition is passed) large commercial production will take over.

We also prevented the farming, distribution and retail to be in one hand, just as it is restricted for alcohol.  The proposition does not address this issue.  That concerns me.

And of course, under federal banking law, there are still rules restricting direct deposits of receipts from marijuana business.  The ‘Feds’ need to fix that.

I do have significant concerns about marijuana and its production, but at the same time it is here to stay.  It is one of the highest grossing crops in California.  I do think we need to puts caps on the size of farms and discuss the integrated model of growing, distributing and selling.

 

Water is another issue that your district looks at a little differently.  What is your take on California’s water situation?

The southern areas of my district were hit very hard by drought.  Yet in Del Norte County, drought conditions no longer exists.  It makes no sense that people in that district are exposed to the same conservation measures.  I think it proves that the one-size-fits-all concept doesn’t work.

I see several approaches are necessary.  We do need to continue to do as much as we can in conservation.  We also need to replenish our underground aquifers.  But I also think we do need additional storage.  We are not going to solve our water shortage problems without more storage.  Storage has to be part of the argument because 60 percent of our water comes from snow melt.

I’d also like to see more use of reverse osmosis systems so that we can better utilize waste water.

 

You are new to the Legislature, what is your take on the partisan approach that seems to dominate politics?

We do have to work together to solve our problems.  I like to say potholes don’t know political boundaries.  We have to focus on working together and solving problems.  Sure there will be differences, but there are many things we can work together on.  California is better off if we do so and the state will be stronger.  If we focus on good policy rather than partisan politics we can get a lot done.

One area where that is particularly true is in rural California.  I was able to secure a lot of Republican support for career training because it is important in all parts of the state and especially in rural California.

 

Our members and your constituents produce some of the finest agricultural products in the world.  Do you consume those products?

How can you not love California produce?  There is nothing better than a California peach or a gravenstein.  That is my favorite apple.  At my home we have two gravenstein trees and they produce the best tasting apples.  They don’t have much of a shelf life and they bruise easily but they are very good tasting.  And of course there is nothing better than a Lake County pear.  On the vegetable side, I don’t think you can beat a California tomato with Italian dressing on it.

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Proven Safety Net for Growers —Success in Crop Insurance

September 2nd, 2016

Growers located in the western United States have some of the most diverse agricultural products and operations. The crop insurance program managed by the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) and administered by private crop insurance agents has provided a reliable farm safety net as growers face severe drought, freeze, insect, disease and negative market conditions. Improved options that have expanded over the past years have protected diverse farming operations such as organic producers and beginning farmers and ranchers.

“For years, RMA has painstakingly worked to ensure that crop insurance worked for all farmers growing in all regions,” said RMA Administrator Brandon Willis in a press release recently distributed by the USDA. “We are seeing those efforts pay dividends with a very diverse crop insurance program that is meeting the needs of farmers nationwide. Crop insurance will continue to provide the nation’s producers the assurance they need to keep agriculture strong, and our rural communities working, even in difficult times.”

In 2016, the federal crop insurance program includes more than 118,000 coverage options for 543 varieties of crops—nearly doubling from the roughly 64,000 different coverage options that were available in 2009. The total crop insurance liability rose from $79.5 billion to $102.4 billion over the same period.

In 2015 alone, the program was able to help 13,719 beginning farmers and ranchers working more than 3.5 million acres get their operations off the ground and save more than $14 million through reduced premiums and waived fees.

As coverage expanded and new tools provided better protection and increased flexibility, the federal program also has taken steps to strengthen program integrity. RMA reduced its improper payment rate by more than half, from 5.6 percent in 2014 to 2.2 percent in 2015—well below the government-wide improper payment average of 4.39 percent.

“We have redoubled our efforts to ensure that the crop insurance program is free of abuse,” Willis said. “Cutting our improper payment rate in half demonstrates our commitment to operating a well-run program that protects both taxpayers and farmers.”

RMA estimates that 85 percent of planted acreage for major crops is now covered by crop insurance, while 73 percent of planted acreage for eligible specialty crops is covered. The number of acres covered by crop insurance increased from 264.7 million for 2009 to 297 million for 2015. Coverage for fruit, vegetables, and other specialty crops alone has grown from 7.7 million acres in 2009 to nearly 8.3 million acres in 2015.

With many farm operations facing years of drought, new tools mandated by the 2014 Farm Bill—like the APH Yield Exclusion—have been developed to help farmers determine the level of protection needed for their operations. The program was implemented and expanded quickly to include many more crops than expected, including fruit, vegetables, and other specialty crops. Preliminary estimates suggest nearly 1,000 fruit, vegetable, and other specialty crop policyholders are taking advantage of APH Yield Exclusion for 2016 that allows producers to have better insurance coverage.

Crop insurance has been expanded providing options for organic producers through new and innovative programs, including the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection policy and coverage options that allow organic farmers to protect their products at the market value. In fact, the number of crops eligible for organic premium pricing went from four in 2011 to 57 for the 2016 crop year. The number of acres insured by organic producers nearly doubled from 576,700 in 2009 to more than one million in 2015.

When crop prices are low, access to credit is critical for farmers to manage risk. Producers who purchase federal crop insurance have better access to credit and are often able to receive lower loan interest rates. This allows growers to recover and remain farming after a difficult year.

An efficient delivery of the program helps reduce taxpayer costs for selling and servicing policies. RMA manages and regulates the activities of the 17 private crop insurance companies and private agents who work with the farmers and ranchers to secure coverage, assess losses and file claims.

As crop insurance products have expanded to include more commodities and more flexibility for today’s farmers, the public-private model has worked well to meet the obligations of the government to provide an effective farm safety net. Because the private sector is able to adjust more quickly than the federal government to urgent needs and adapt more quickly to change, this relationship provides accountability and efficiency for the crop insurance program.

The public-private relationship provides reliability for farmers and taxpayers alike, as the federal government stands behind the insurance products it offers and reinsures the companies that provide claim payments quickly. Crop insurance agents in the field bring a practical approach to the consultative process. In the event of a claim situation crop adjusters are able to respond immediately as they are domiciled in the growing regions. This partnership has proven to work well between all parties and the positive results are in the growing statistics of the program.

The expanded risk management tools with products like Whole Farm Revenue Protection, APH Yield Exclusion and organic pricing have helped farm businesses sustain and grow. This supports a strong next generation of farmers and ranchers and aids in the succession of the operation.

To learn more about crop insurance and its special offerings tailored to your operation, please contact me at (530) 305-7800 or [email protected].

 

(Editor’s Note:  The data was pulled from the “USDA Builds on Record of Crop Insurance Success for America’s Farmers and Ranchers” press release distributed by the USDA on July 7, 2016.)

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WGCIT: Influencing the future of Ag Startups in Center Already Cultivating AgTech Solutions

September 2nd, 2016

Since opening its doors last winter in Salinas, Western Growers’ Center for Innovation & Technology (WGCIT) has quickly created a reputation of agtech excellence throughout the local community, state and nation.

The Center is home to 21 start-up companies that are already developing groundbreaking innovations and achieving impressive results. With the $30,000 Wells Fargo grant recently received, WG will be able to provide scholarships to additional startups looking to join the Center and develop creative solutions to the biggest challenges facing agriculture.

In addition to helping current startups grow and launch their products, the WGCIT is playing a role in shaping the next generation of agtech leaders—here and abroad. The Center has already hosted more than 100 students from countries throughout the world, including Switzerland, Spain, Germany, China, India, New Zealand, Japan and the Philippines, in addition to the United States. While touring the Center, these groups of students have had the opportunity to interact with WGCIT innovators to learn about their specific technologies, the real-world issues they are striving to solve and the importance of collaboration.

One of the Center’s main goals is to connect entrepreneurs to WG members to facilitate innovative solutions that directly address the needs of farmers. With diminishing natural and human resources, technology will be the key to helping agriculture feed the growing population. This is where our innovators come in. The startups working out of the Center are making strides in advancing agtech.

Below are the achievements some of our startups have accomplished since joining the WG Center for Innovation & Technology:

California Safe Soil’s pilot program that turns food waste into liquid fertilizer (in just three hours!) recently moved to full-scale commercialization. The firm just finished construction and officially started operating out of their new facility designed to recycle up to 32,000 tons of organic matter per year.

Concentric Power just announced that it will be building a cogeneration plant for Church Brothers and True Leaf Farms. In addition to providing them with high-efficiency energy modules for onsite electric power generation and low temperature refrigeration, Concentric Power also signed a 10-year service contract.

Conservis has added a real-time financial accounting integration feature to its platform of management tools, which allows on-the-ground production data to seamlessly transfer into financial management accounting systems. The new accounting integration increases efficiency and reduces the risk of errors typical of duplicative data entry.

Food Origins is running an active pilot project with Driscoll’s and Fresalva Berry farm on production data collection. The company is also developing technology that would improve the traceability for food safety, which would help identify where issues with hand-harvested crops occur and provide data to prevent further incidences.

GeoVisual Analytics formalized a financing agreement with AI Capital, Taylor Farms and SVG Partners to provide seed funding for the company. The funding will be used to grow its team in Salinas and hire additional agronomic expertise to perfect its mobile imagery collection and artificial intelligence platform designed for specialty crop forecasting.

HeavyConnect recently launched its Pesticide Use Reporting tool in collaboration with the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner and Hartnell College. Working much like TurboTax for the IRS, this tool provides growers with a simplified portal to collect pesticide information from the field and generate a report that is ready to submit to their respective county.

iFood Decision Sciences launched a data management app called “The Toolbox” during the Forbes AgTech Summit on July 13. The app allows farm personnel to quickly complete field and harvest assessments required under today’s stringent food safety regulations or for third-party audits.

Russell Pacific started using a new pile-driving machine to quickly put solar electric systems in the ground for farmers and complete more installations faster. The company has been able to supply solar technology to more farmers—saving farmers money and allowing them to grow their own energy.

SWIIM System has dramatically expanded its reach in California and is quickly building momentum for new deployments in Colorado and Arizona. SWIIM—which offers software that allows users to lease and transfer unused water rights in real time—has grown so much that it is planning the Series B funding framework six months earlier than originally expected.

Trace Genomics has raised $4 million for its new service, which uses genetic sequencing to identify harmful pathogens found in soil, such as bacteria or fungi.

Wexus recently launched a new feature that allows growers to receive text alerts when their pumps are about to incur high peak energy demand charges. This can potentially save thousands of dollars per pump each month.

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Employee Retaliation Claims On the Rise

September 2nd, 2016

In 2015, employees filed 39,757 charges of unlawful retaliation, which is 44.5 percent of 89,385 charges of workplace discrimination filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last year. Retaliation charges increased by nearly 5 percent over the prior year and continues to be the leading concern raised by workers across the country, followed by race discrimination (34.7 percent) and disability discrimination (30.2 percent). The data reflects a continuing trend: the number of retaliation claims filed with the EEOC last year is more than twice the number filed in 2000 (19,694 claims).

The same is true in California, where employees filed 14,043 complaints of retaliation with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DHEH), which constitutes 21 percent of the 66,289 complaints received by that agency in 2015. As in the United States generally, retaliation charges topped the complaints list by a large margin; disability discrimination (8,507 complaints) and sex-gender (5,832 complaints) rounded out the top three.

 

Setting a Low Bar

Federal and state employment laws make it illegal to fire, demote, harass or otherwise take adverse action against applicants or employees because they complained to their employer about discrimination on the job, including making a good faith complaint of sexual or other kinds of harassment, filed a charge of discrimination or harassment with an enforcement agency, participated in an employment discrimination proceeding (e.g., company investigation or lawsuit) or engaged in any other “protected activity” such as whistleblowing.

Courts have lowered the bar for filing, and expanded the parameters of, retaliation claims in recent years. For example, in 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that an employee who has not engaged in protected activity is permitted to proceed with a retaliation claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)—where the employee is subjected to retaliation due to protected activity engaged in by another individual and is in “the zone of interests protected by Title VII.”

In Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad v. White (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision prohibits employer action that “well might have dissuaded a reasonable worker from making or supporting a discrimination charge.” This lowered the standard of harm that must be proven by the plaintiff, and made it easier to succeed on a retaliation claim.

In Thompson v. North American Stainless, L.P., the petitioner employee was fired shortly after his fiancé, who worked for the same employer, filed a charge of sex discrimination against her employer with the EEOC. The Supreme Court, applying Burlington, held that the plaintiff may sue under Title VII for third-party retaliation. According to the high court, the employee could be considered an “aggrieved person” under Title VII because he was “well within the zone of interests sought to be protected by Title VII.”

In Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., the Supreme Court overruled a federal appeals court in holding that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protects workers who make oral complaints about wage and hour violations from retaliation. In Kasten, the petitioner employee was terminated for failing to follow the company’s policy for punching in on a time clock. The petitioner filed suit alleging he was discharged after making multiple verbal complaints to his supervisors about the illegal location of the company’s time clocks. According to his brief, the clocks’ location prevented the employees from being compensated for “time spent donning and doffing their protective gear.” While the lower courts found that complaints under the FLSA had to be in writing, the Supreme Court held that any complaint, whether stated orally or in writing, that puts the employer on notice of the nature of the employee’s complaint will suffice under the FLSA.

 

Avoiding Retaliation Claims

Retaliation cases are on the rise because the courts have made it easier than ever to prevail on retaliation claims. Furthermore, juries have an inherent sense of abhorring unfairness – they want to punish employers who they perceive to have unfairly treated employees after making a reasonable complaint. Fortunately there are steps that employers can take now to avoid such claims in the future.

•   Have a clearly written Anti-Harassment Policy. The policy should generally have the following points:

–    A clear and unambiguous statement that retaliation of any kind is not permitted.

–    Describes, as clearly as possible, the types of impermissible conduct (e.g., firing, demoting, harassing, marginalizing or otherwise taking adverse action) against applicants or employees because they have complained.

–    Contains a grievance procedure, including naming the positions in the company to whom the employee can report a claim of retaliation.

–    Individuals that do complain should receive a written acknowledgement that the complaint has been received, the date it was received, and the next steps.

•   Conduct a prompt, thorough and fair investigation

–    Remind managers, supervisors and witnesses that anyone who participates in an investigation is protected from retaliation.

–    Once the investigation is completed, communicate results of the investigation to the complainant.

–    Take fair and effective remedial measures based on the information gathered, but be sure to carefully review any discipline before imposing it to ensure that it is consistent with company policy and past practice.

–    Ensure that management receives appropriate training on and understands the anti-harassment policy.  This includes ensuring they understand who is protected from retaliation and what may constitute retaliatory conduct.

•   Always consult with HR, and if there is any doubt, with inside/outside counsel.

 

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President’s Notes The End of Christianity in the Middle East?

September 2nd, 2016

For this column, I would like to step back from my usual focus on agricultural policy and touch on a subject of profound personal significance. Given my Lebanese heritage and deep involvement in the Orthodox Church, I am particularly sensitive to the plight of Christians in the Middle East.

This recent story really got to me. In late July, two ISIS-inspired assailants, armed with knives, entered a Catholic Church outside Rouen, France, and slit the throat of an elderly priest. To top it off, the attackers had the nerve to film this act of violence, according to a nun who was fortunate to escape.

I apologize for the gruesome detail, but it is an important element of the story as it illustrates the growing threat of radical Islamic extremists who view Christians as infidels and will not rest until the entire world—not just the Middle East—is run according to Sharia law.

But the targeted assassination of this priest wasn’t the first (or boldest) ISIS attack on Christians. In February of last year, 21 Coptic Christians were beheaded in Libya. Since then, Christians have been mercilessly murdered across the Middle East, including in Egypt, Yemen and Pakistan. Last year alone, Boko Haram (an ISIS affiliate) attacked 200 churches and killed more than 4,000 Christians in Nigeria.

Effectively, ISIS has declared war on Christianity, a fact the U.S. government only recently—and reluctantly—acknowledged. After substantial public pressure, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry finally called the ISIS campaign against Christians by its proper name: “genocide.”

However, the persecution of Christians in the Middle East is not a new phenomenon, although its pace has accelerated significantly since the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011. Since the beginning of the last century, the Christian population, as a percentage of the total Middle Eastern population, has been reduced by more than half.

According to the Pew Research Center, Christians make up just 4 percent of the total Middle Eastern population, a number that is expected to drop even lower over the next several decades. In Iran and Turkey, they are all but gone.

Traditionally amiable places for Christians, like Syria and Egypt, have become increasingly hostile. Nearly 500,000 Syrian Christians—roughly half of the Christian population in Syria—have been displaced since the country’s civil war began in early 2011. Even greater numbers of Christians have been driven from Egypt over the past 30 years, and the attacks on their churches have become more frequent and brazen over the past few years.

In Iraq, two out of three Christians—one million people—have fled their homes since the U.S. invasion in 2003. For all of his moral shortcomings, including unspeakable crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein provided for relative religious tolerance under his regime. The sectarian violence that has erupted between Sunnis and Shias since his ouster has jeopardized the presence of Christianity in Iraq. ISIS may wipe it out completely.

Given our relative isolation from the events in the Middle East, why is the existence of Christianity in this region so important? The short answer: Because it represents the preservation of a fundamental human right, namely to practice religion free from suppression. The First Amendment codifies this basic principle into our Constitution. In fact, promoting religious freedom is a core objective of U.S. foreign policy. Did you know the U.S. Department of State has an entire Office of International Religious Freedom devoted to this mission?

More esoterically, the Middle East is the cradle of Christianity (We were first called Christians in Antioch, Syria), home to the earliest churches and many of the sites, structures and artifacts that are foundational to the Christian faith. As ISIS seizes control of various cities in Iraq and Syria, they intentionally target these holy icons for destruction. In late 2014, for example, St. Elijah’s Monastery in Mosul—the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq—was leveled by ISIS. To lose these memorials to Christianity is to tear away at the very fabric of the religion itself.

What is being done to protect Christians and preserve Christianity in the Middle East? A lot…and not nearly enough. Many non-governmental organizations, such as In Defense of Christians, are working to raise global awareness of the plight of religious minorities in this region. Through their efforts, we are beginning to see heightened global pressure to engage on the issue.

Some of our own politicians, like California Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, clearly get it. In fact, her parents fled anti-Christian violence in this part of the world. Eshoo, co-founder and co-chair of the Caucus on Religious Minorities in the Middle East, and others are working diligently to raise both awareness and funding to support displaced Christians.

However, Congressional priorities remain backwards. Since 2013, the United States has given in the neighborhood of $500 million in humanitarian aid to Christians in the Middle East, which may sound substantial until you hear the federal government spends that much every year subsidizing magazine postage!

Our government must be willing to leverage the full weight of its diplomatic and, if necessary, military clout to advance religious security in this region. The United States has many tools at its disposal, including the ability to coordinate an international response to human rights violations. Collectively, a combination of carrot and stick may be appropriate to facilitate better behavior from the worst actors in the region.

We know ISIS isn’t going away any time soon. Neither will the steady march of Islamic fundamentalism. Which is why our response to the present crisis is so critical to the fate of Christianity, not only in the Middle East, but throughout the West, as well. Think about how scary the following phrase is: “The end of Christianity in the Middle East.” Think about the spiritual and geopolitical ramifications if that reality were to actually occur.

As I close this column, I am reminded of the words of Martin Niemoller, the German anti-Nazi pastor who famously spoke out against Adolf Hitler: “…Then they came for Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”

We are fully aware of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. Our response must be different than the Allied Powers leading up to World War II. A policy of appeasement (or willful neglect) will not be acceptable. We cannot stand idly by, we must be their voice. If we fail to act now, history and our Lord will judge us harshly. That is not a burden I am willing to bear.

Posted in September 2016 Issue | Comments Closed

Western Growers’ Offices Closed Monday in Honor of Labor Day

September 1st, 2016

This is just a friendly reminder that all Western Growers’ offices will be closed on Monday, September 5, in observance of Labor Day. We wish you and your families a happy and safe Labor Day weekend!

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