After 45 years on the Western Growers Board of Directors, Gary Pasquinelli stepped down in November having served the longest tenure in the 90-plus year history of the association.

“Our longest serving board member is not only one of the most active producers in the industry, he puts his time, talent and treasure into everything he does,” said Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers and a friend Gary for the vast majority of both their working lives. “He has been an invaluable resource for me whenever I need advice on issues affecting our members. His breadth of knowledge in the agricultural field is matched by his political acumen and personal involvement. He will always make the difficult call to any legislator. His love of the Lord and family adds a dimension to his persona that reflects in how he treats friends and neighbor alike. He is a dear friend and will be missed by us all.”

Pasquinelli told Western Grower & Shipper that he is also stepping back a bit in other aspects of his life. He has been a deacon in the Catholic Church for the past 27 years with official duties in his local Yuma church. He is also relinquishing those official duties. With regard to his company—Pasquinelli Produce Company, he is also beginning the transition process to new leadership, which he expects to occur on “the near horizon…over the next three years.” Son-in-law Alex Muller, who has focused on food safety issues at the company, is moving into a more senior administrative position to assume some of Gary’s duties as time moves on. Muller was also elected by his Yuma area peers to succeed Pasquinelli on the WG Board of Directors.

Pasquinelli attended boarding school in San Jose at Bellermine College Prep. Upon graduating in 1961, he was accepted into several different universities, but the letter from Notre Dame was the one that caught his eye. “When I got that letter, it was like a slam dunk,” he once told Western Grower & Shipper. It made sense. For a youth who attended Catholic grade school and high school with the Jesuits and who served as an altar boy, Notre Dame was the end-all of universities.

In 1965, after graduating cum laude from Notre Dame, Pasquinelli headed west to attend law school at UC Berkeley. But soon he decided that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the fresh produce industry. In 1967, he joined Pete Pasquinelli in the family business. His first assignment was in the cabbage patch where he was responsible for its harvest. Compared to the rest of the 4000-acre farming operation, it was a small slice of the pie, just 40 acres…but it was all his. Having successfully managed the cabbage harvest, the following year he was assigned to manage the produce field trucks. For two years, he oversaw the trucks that hauled the lettuce from the fields back to the cooling plants and then was promoted to the position of overseeing the entire harvest.

The next 18 years were formative for the young Pasquinelli and provided a platform for constructing the man he is today. During those years he got to know every worker in the operation, all 230 of them. He knew their names, their families and their interests. And he got to where he could speak Spanish fluently. As he described it, “I lived with them out in the field and was with them morning to night. I really respected those people. I got an appreciation for what tough work that was.”

Between 1975 and 1983, Pasquinelli estimates he ran about 65 percent of the company and his dad ran 35 percent. When his dad passed away in 1984, Gary took over the entire operation.

But farming wasn’t the only calling in Pasquinelli’s life. As mentioned above, he was ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Tucson in 1991 after several years of taking the required training. Besides tending to his own family matters, Deacon Pasquinelli has provided many services for his church, including preaching at Mass, running the infant baptism program, performing baptism interviews, teaching classes and delivering communion to nursing homes on occasion.

Pasquinelli and his wife, Barbara, have four daughters. Their daughter, Kirsten, passed away from Adrenocortical Carcinoma and a foundation was established to cure this disease thereby supporting her legacy. He also called his sister and silent business partner, Adrienne McLaughlin, a great help over the years in all aspects of his life.

Though Pasquinelli Produce was a member of Western Growers for many years under the tutelage of his father, it wasn’t until the late 1960s, when the labor battles came to Yuma, that the company got more involved with the association. Gary began working with WG lawyers and President Daryl Arnold to defeat the unionization efforts. As the ‘70s dawned, the fight intensified. “We ended up beating the union and were able to harvest our entire 2,000 acre cantaloupe crop under strike conditions. I remember Daryl Arnold saying of me that I am the kind of ‘young leadership’ that the board needed. I was about 28 at the time.”

A couple of years later, longtime WGA Yuma director Sid Woods retired. “With his blessing, I ran for the position and have been a director ever since. My blood is in the bricks,” he said of WGA, recalling many services and activities that he was intimately involved in over the past five decades. He spoke of the advent of harvest-time strike insurance and noted that he was the person who came up with the name Quail Street Casualty for the association’s off-shore insurance entity. The name came from the street that housed the association headquarters in the 1970s.

Pasquinelli recalls that he was asked to serve as chairman in the early 1990s but his deacon duties took precedent and he declined the honor. In 2000, he did serve as chairman under President Dave Moore. “I was very close to Dave and delivered the eulogy at his funeral.” The following year he chaired the search committee that brought Tom Nassif to the president’s position. Pasquinelli remembers meeting Nassif during the tumultuous labor battles when the future WG CEO was a young labor attorney.

As chairman, and throughout the years, Pasquinelli said he has been guided by the notion of being a “servant leader…leading by example. I got so much more out of it than I ever gave,” he said, greatly undervaluing his service.

He believes deeply in the work of Western Growers and the concepts of “circling the wagons” and “strength in numbers.” And he also knows it was time to step down. There is a fire in the belly that informs this work and Pasquinelli said that while the flame is still there, it’s not burning quite as bright.

After 43 years with Western Growers—the last 25 as the number two person—Western Growers Senior Executive Vice President Matt McInerney is retiring in March of 2019, after the association’s first board meeting of the year.

McInerney grew up in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley, the youngest of five kids. His mother was a registered nurse and his father worked as a sales manager in the Keds shoe division of U.S. Rubber, and were very much believers in higher education. McInerney followed the lead of one older brother and went to the University of Southern California. He majored in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing, but upon graduation didn’t have a clear idea of what career path he would take. “I graduated in 1975, which coincided with a dip in the economy,” he said. “I sent out a multitude of applications but I was finding it difficult to find full time employment.”

A family friend with Belridge Farms in Bakersfield, CA, paved the way for an interview with WGA President Daryl Arnold, who was also an alumnus of USC and had a great affinity for the school. There was a position open at the association for a field representative. “Mr. Arnold encouraged me to give it a try for a few months at a salary of $900 per month,” Matt recalls.

He spent the next two years on the road visiting members and pushing association products, such as the WGA Claims Service. “In those days, lots of freight moved in refrigerated rail cars through the Southern Pacific,” he said, noting that the department was busy helping shippers with claims. McInerney attempted to “sell” the service to members during his visits. “I spent two full weeks of every month on the road and half of the days the other two weeks. My territory was all of California and Arizona,” he said.

He learned the produce business from the ground up from the top minds in the industry…and loved it. “I called on some incredible people. They welcomed me into their businesses and answered any questions I had with patience.”

He recalls meeting industry veteran Paul Fleming of Admiral Packing many years ago wearing a coat and tie on a hot desert day. “It was mid-June and I was in the Imperial Valley during the cantaloupe season… and it was very hot. I was wearing a sports coat and tie. Paul said to me ‘You must be new. Farmers don’t wear ties.’”

He also recalls meeting Bill Ramsey of Mann Packing Company who gave the young WG employee a sense of the high regard in which farmers held their workers. “That has stuck with me all these years.”

In 1977, McInerney had an opportunity to move to the claims department, an area he worked in or oversaw for the entirety of his career from that point forward. He became fully immersed in the nuances of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. In fact, he became one of the industry’s foremost experts on the subject, often participating in panel discussions from coast to coast, as well as conducting regular seminars for WG members and their sales teams.

Discussing the highlights of his career, it is work with the PACA that he lists first, recalling the extremely important passage of the PACA Trust amendment in 1984. He remembers the charge was led by John Norton, a politically active Arizona grower-shippers and cattleman, who was also a former WG chairman of the board. Patterned after a similar amendment in the livestock business, Norton advocated for the trust provision, which put produce suppliers in a priority position in the event of a bankruptcy by a firm on the buy side of the equation. Over the past 30 years, that provisions has helped the produce industry recoup hundreds of millions of dollars.

Another highlight he recalls was the establishment of the Dispute Resolution Corporation, the tri-national (Canada, Mexico and the U.S.) dispute resolution system that gave shippers from all three countries a road map and guidance on how to handle disputes no matter where they shipped their product. McInerney served as chairman of the DRC from its inception in 2000 through 2017.

In 2007, Western Growers, in conjunction with C.H. Robinson, established the Western Growers Transportation Program. McInerney worked closely with CHR over the past decade fine tuning the program and helping to pitch it to members, as well as helping to expand it to other associations around the country.

Still another highlight for McInerney was the six years he served as chairman of the Alliance for Food and Farming—another collaborative industry effort designed to solve an industry problem.

During his career. McInerney served Western Growers in a variety of positions. Over the years he oversaw almost all WG activities at one time or another. He served a stint in Washington D.C. in between lobbyist hires and also was named interim president for a period of time as the association traversed the very difficult period between the untimely death of president Dave Moore in 2001 and the hiring of current president Tom Nassif in 2002.

After being named president and CEO, Nassif remembers fondly meeting McInerney for the first time. “He pledged to me that he would support everything I wanted to do and do it as best he could, and he has.”

Nassif continued: “He is one of the most respected ag leaders in the country. He is admired for his unmatched knowledge of the fresh produce industry and his willingness to tackle any issue that benefits the industry and our members. He avoids being in the spotlight and taking credit for the many invaluable successes he has spearheaded. We will find others to do his work but no one will replace him. It will be a great loss for us all.”

McInerney is equally effusive about Nassif’s impact on the association. “For the past 17 years I have been very lucky to work for Tom Nassif who has been a great leader and has brought a great entrepreneurial spirit to the organization. Over those years we have seen phenomenal growth in the services and products we offer to our members. We are a solution-driven association.”

In fact, McInerney said that has been the approach at Western Growers since he joined the organization 43 years ago from both the staff and the volunteer leaders. He said he has served with many generations of the same families as the organization leaders are often second, third and fourth generation family members of the growers who founded the organization and have taken it on its 90-year journey. “There are just too many to name,” Matt said. “I can’t recall one board member that I wouldn’t want to go out and get a beer with.”

As he retires, McInerney is extremely confident that the association is in great hands. “I am very optimistic about the future of this organization as we have a number of young professionals who have come aboard in the last 10-15 years and are taking key position. These people are passionate about what they do and love the industry. They are the right people for these positions.”

He noted that Bryan Nickerson, who has an industry background, has become the manager of the trade practices division. “He will answer to Jason Resnick, vice president and general counsel, who has a keen legal mind and will be very helpful to Bryan.”

McInerney took the opportunity to bid farewell to Ken Gilliland, another long term WG employee, who retired at the end of the year and worked with Matt for the majority of the past four decades. “Ken was a great help and those international trade issues that he and I were involved in have been shifted to our Washington D.C. office where

This past October, California’s Coachella Valley hummed with energy from the 500 leading agricultural professionals who flooded the ballrooms of the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa for Western Growers’ (WG) Annual Meeting.

The 93^rd Annual Meeting offered a host of workshops and events that embodied the theme of “growth.” Guests had the opportunity to participate in educational sessions that focused on expanding their knowledge in the hottest science and technology trends, as well as listen to world-renowned speakers who provided tools to influence behavior. Attendees also enjoyed a flurry of networking activities that provided an opportunity to reflect on 2018 and ignite conversation on how to grow the industry in 2019.

RATTO TAKES HELM AS 2019 CHAIRMAN

The Annual Meeting was filled with celebration, thanking outgoing chairman Craig Reade, of Bonipak Produce, for his service and welcoming Ron Ratto, of Ratto Bros., Inc., as the 2019 Chairman of the Board. During Reade’s moving farewell address, words of inspiration filled the room as he spoke about the next generation of leaders who will disrupt current norms and spark an evolution in agriculture.

“The increasing regulations on agriculture are an increasing burden,” said Reade during his speech. “Technology allows us to overcome these regulations. Millennials understand how to adapt to use technology and the innate innovativeness of millennials will allow agriculture to thrive.”

This theme of growing young talent was also reflected when the new roster of board members was announced on day two of the Annual Meeting. The Board of Directors welcomed four former Future Volunteer Leaders to the team: Neill Callis, Turlock Fruit Company, Brandon Grimm, Grimmway Farms, Alex Muller, Pasquinelli Produce Company, and Kelly Strickland, Five Crowns Marketing, Inc. They join Steve Martori, Martori Farms, and now represent five current board members who have graduated from WG’s Future Volunteer Leaders program, a two-year cohort designed to cultivate the next generation of leaders within WG member companies.

Next year, the board will convene under the leadership of Ratto, who was elected to serve as chairman for a one-year term.

“Ron has made significant contributions in his current role as a board member and senior vice chairman, advancing both the innovation and advocacy side of agriculture,” said WG President and CEO Tom Nassif. “I look forward to working with him as our new chairman, along with the rest of the board, to facilitate the ongoing growth of Western Growers in support of our members and the fresh produce industry as a whole.”

PATRICIO HONORED FOR SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO AG

Steve Patricio, Westside Produce, who has helped move the needle on critical issues facing ag such as water scarcity and food safety, was designated as the 2018 Award of Honor. In addition to the Award of Honor, Patricio was also presented a resolution from the California Legislature—a Joint Members Resolution from Representatives Anthony Cannella, Heath Flora and Adam Gray.

Preceded by introductory remarks from Nassif, Patricio delivered an inspirational speech that resonated with each and every guest.

“Growing up, our parents instilled an important principle in us that I have tried to impress on my children,” said Patricio. “That simple principle was hanging around with the good kids. By being around the better kids, it would make you better. By being around the best kids, it could make you work harder and achieve more. Western Growers are the better kids. They are the best kids, and hanging around these kids have made me better.”

STARTUP WINS $250K TO DEPLOY LABOR-SAVING TECH IN THE FIELD

Augean Robotics, an early-stage robotics company that has built an autonomous vision-based robotic platform, walked away from the WG AgSharks® Competition with a $250,000 equity investment offer after facing off against four other startups.

The seed funding, which was awarded by S2G Ventures, will allow the robotics startup to continue to scale and fine tune their product toward early commercialization next year. Its product, Burro, is a robot that follows farmworkers and functions as a virtual conveyor belt between pick points and collection points, allowing hand pickers to pick continuously rather than wasting up to 30 percent of their time shuttling produce.

“In S2G and Western Growers, we see a group with boots on the ground and eyes on the horizon—keenly aware of the day to day needs of farmers and the incredible potential for robots in agriculture over the coming decade,” said Charles Andersen, CEO of Augean Robotics. “We are honored to have their support and look forward to working together as we bring collaborative robots to the industry that needs it most.”

WORLD-RENOWNED SPEAKERS LEAVE GUESTS WITH POWERFUL MESSAGES

The topic of embracing growth and change were top of mind during the Changing Minds to Influence Results with Arbinger and Advances in Genomics sessions during the Annual Meeting.

Juan Enriquez, one of the world’s leading authorities on the uses and benefits of genomic research, shared a presentation on genomics and how advancements in the field will fundamentally change life in the future, while Mike Merchant, senior consultant for the Arbinger Institute, facilitated an emotional and eye-opening conversation about achieving an outward mindset. Through personal stories from WG members, the workshop demonstrated the importance of taking into account one’s impact on others and focusing on the needs of the organization as a whole.

“Arbinger is more than a culture. This is a healing,” said Merchant. “It’s a way to humanize every interaction and speak the same language.”

Additionally, keynote addresses from Judge Andrew Napolitano, Robert O’Neill and Jon Dorenbos left guests in awe. During the PAC Lunch, Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Napolitano shared insights on the current political environment. On the following day, O’Neill took the stage and provided an inside look into leadership and decision-making as a Navy SEAL Team Six leader.

“This nation will never quit,” noted O’Neill during his keynote. “It will do everything it can to preserve and protect its people.”

O’Neill—who released the famous three shots that dispatched the world’s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden—has held leadership roles in more than 400 combat missions and shared some of his personal key principles to success with the audience:

•  Separate emotions from decision-making.

•  Never quit. Only move forward.

•  Complacency kills.

•  Trust your team. Trust your people.

“Bravery is recognizing fear and putting it aside. Put your head down, don’t give up and keep moving forward,” said O’Neill.

The Annual Meeting culminated in a jaw-dropping magic performance by former Philadelphia Eagles long-snapper Jon Dorenbos, where he wowed the audience with his skills as a sleight-of-hand magician and inspired the crowd with his life story.

Though the festivities of the 2018 Annual Meeting have concluded, it is never too early to begin thinking about WG’s next annual conference. WG is headed to Wailea Beach Resort – Marriott, Maui, on November 10 – 13, 2019, for another Annual Meeting filled with growth opportunities, interactive activities and ag collaboration.