Tackling the Cost of Chronic Disease in the Workforce

September 23rd, 2021

By David Zanze, Executive Vice President of Western Growers Assurance Trust

How much are chronic conditions costing employers in lost productivity and medical expenses each year? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it’s an estimated $36.4 billion. For employers looking to become proactive in dealing with the impact of chronic diseases on their workforce, there is light at the end of the tunnel. More employers are choosing to adopt care management programs designed to not only improve the health of their unique employee populations, but also save on medical costs.

The Challenge for Ag Employers

A California Agricultural Workers Health Survey measured several major chronic disease risk factors among farmworkers. The report found that farmworkers are at elevated risk for diabetes as well as heart disease, and that a significant number of diagnoses among workers remain underreported. Additionally, a higher percentage of male farmworkers had high cholesterol when compared with the rest of the U.S. general population. Diagnoses for high blood pressure among male and female agricultural workers between the ages of 22 and 40 also skewed higher when compared with the rest of the population. The data also found that 81 percent of male and 76 percent of female ag workers were overweight or obese.

COVID-19 certainly hasn’t improved the situation for employers. In fact, diabetes cases surged 182 percent during the first year of the pandemic compared to the previous year. According to recent numbers reported by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), diabetes alone has cost employers $90 billion.

Steps to Improve Health

Employers can take steps to ensure their affected employees receive the support they need to help manage their conditions more effectively, prevent related risks and complications, and reduce medical costs. Western Growers Assurance Trust (WGAT) partners with Pinnacle Health Management (PHM) to offer a health management program at no cost to employees diagnosed with a chronic care condition. The program, which is included with every WGAT health plan, provides support for those diagnosed with:

•   Asthma

•   Depression

•   Diabetes

•   Hypertension (high blood pressure)

•   Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol)

•   Weight Management

•   Mom-to-Be

•   Nicotine Cessation

Our team of medical professionals help control and prevent various disease stages and helps participants stay compliant with their treatment plans. We also can provide data analytics that enables us to make customized recommendations for employers to ensure a healthy and productive workforce.

Patient adherence is key to having better health outcomes for employees with chronic conditions. If you don’t have a WGAT plan, which includes a health management program with every plan, contact us to see how we can help you better manage your health care costs at (800) 333-4942. 

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A Bit of Normalcy Returns to Ag Legal Battles

September 23rd, 2021

By Tim Linden

There is no question that 2020 was a year like no other and that also permeated the legal work associated with the business of agriculture.

“Last year was all about COVID,” said Jason Resnick, Senior Vice President & General Counsel for Western Growers. “We are not yet living in a post-COVID world, but there is a sense of certainty about the rules and regulations covering the pandemic.”

Resnick said that companies, and their attorneys, were scrambling last year to stay ahead of the ever-changing governmental rules and regulations covering the workplace environment, health and safety protocols, sick leave obligations and back-to-work provisions. “With the Delta variant, COVID is still with us but we have more than a year’s experience and there is much less uncertainty about how to handle it,” he said.

The WG executive did note that there is still a lot of uncertainty about when a return to more normal routines will occur. “Many companies had put plans in place to reopen their offices and some have had to put those reopenings on the back burner.”

As such, there are new issues surrounding vaccinations, testing and the rights of the employer and employee. Resnick said there are many circumstances in which employers can require employees to be vaccinated. “For example, some H-2A employers are requiring their employees to arrive in the United States vaccinated or to be vaccinated once they get here,” he said.

He believes this makes perfect sense as H-2A employees tend to congregate together at work, live and spend leisure time together. He added that vaccines are readily available and it is not a challenge to get vaccinated as it once was.

For the general employee population, Resnick noted: “We are not issuing a blanket recommendation that employers require their employees be vaccinated but we know some employers who are doing that.”

He indicated that employers need to make that decision based on their own circumstances.

On the non-COVID legal front, but certainly related, Resnick said H-2A applications are skyrocketing as ag employers in virtually all the production areas are experiencing labor shortages. “I’m getting multiple calls each week from members who want to file new applications or at least explore the idea,” he said.

He added that “wage inflation is real” and the labor force appears to be in a good position of leverage currently.

Western Grower & Shipper interviewed several attorneys who are members of the Western Growers Ag Legal Network to get a sense of the kind of cases they have been working on.

“Class action lawsuits and PAGA (California’s Private Attorney General Act) claims are what we are seeing mostly,” said Pat Moody, a partner in the Fresno, Calif.-based law firm of Barsamian & Moody. “It is legalized extortion and it is having a devastating effect on agriculture. Everyone is getting sued. People are going out of business. The Mom-and-Pop farms can’t survive.”

Moody explains that these lawsuits pick apart the many rules in California’s wage and hour laws and regulations. “It’s virtually impossible to do everything right if you are an employer,” he said, noting that the rules have so many nuances even the most diligent company is going to make some mistakes.

It is at that point that Moody says lawyers file suits and begin auditing the books. When they find even a small error, it can balloon to millions of dollars when it results in looking back over hundreds of employees for several years. The Fresno defense attorney said these plaintiff attorneys often demand millions to settle the case and it is very difficult and costly for an employer to defend himself in court. He explained that virtually every case will find some error that results in the plaintiff’s attorney fees being part of the judgment.

Moody said there are many different areas of attack but often they focus on meal breaks being too short or the workers aren’t released on time. Or some of the workers aren’t released on time. This is always a difficult operation for a foreman to manage as workers are typically scattered over a field and involved in different aspects of a harvesting operation.

PAGA claims aren’t quite as onerous, he said, because they generally only allow a one-year look back. A class-action suit can cast a wide net and create a settlement proposal well into the millions. “It is not uncommon for these settlements to reach eight-figures,” Moody said.

What’s an employer to do? Moody said first and foremost, every employer has to “do everything they can to make sure you are doing everything correctly. You need to conduct self-audits all the time. And you need to audit the FLCs (farm labor contractors) you use because of joint liability issues.”

He also advised employers to make sure each employee signs an arbitration agreement in which he or she waives their right to file a class action suit. He noted that the law does not allow for the waiving of PAGA actions through an arbitration agreement, but because the look-back is not as severe, those suits are typically not as costly.

“For the 30 years that I have been practicing ag labor law, we typically had many different types of cases,” he said. “For the past five or six years, it seems like wage and hour litigation is all we do. It’s probably 70 percent of our cases.”

Craig Hardwick of Alvarado Smith, Santa Ana, Calif., said, “one of the hot button issues right now is lack of housing.” For many years, cities controlled development through zoning regulations, but over the past several years, the California Legislature has passed statewide laws forcing cities to approve more projects and to stop putting roadblocks up for development, especially housing projects. “One way this can affect agriculture is we may start seeing changes in areas zoned for agricultural use,” he said.

While some landowners might like the increased opportunity of selling for development, others could be challenged by a housing development going up adjacent to their farm.

Another area of law that could hit agriculture has to do with the Tenant Protection Act of 2019. This law strengthens the rights of tenants, which puts landlords in a more challenging position, including landlords with company housing, or even if they have a farmhand or a ranch manager living on the property. Tenants now have additional rights that should be taken into consideration when a landowner is contemplating uses for property that include tenants.

One piece of good news for ag companies and farmers is that the on-fire California real estate market has loosened up a lot of lender money for purchasing property or making improvements on land. There has also been an influx of former city dwellers now moving to the “country” now that they are working from home. This has resulted in a “hot market” for many rural locations, but it also brings non-farm folks to those areas, which could impact local rules and regulations.

Even though he has spent decades in the real estate business, Hardwick noted that “his crystal ball broke years ago” when asked to comment on whether California is in a real estate bubble or if prices have peaked. He reluctantly opined that it could be a bubble but not as big as the two that saw a precipitous drop in real estate values in 1994 and 2009.

Mike Droke of Dorsey & Whitney LLC, Seattle, Wash., grew up in Santa Cruz, Calif. and took many of his ag clients when he moved up to Washington many years ago. “We are experiencing more investment, merger and acquisition activity in all of business, including the ag space, than we have ever seen before,” he said. “From farm to table, there is activity in all areas.”

He said large pension funds, investment firms, larger companies and even individuals are making substantial plays for firms and land connected to agricultural production. “Bill Gates is now the largest ag land owner in the United States,” he quipped.

Droke said the activity is being fueled by high valuations and available money at low interest rates. “Why would a school pension fund invest in agriculture? They see agriculture as a good investment,” he asked and answered. “Everything from land to established businesses to processors, agtech and ag inputs.”

He does not see this current activity as being a bubble but rather a longer trend. “We’ve been seeing it for the past five years and we see deals that haven’t been announced yet that tell us this is not ending soon. If it’s a bubble, it’s a long and large one.”

He noted that there are higher multiples on average than there were two years ago when parties are coming to an agreement on a sales price. But he does not believe these higher multiples (on sales, revenues or profit) are out of line. He said they are justified by the simple rules of supply and demand—there are many buyers looking to purchase.

He did caution that companies considering a merger or acquisition from either the buy or sell side should do their homework and make sure they are armed with specialists advising along the way. “When you buy or sell, it can be very complicated with lots of things to consider including water rights and environmental issues. You need a group of advisors with experience in these areas.”

For example, he advised parties to be very familiar with the supplier and customer contracts they have. “Look at your agreements. Can they be assigned to a new buyer or do they need consent from the other party?” he said.

Gone are the days, Droke said, when a handshake behind the pick-up truck in the field is sufficient. There are many nuances of contracts that come into play when a company acquisition is being negotiated.

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The Far-Reaching Consequences of Drought

September 23rd, 2021

By Matthew Allen, Vice President, State Government Affairs

There is simply no industry that brings a value like agriculture to the daily lives of human beings. Farmworkers and growers work together to plant, harvest and distribute an unbelievable variety of sustenance for our state, nation and world. We go to the grocery store, shop online and open our refrigerators, largely taking for granted that what we want to eat will be there.

For those suffering hardship, local non-profits and food banks work in partnership with agricultural producers to help ensure that those who are less fortunate are receiving a variety of nutritious food. All of this is accomplished with attention to food safety, employee health and well-being, environmental stewardship and compliance with national, state and local regulations. Let’s also not forget that growers do this in the face of something that is outside of their control: the weather.

As growers work diligently to rebuild and re-tune their operations due to the nationwide closures of businesses and schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the West is in the midst of a record drought. The lack of ample water storage has led to severe cutbacks in water deliveries to growers and recouping that loss from groundwater is quickly becoming a less feasible option. Growers have responded to this drought crisis by disking already planted crops back into the soil as well as fallowing ground. The drought has softened the much-anticipated ag recovery from COVID-19.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. The lack of rainfall and lackluster snowpack has also impacted energy generation in California. Hydropower generation in the Golden State has been decreasing because a specific amount of water is needed in reservoirs to turn the massive turbines that generate electricity for our grid. If the reservoir levels fall too low, the turbines must be turned off. That happened recently at the Edward Hyatt Powerplant at Lake Oroville. That plant is no longer delivering needed power to what is already an unstable and unreliable electric grid, due to aging utility infrastructure and wildfires.

Energy in California is becoming a precious commodity. Food processing facilities already face some of the highest electric rates in the nation. Less stable energy generation is putting additional upward pressure on commercial/industrial rate increases. A reliable and efficient grid is also a necessary building block for the state’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality. California has designated an all-electric vehicle transportation network as a significant portion of the strategy to get to a carbon neutral economy. This is not just passenger vehicles but trucks and off-road equipment as well.

How will farmers grow, harvest, pack and ship their products if the equipment that they rely upon is not able to be charged due to a public safety power shutoff, infrastructure loss due to wildfire, or loss of natural gas-powered backup generation that would normally be brought online in times of low energy generation? This is an all-important question especially for fresh produce. These products need to be harvested and processed in a timely manner to maintain freshness and avoid spoilage. It’s not clear that California policymakers and regulators are thinking about these and other potential unintended consequences of an unreliable power grid.

California’s drought conditions are clearly exacerbating existing policy challenges. WG will continue to be a leading voice in calling out these concerns and finding pathways forward to ensure the sustainability of our industry.

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California Legislator Profile: John Laird — A Life of Public Service

September 23rd, 2021

California State Senator John Laird representing District 17, which includes Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo Counties, as well as Portions of Monterey and Santa Clara Counties

John Laird, who was elected to the California State Senate on November 3, 2020, has had a lifetime of public service that began more than 40 years ago as a Santa Cruz City Councilmember as he was entering his 30s.

His career includes eight years as Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency under Governor Jerry Brown, six years as an elected member of the California State Assembly, nine years on the Santa Cruz City Council, two terms as Mayor of that city, and an elected member of the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees for eight years. Laird has also served as Executive Director of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project, taught environmental policy at the University of California Santa Cruz, hosted a news talk program on KUSP public radio, and held analyst positions in budgeting and human resources for the County of Santa Cruz.

In a recent interview with Western Grower & Shipper, he noted that when working on the most recent California State Budget as a member of the Senate Budget Committee, there was virtually no aspect of that budget in which he did not have firsthand knowledge as a public policy advocate, teacher and participant for the past 40-plus years.

Laird was born in Santa Rosa in 1950 and was raised in Vallejo by his parents who were teachers by profession. He graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a degree in politics in 1972. He continues to be a long-time resident of that city with his spouse, John Flores, and claims his fandom of the Chicago Cubs as one of his lifetime passions.

Immediately after college, Laird began his political career as a member of the district staff of U.S. Representative Jerome Waldie, which fostered his appetite for a political career.

It is his desire to get things done that led to his public service and fueled his desire to come back to the California State Legislature in 2020. Working on public policy is his calling, with climate change being the most pressing issue currently grabbing his attention. “Climate change dominates everything,” he said, explaining why he ran for office again in 2020. “Being from a coastal district, I am witnessing the impact it is having on a daily basis.”

Laird listed the increase in fires California is experiencing year in and year out as well as the seemingly ever-present drought as proof of the major impact climate change is having on his constituents, including production agriculture. Though the most recent climate change assessment in early August by the United Nations painted a very dim future if immediate worldwide action is not taken, Laird chooses to be an optimist. “I think there is a distinct possibility that the monumental outcomes of fire and drought will be a wake-up call,” he said, expressing hope that minds will be changed.

He did express frustration that many people are arguing over the cause of the change rather than dealing with its outcomes. While the California Legislature is just one small player on the world stage, Laird does believe it can lead the way on public policy. He points to the passage of Assembly Bill 32 in 2006, while he was in the California State Assembly, which required California to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHC) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020—a reduction of approximately 15 percent below emissions expected under a “business as usual” scenario. “We did meet those goals…if only the other 49 states would have followed our lead,” he mused.

He believes the California Legislature should set additional goals and targets and take the reduction of GHC emissions to the next level.

“All politics are local,” he argues in advocating for the state to continue to take a leadership role in addressing climate change.

Turning his attention specifically to his constituents, Laird notes that he represents a wide swath of ag producers from some of the largest growers in the state in the Salinas Valley to mom-and-pop farms in Santa Cruz. He believes agriculture is vital to his district and to the state’s economy and believes urban and agricultural California can coexist. “Agriculture is always going to criticize over-regulation and to some extent they are right,” he said. “My goal is to support agriculture. One way I can try to do that is with water. Agriculture needs an adequate water supply in the state.”

Laird said money from the state budget and the water bond passed several years ago have allocated resources toward that goal, but the construction of those major projects is ongoing and water storage capacity has yet to be increased. He did point out that a water recycling project on the Pajaro River Watershed has resulted in increased water storage for local farmers.

On another ag front, the state senator pointed with pride to his role in securing more funds in the most recent state budget for agricultural research by the University of California. Laird said that over the years the agricultural research budget has shrunk, and it is his goal to return it to prior levels where research can help solve some of the issues California agriculture faces.

One such issue is an ongoing and worsening labor shortage that sees growers struggling to get their crops harvested. While immigration reform is a federal issue, Laird believes the state should lobby Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, which would address that issue. He did note that the advent of the Biden Administration has made it a bit easier for California to be heard, but noted that Congress is still gridlocked with progress on a host of issues difficult at best.

Interviewed on the day that the U.S. Senate passed a bi-partisan infrastructure bill (August 10), Sen. Laird expressed hope that California would see some of those dollars allocated for the state’s most pressing transportation issues.

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WG Goes All in for Agtech Workforce Development

September 23rd, 2021

By Stephanie Metzinger

Agriculture has a shortage of labor to perform key functions such as harvesting, weeding and thinning. This decades-long labor shortage is exacerbated by the lack of immigration reform and an aging workforce. As a result, there is a critical need for leading-edge innovation from startups, established agtech equipment makers and solution providers.

As the world’s skilled agtech entrepreneurs and technology experts invent solutions, the industry will need to transition the current ag workforce to master this new technology. This next generation of tech-savvy ag workers will need to be adept in everything from agriculture and agronomy to data analytics and logic. Western Growers (WG) is going “all in” to meet the future workforce needs and is leading the charge on cultivating a workforce that has the skills and knowledge to navigate up-and-coming technology on the farm.

WG maintains numerous initiatives aimed at transitioning the agriculture workforce to master rapidly developing agricultural technology:

Careers in Ag

This career pathways program encourages college students to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers within the agricultural industry. As part of the program, college students embark on three-day tours of agricultural and technology operations in Monterey County, the Central Valley, the Coachella and Imperial valleys, and Yuma, Arizona. Throughout the tour, they learn about the vast array of STEM jobs available in the industry, meet ag professionals who provide career insight and guidance and connect with WG members to possibly pursue an internship or job within their operation.

More than 250 students from UC Davis, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State L.A., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Fresno State and numerous California community colleges have participated in the program to date, with several having been placed in internships and jobs as a direct result of the program.

AgTechX Ed

WG teamed with Karen Ross, California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary, to launch a statewide initiative aimed at transitioning the agriculture workforce to master rapidly developing agricultural technology. The initiative is anchored by four AgTechX Ed events in key rural areas across California.

The outcome for each event will be a roadmap of the following:

•   specific skills needed in the fresh produce industry—now and in the future

•   training opportunities currently available

•   steps to revamp college curriculum

•   new educational pathways for agtech workforce development

•   partnerships between industry, government and academia to adapt education to the changing needs of agriculture

NextGen Curriculum Development

WG’s NextGen Curriculum Development effort will address the need for agriculture worker education by developing a curriculum that can be leveraged across campuses in the University of California, California State University and California Community College systems to provide the training needed for agtech expertise for the next-gen agricultural workforce.

In a train-the-trainer format, this program will prepare professors across California college and university campuses to teach the cross-disciplinary skills that will be required of new agricultural workers.

Junior AgSharks

Students from middle and high schools in rural areas are invited to serve as AgSharks, where they listen to pitches from agricultural technology startups and vet their technologies as well as learn about the latest technologies by interacting with leaders in the agriculture industry and venture capitalist space. With this exposure, students become aware of the fact that the industry needs future leaders who are interested in STEM-related topics.

Home for the Holidays

An annual professional mixer where college students are invited to an exclusive meet-and-greet with agriculture industry leaders and technology companies.

Nearly 100 students from CSU Monterey Bay, Hartnell Community College, UC Davis, Cal Poly Pomona and Fresno State have participated in “Home for the Holidays,” meeting professionals from top companies including Amazon Web Services, Taylor Farms and more.

With five robust initiatives, WG is the first fresh produce association to tackle the monumental task of developing the future agtech workforce. WG recently announced this comprehensive Agtech Workforce Readiness Campaign at AgTechX Ed at Reedley College on Aug. 25, 2021, along with the official rollout of https://www.agtechworkforce.com/.

Agtechworkforce.com is a one-stop-shop where stakeholders can:

•   find information about WG’s initiatives

•   watch videos and read articles about students who are already making a difference in the workforce

•   hear directly from farmers about workforce needs

•   join the cause

To learn more about the Agtech Workforce Readiness Campaign, visit agtechworkforce.com or attend the next AgTechx Ed event at Imperial Valley College in January 2022.

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Annual Meeting Award of Honor: Carol Chandler’s Family Values Inspired Her to Become a Trailblazing Ag Advocate

September 23rd, 2021

By Ann Donahue

Years ago, Carol Chandler found herself at a turning point.

She was a “farm wife”—in her own words—a mother who put her career as a teacher on hold to dedicate her time to her family. But as she lived day in and day out with her husband, Bill, and her sons, Tom and John, on Chandler Farms, their fourth-generation operation in Selma, California, she had an important realization.

Chandler recognized that she had a unique set of skills and a compelling voice thanks to being an educator, a woman, a mother and a farmer. “Through the years, I’ve found that in Sacramento and Washington D.C., when women who are involved in agriculture speak up, they listen,” Chandler said. “The women involved in our business, we’re moms and shoppers and food safety advocates and healthy eating advocates and advocates for our farm labor.”

It was that key understanding that formed the basis of her career as one of the most effective agricultural ambassadors the industry has ever seen.

Western Growers will honor Chandler with the Award of Honor during the 2021 Annual Meeting in recognition of her trailblazing work as an advocate, educator and philanthropist. “Underneath Carol’s warm and gracious demeanor lies a fierce and committed advocate for agriculture’s rightful place in our society,” said Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia. “There are few in our industry who have given so much time and energy in service to the greater good, and even fewer who have mustered the strength to stick with the fight even as others withdraw from disappointment. Advocacy is not for the faint of heart, which is one of many reasons Carol is so deserving of our highest honor.”

For her part, Chandler said she’s not entirely comfortable with the limelight, but was “overwhelmed to be chosen for the Award of Honor,” Chandler said. “It’s meant so much to me to be on the Board of Western Growers through the years.”

“The Central Valley has much to be proud of and Carol Chandler is at the top of that list,” said President & CEO of Woolf Farming and Processing Stuart Woolf, who will be emceeing the Award of Honor presentation to Chandler at the 2021 Annual Meeting. “She’s a wonderful person, leader and great friend to many. Carol’s sharp mind, strong core values and eternal optimism make her a perfect role model. I am very proud to call her my friend.”

Chandler’s initial impetus to get into agricultural advocacy came from how the issues she saw living on her family’s farm differed from the way those concerns were perceived outside the industry. Chandler is a partner of the operation founded by W.F. Chandler in the 1880s and grows grapes, peaches, plums, nectarines and almonds. “As I became more involved in our farm, I saw that labor was a huge issue,” she said. “The UFW was being very forceful. And we all felt that there was another side to the story—and who better to tell it than those of us who lived and worked on the farm?”

The dedication to telling the true story of what was happening on the ground in agriculture lead to Chandler’s involvement in advocacy at the state, local and national levels. Besides serving on the board of Western Growers—including her current tenure as Treasurer—she is a member of the Central Valley Community Foundation, and previously served on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Advisory Committee on Emerging Markets, the California Grape & Tree Fruit League and the Fresno County Fair Board.

How does she, frankly, find the time to do all this and help run a family farm? For Chandler, the two dedications are interchangeable—and she even admitted she has time for an occasional round of golf. “Our business is a partnership,” she said. “I think that the main thing is keeping everybody in the family involved, and communicating the issues with everybody. It’s easy for us because we all live close by. I think that it makes it more difficult when family members are not close by and maybe just have a financial interest. What’s really important is keeping everybody up to date on what’s happening financially, culturally and with everything to do with farming. I also think that getting everybody involved in advocacy is good as well.”

A throughline in her years of service remains education: she was chair of the President’s Water Task Force for California State University at Fresno, serves on the University of California President’s Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources, and held positions with the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University Board of Trustees and the Fresno State Board of Governors. “Being an educator, I don’t think that you ever stop learning and you never reach the point when you just sit back and say, ‘I’m done.’ Because there’s so much more out there,” she said.

But education isn’t the only key for those looking to get involved in the agriculture industry, she said. It also requires a dedication to first-person experience. Knowing the theoretical aspects of ag is all well and good, according to Chandler, but it is critical to get out there and get your hands dirty. “I think if I didn’t live here and see what was happening day-to-day, it would be a little more difficult to see what goes on and be part of it—despite the dust from the almond harvest,” she joked.

Of course, she wants to see more women get involved in the industry. Thanks to her participation in WG Women, American Agri-Women and as past State President for California Women for Agriculture, Chandler believes a hands-on, collective approach is the best way for women to raise pertinent issues.

“When we started California Women for Agriculture, a lot of us gathered because we all thought that there needed to be a voice for agriculture that was not just coming from the farmers, but also from the women involved in farming,” she said. “I just always point to [a time when] Senator Feinstein looked around the room and saw one woman. Me! She said: ‘Where are all the women?’ I really am so pleased that we are working to remedy that situation.”

And so, thanks to this lifelong dedication, the Award of Honor will sit on Chandler’s mantlepiece alongside awards for being named Agriculturists of the Year with her husband by the California State Fair Board of Directors in 2020 and Woman of the Year by the California State Legislature twice, once in 1992 and again in 2002. In 2004, the Fresno Chamber of Commerce named her Agriculturist of the Year.

When she looks back on her contributions to the agricultural community, what is she most proud of? When prodded to brag, she demurred. Because for Chandler, the biggest award was already won before the day she realized her authentic voice could help change an industry.

“I think that you feel appreciative and honored when receiving awards,” she said, “but I think that having a family and being family farmers are the best things that could ever happen in my life.”

 

Chandler’s achievements and service will be recognized at the Award of Honor Dinner Gala at the Western Growers 2021 Annual Meeting at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego. The 2021 Annual Meeting will be held from Nov. 7 – 10, 2021; to register to attend or to take advantage of sponsorship opportunities, please go to the 2021 Annual Meeting website www.wgannualmeeting.com.

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Drought Triggers Cuts to Arizona Water Supply

September 23rd, 2021

By Tim Linden

On August 16, in their annual report on the level of Hoover Dam’s Lake Mead, federal officials revealed that the water level has fallen to a point that automatically triggers cuts in Arizona’s water deliveries for 2022.

Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke told Western Grower & Shipper that the brunt of the impact of the 18 percent reduction (512,000 acre-feet) will be felt by Central Arizona farmers in Pinal County, who are mostly involved in field crop production as well as dairy farms and cattle ranches. There are few fresh produce crops grown in that region.

The Bureau of Reclamation measured the Lake Mead level at 1,068 feet, which is an all-time low since the dam was built in the 1930s and Lake Mead was formed and filled. In a 2019 drought contingency plan, California, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico agreed to take voluntary cutbacks in deliveries in an effort to maintain sufficient levels in Lake Mead. The agreement mandates cutbacks when specific water levels are reached. A level of 1,075 feet or less is the first trigger with Arizona taking the most damaging hit, as the Colorado River water reduction represents about 8 percent of the state’s water supply. Nevada loses 7 percent (21,00 A.F.) of its total take, while Mexico is reduced by 5 percent (80,000 A.F). California is not impacted at this Tier 1 level of cutbacks, but it will be impacted if Lake Mead continues to decline. Tier 2 reductions are triggered at 1050 feet, with Arizona losing an additional 80,000 A.F. to 592,000, and Nevada losing 4,000 more A.F. to 25,000. Once the Lake Mead level falls below 1,045 feet, California’s first reduction kicks in with a cutback of 200,000 A.F. under Tier 2b rules. Cutbacks increase significantly for California as the water level continues to drop below that.

The August 16 report projected Lake Mead’s water level for January 1, 2023, at a level above 1,050 feet, which predicts there will not be additional cutbacks until at least 2024. Buschatzke said a prediction of Tier 2 cuts in 2021 would also have triggered a provision of the agreement requiring California, Arizona, Nevada and federal officials to go back to the drawing table and discuss further measures to take to preserve the level of Lake Mead that allows for normal water deliveries.

The Arizona water expert said the trend in Lake Mead is not favorable as it has dropped more than 143 feet below its level of two decades ago. While some heavy precipitation years did see a rise in the level of Lake Mead, the overall graph is unmistakably heading down. Buschatzke said the precipitous drop this past year is due to an unprecedented below average runoff. While runoff from the snowpack in the mountains feeding the Colorado River typically is in the 70-80 percent range, this spring’s runoff was only 32 percent. Severe drought conditions throughout the West created the huge drop-off.

Though an overly wet year is always possible, the long-term trend points to the need for other solutions.

In 2022, Buschatzke said Central Arizona will not receive sufficient deliveries from the Colorado River to recharge ground water supplies. He noted that once the Tier 1 cutbacks are triggered, there is no going back regardless of what happens over the next four months. He said water users and water suppliers need to have time to plan so the 2022 cutbacks are now written in stone.

Long-term, he said the three lower Colorado River basin states are searching for additional water sources. Projects that have been discussed and studied to some extent include buying water currently allocated to Native American Reservation land, building a desalinization plant near the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, increased use of reclaimed water in Las Vegas, and diverting water from the Mississippi and/or the Missouri rivers to western states. All of these potential water sources come with a myriad of issues but it appears likely that a combination of these and other ideas will be necessary sooner rather than later.

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Soulmates: Power Couples Running the Farm

September 23rd, 2021

By Stephanie Metzinger

In an industry that has historically embodied family values, couple-owned enterprises bring a unique, homegrown aspect to agriculture.

Family-owned businesses currently account for 64 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, with husband-wife teams running an estimated 1.2 million companies. These dynamic duos have led organizations and companies that have triumphed over challenges time and time again largely due to their founders’ iron-clad bonds and strong family commitment.

In U.S. agriculture specifically, where 98 percent of America’s 2.2 million farms are family-owned and operated, these power couples have built well-rounded farming companies that equally balance economic and operational expertise with cultural and equitable competence.

Though there are countless husband-wife dream teams across the nation, here is a look at some throughout Western Growers membership.

Alexandra & Paul Allen

Company: Main Street Produce/Freshway Farms

Location: Santa Maria, California

For Alexandra Allen, a chance visit to an old elementary school friend forever changed her life.

“Paul and I met when I came to Santa Maria to spend a weekend with my best friend from second grade, who I had not seen in many years,” she said. Alexandra and Paul married two years after their encounter, and not long after, their fruitful business partnership began.

Together, they operate Main Street Produce, a cooler, shipper and marketing company; Freshway Farms, a strawberry and vegetable farming company; and Fresh Valley Harvesting, a farm labor contracting company. While Paul’s focus is generally on Main Street Produce and marketing their product, Alexandra puts most of her energy into Freshway Farms as compliance counsel.

“Our skill sets are different from each other, but that is a good thing,” said Paul. “It’s great to know that you have a partner that you can completely trust and that you know cares about the business and the people involved as deeply as you do.”

Paul’s father founded Main Street Produce in the ‘70s, and through Alexandra and Paul’s immense responsibility for producing food and taking care of the land and the people that make it possible, the husband-and-wife team expanded the company and brought all three entities to new heights.

Today, the Allens consistently grow top-quality strawberries and broccoli through Freshway Farms, while selling product and offering cooling services to other growers and shippers through Main Street Produce.

“My favorite thing about working together is that it makes me feel like our lives are really 100 percent connected,” said Alexandra. “We have laughed about how it can be kind of hard to ‘turn off’ the shop talk, but at the same time, we are both so appreciative to have partners that really, truly understand what we do. We both care deeply about these companies and all of our employees, and when you really care deeply about something, it is great to have a spouse who honestly does ‘get it’!”

Cindi & Larry Pearson

Company: Santa Rosa Produce

Location: Maricopa, Arizona

From Army to agriculture, Cindi and Larry Pearson have together grown their family farm into a melon powerhouse.

Michigan-native Cindi met Larry, a third-generation grower, while serving in the Army; Cindi was in supply working for the Military Police and Larry was in the Military Police when the duo met. After completing their service, the couple then embarked on their joint-farming enterprise.

The pair jumped on an opportunity to buy some ground in Maricopa at an auction, and after winning the bid, the bank also offered a cooler that was near the acreage for a discounted rate. At the time, the couple did not have extensive knowledge about cooling; fast-forward 30 years, one of the Pearsons’ claims to fame is now skillfully running a 70,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art cooling facility that allows them to be efficient with their melon production as well as maximize storage capacity to guarantee quality.

The Pearsons also have built a reputation for implementing leading technologies to produce top-of-the-line cantaloupe, honeydew, mixed melons and cotton. In fact, they have been credited with being among the first melon operations to implement 100 percent drip irrigation.

The couple celebrated their 40-year anniversary a few years back, and their partnership has only grown stronger. Today, Cindi operates the shipping and cold storage of the melons while Larry Pearson manages the growing, and they continue to make all business decisions together.

Harrison Topp & Stacia Cannon

Company: Topp Fruits

Location: Hotchkiss, Colorado

Launching a farming enterprise from the ground up is a massive endeavor, but first-generation farmers Harrison Topp and Stacia Cannon are tackling the challenge in stride…and making it look easy.

“My partner Stacia and I are beginning farmers,” said Harrison. “Neither one of us grew up directly in agriculture, so when we decided that we wanted to do this we had to figure out a lot of things and make a lot of assessments about what the future might have in store.”

Harrison’s journey into agriculture started in 2012 when he casually started managing his parents’ plum and cherry orchard in Paonia, Colorado. Soon after, he started to develop a deep passion for horticulture and orchards and had inklings to expand operations.

“I started looking for more ground and that’s when Stacia came into my life. We started taking it seriously and really realizing what scale we needed to be at to make it work,” he said.

The pair officially expanded the operation in 2018 with an apple and peach orchard in Hotchkiss, and since then, have teamed to establish a strong market to move their fruit. Playing “divide and conquer,” the pair have set up relationships with packing houses, community-supported agriculture and farmers’ markets in anticipation of the large shift of fruit volume within the next couple of years.

To ensure the long-term sustainability of the farm, the young couple also developed a meticulously calculated model that would allow them to balance the amount of work and financial stress that come with farming in a way that would allow them to have a family, support one another and keep healthy. The main element of their model is maintaining off-farm work.

Harrison works as membership director for the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union while Stacia works for a vet clinic. “During the farm season, they allow me to step down to do relief work which is really important for our business,” said Stacia.

As the couple artfully balances off-farm work with growing their orchard operation, they look forward to seeing Topp Fruits be sold far and wide for years to come.

Larry & Tina Cox

Company: Coastline Family Farms

Locations: California, Arizona and Mexico

While attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Larry and Tina formed an unbreakable bond that has since transformed into a marriage, a family of four and a thriving business partnership.

The husband-and-wife team founded Lawrence Cox Ranches in 1984 and began farming a 70-acre cotton field. The company now farms 3,300 acres in the Imperial Valley and the production has expanded to include all types of lettuce, melons, onions, asparagus, wheat, alfalfa, grains, hay and seed crops.

“Among my favorite things about working together, I’ve enjoyed the additional time we’ve been able to spend together—especially while traveling,” said Larry. “I’m pretty much ‘go, get the job done, get back home and get back to work,’ while Tina is much more spontaneous than I am and will say ‘let’s take an additional day or two when meetings are done and go see the surrounding areas.’”

In 1991, the couple launched Coastline Family Farms, and through their tenacity and dedication, the farm has grown into a year-round grower-shipper of premium vegetables from California, Arizona and Mexico. Though Tina stepped back from the business for a short period to raise their two sons, she has now returned to the farm and currently leads projects such as product development for Coastline Family Farms, logistics for employee housings and resource updates for human resources.

The classic yin to the yang, Larry and Tina’s different strengths beautifully complement each other to result in a thriving and healthy work environment for their employees.

“Tina has a different thought process than I do, and thank God for that,” said Larry. “She has strength and wisdom in areas that I don’t. She is much more perceptive of what is being asked of the people who work with us and is protective of their time and families. I’ve learned to trust her opinion.”

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Bipartisan Infrastructure Package Addresses Critical Western Needs

September 23rd, 2021

By Dennis Nuxoll, Vice President, Federal Government Affairs

Last year, Western Growers began working to create a coalition across the Western United States to insist that any infrastructure package that Congress passed must include significant resources for water infrastructure in the West.

In early August, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that contains the fruit of many, many months of hard work from hundreds of organizations in the West who, working together, were able to get major funding for Western water needs. While some funding categories fall slightly short of needs on the ground, the bipartisan package includes roughly $8 billion, which would go a long way toward repairing crumbling water infrastructure in the West, increasing water recycling and water desalination, making significant investments in habitat restoration, enhancing water conservation efforts and constructing critical new storage and conveyance, including both natural and traditional infrastructure.

Taken together, the Western water package included in the bipartisan bill represents a historic opportunity to create balanced water management tools that align with solutions Western water managers have sought for years. This federal investment will increase water security for tens of millions Americans.

The idea behind this proposal was to put forward a unified package that agricultural organizations, rural water districts and urban water districts across each and every Western state could get behind. Rather than target specific projects as has been historically done, we wanted to target large programs from which specific projects would be funded. We wanted to create a wide range of water management options so local circumstance could dictate solutions not bureaucrats in Washington. What might work in Idaho might not work in Arizona and what works in Arizona might be different than what works in Colorado.

That basic philosophy was the driving force behind creating a large proposal that embraced so many types of solutions. We also believed that by working together we would be better positioned to get Western congressional members of the House and Senate onboard. Rather than fight for one project in one state, we worked together to fight for funding that would help projects in every state.

About 220 organizations joined the effort over the past year, and as a result of that work, we have raised awareness of Western water issues. We have raised the profile of the Western issues that often gets lost in East Coast press bias. We have a national level steering committee as well as teams advocating in each state. Coupled with these outreach efforts to Congress, we also have active communications teams working in each state and at the national level to help push the narrative.

Those efforts have been mostly successful with the Senate passage of the bipartisan bill that included a huge Western water investment. Now, we have to marshal the forces to push the bill through the House of Representatives and ensure the money stays in place as do the policy positions.

Once that is done, we will be turning our attention to the reconciliation package that may move in the fall. We believe there is an opportunity and a need to try and secure some additional funds in that package around things that may have been left out of the bipartisan deal. As drought ravages the West, every Western Growers member feels it. We know that crop productivity is down. We know water supply is down and costs are up. We know the future is uncertain so that’s why we are working to at the very least ensure that the federal government ramps up its efforts to help the West with water problems caused by a changing climate.

 

Here is what is in the package for Western Water:

·    Aging Infrastructure: $3.2 billion, includes $100 million for certain Bureau of Reclamation projects suffering a critical failure and $100 million for repairs to specific Carey Act dams

·     Water Storage, Groundwater Storage and Conveyance (WIIN Act): $1.15 billion, includes $100 million for new 25 percent grants for small surface/groundwater storage projects

·     Water Recycling: $1 billion, includes $450 million for new authorized large water recycling project grant program

·     Desalination: $250 million

·     Rural Water: $1 billion

·     Dam Safety: $500 million

·     Drought Contingency Plan: $300 million, includes $50 million for Upper Basin States

·     WaterSMART: $400 million, includes $100 million for natural infrastructure projects

·     Cooperative Watershed Management: $100 million

·     Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program: $250 million

·     Watershed enhancement projects: $100 million

·     Colorado River Endangered Species Recovery and Conservation Programs: $50 million

·     Forest management efforts: While a little more indirect the bill includes more than $3 billion for USDA and Department of Interior efforts to improve forest management which have both wildfire and water benefits.

·     Ecosystem restoration: $2 billion for USDA and Department of Interior efforts to help ecosystem restoration programs, which helps lower pressure on various water projects by ensuring environmental concerns are addressed.

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Director Profile: Organic Pioneer Has Deep Salinas Valley Roots

September 23rd, 2021

Rod Braga, President/CEO Braga Ranch
Director since 2020  |  Member since 1977

By Tim Linden

Family History: Sebastian and Josie Braga began farming in the Soledad region of the Salinas Valley in 1928 with fresh vegetables and dairy products forming the core of their business. A cattle operation was added later. Ninety-three years later their legacy lives on in many ways. The original 600-acre ranch, purchased in 1937, is still thriving but the family farms more than 4,000 acres. The dairy business was dropped in the 1950s and the cattle operation survived until the 1980s, but today Josie’s Organics is the lead brand for the organic commodities and value-added items produced by Braga Fresh Family Farms and Braga Fresh Foods. And the patriarch of the family has lent his name to the company’s year-round custom harvesting service, Sebastian Harvesting.

A Family Farm Grows Up: That original “home ranch” remains the core of the Braga family farming operation. In the 1950s, the operation began to grow as Sebastian’s three sons Ernest, Norman and Stanley joined the family business and took it into the 1990s, which was when the growth curve started to rise sharply.

Rod Braga, Norman’s oldest son and the current President/CEO, joined the company in the early 1990s, and has been involved in much of that growth. It was in the early 1990s that Braga Ranch added its custom harvesting operation, grew its farming division and launched its fertilizer application unit. By the late 1990s, it was beginning to grow organic crops. In the mid-2000s, the company added production in the Imperial Valley. The Josie’s Organic label was launched in 2012, with the fresh cut division debuting in 2016.

Today, Rod estimated that about 70 percent of its production is organic with 30 percent conventional. Its commodity business still holds the majority position in its daily output but value-added is growing rapidly.

And as it has done for many decades, Braga Ranch remains a grower of both organic and conventional crops for many other California shippers. “We have relationships that go back decades, especially on the processing side,” Rod said.

The Organic Piece: “We’d like to say we got into organics driven by philosophy, but we sort of lucked into it,” Rod said.

He explained that the company acquired some land in the 1990s that hadn’t been farmed. The organic movement was gaining traction at the time and this land presented an opportunity to join the party without having to transition land from conventional to organic production. They started slowly and increased their acreage gradually until they had transitioned the entire 600-acre home ranch. Growth continued after that to other owned and leased land.

Braga has enjoyed leading the charge as the category has exploded over the past two decades. “As organics have become more mainstream, the category can’t grow by the same percentage as it once did,” Rod said, “but it is still growing, and we are still seeing double-digit year-over-year growth.”

Rod noted that he had just returned from a sales trip to Iowa where every store he visited seems to have an ever-increasing organics department. He added that organic sales in the Midwest were once the domain of the larger cities and the college towns, but now even markets in the most rural communities feature organic fruits and vegetables.

The Dynamics of the Organic Market: With more than 20 years of experience under their family belt, the Bragas are expert in growing organic crops. Rod said every crop is different but with some—such as Romaine hearts and celery—they get almost identical yields from their organic and conventional fields. In others—such as broccoli and cauliflower—pest pressure within the product itself makes it difficult for an organic field to yield like a conventional one.

“It’s difficult to generalize because every crop is different, but as a ballpark guess, it costs about 20 percent more to produce an organic crop,” he figured, noting that the biggest cost is fertilizer application. “You got to get the nitrogen down. You have to do it early and have plenty of it. There are other added costs but that’s the big one.”

Rod’s Journey: He grew up on the Soledad ranch and always figured he would follow in the family footsteps. His father, Norman, went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but he did not want Rod to follow suit. “He told me he could teach me everything about farming; he wanted me to learn other things.” Rod went to St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., and earned his degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance. “I considered going to the East after college and looking for a job in the financial sector, but I ended up coming back and taking over farming on the home ranch.”

He began with leafy greens in the field and soon helped the company vertically integrate with the addition of new entities.

He stayed focused on the family business and claims that he has limited outside hobbies…at least until children entered the picture. Rod and his wife, Niki, have three children in their lives, including 15-year-old Skyler, 10-year-old Sebastian and eight-year-old Sterling. “I’ve never had too many hobbies, but now my free time is taken up with the kids. All of them play sports. So, if I’m not working, I’m probably involved in soccer, football or basketball. And we also love skiing as a family.”

The 3rd & 4th Braga Generation: Rod leads a group of four in his generation of the family tree involved in the company. His brother, Chris, runs the shop, while cousin Marshall is in charge of the food safety department and cousin Carson oversees the harvesting operation.

The 4th generation is still young with the oldest in college and his grade school daughter rounding out the group. A couple in that generation have put in some time in the office or on the ranch but it is way too early to see who might make it into the company as it approaches its 100th anniversary later this decade.

The Future of Agriculture in California: Rod takes an interesting an optimistic view of the future of production agriculture in the Golden State. He acknowledges all the difficulties involved in running a business in California, but he sees that as an advantage for a many-decades-old-company like Braga Ranch. “All those difficulties are a heck of a barrier of entry. Who would try to start a new business here? On the other hand, we have the best land in the world and all the water we need here in the Salinas Valley. The future couldn’t be better!”

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President’s Notes: Build it, Dam it!

September 23rd, 2021

By Dave Puglia, Western Growers President/CEO

I recently wrote of the rhetorical shift in California water policy from “water supply reliability” to “water resiliency.” With more than 88 percent of the state in extreme or exceptional drought and many of our reservoirs hitting historic lows just two years after being completely full, we see what that really means.

California State Senator Jim Nielsen spoke plain truth in a recent Sacramento Bee op-ed: “The state has failed to invest appropriately in large, statewide surface-water storage and conveyance, leaving California ill-prepared for drought conditions and jeopardizing its environmental and fiscal health.”

Ironically, the embrace of “resiliency” has so far served to rob our water infrastructure of the very capabilities needed to maximize flexibility, i.e., resiliency. In recasting water priorities, we now have a system that has been rendered incapable of serving the needs of cities, agriculture or rivers and habitat.

So far this year, the consequences of California water policy realignment have manifested themselves in dangerous emergency curtailment orders for the most senior water rights holders in the Russian River and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watersheds, after a zero percent allocation for Central Valley Project (CVP) farms and five percent from the State Water Project (SWP). And, of course, another dry winter would be catastrophic.

In stark terms, the current drought has broken our state’s water system. But this is not because our system lacks resiliency. Our water infrastructure was designed to sustain our needs for more than two years of severe drought. Following a drought from 1928 to 1934, CVP and SWP engineers designed reservoirs like Shasta and Oroville to provide long-term carryover storage with capacity several times the typical annual yield.

Fast forward to our current reality: From October 2018 to September 2019, the year prior to the beginning of our current drought, 27.5 million acre-feet, or 82.6 percent of all water that flowed into the Delta, continued out to sea. Certainly, a good portion was necessary to prevent saltwater intrusion but what would we give to have just a portion of that water back now?

Which takes us back to Senator Nielsen’s op-ed. He is one of many to ask the obvious question: What is happening with the water storage money approved by voters in 2014?

With Prop. 1, California voters understood that they were putting a $2.7 billion down payment on tangible water storage projects, and one that was often cited, Sites Reservoir, even seemed acceptable to many environmental groups. This proposed Sacramento Valley facility would provide flexibility in water storage and delivery for farms and cities, groundwater recharge and as an offset to keep more cold water behind Shasta Dam for fish regulatory requirements.

Seven years later, not a single shovel has hit the ground. Even though Sites Reservoir was authorized for Prop. 1 funding by the California Water Commission, the regulators whittled down the amount being sought and it has remained at the starting line as proponents seek to make up for the shortfall.

To date, of the $2.7 billion approved by voters in Prop. 1 for water storage, only $150 million has been authorized.

Growing up in Sacramento, we frequently saw cars with bumper stickers that exclaimed, “Build it, Dam it!” in reference to the proposed Auburn Dam on the American River. Environmental activists used every tactic thinkable to block both Auburn Dam and New Melones Dam. Auburn Dam, which was also hampered by escalating costs due to earthquake safety concerns, was never built. New Melones went forward, and its 1980 completion marks the state’s last major surface storage addition.

No one has (yet) chained themselves to rocks in the area where Sites Reservoir would be, as opponents of Auburn and New Melones did back in the day. They don’t need to; having created a Kafkaesque regulatory process and a sophisticated “see you in court” business model, environmental activist groups keep racking up wins that play well with their donors and translate to losses for cities and farms that need reliable water.

Western water needs would get a big boost if the U.S. Senate-approved infrastructure bill clears the House of Representatives. We worked hard with partners throughout the West to obtain more than $8 billion to repair our dams and canals and build new storage and conveyance facilities, among other water projects.

But as the Sites Reservoir nonsense illustrates, money is only part of the equation. Until voters expect better than worsening water shortages and demand something more concrete and additive than “resilience” as a salve for mitigating the harms of declining resources, California will consign its people to economic and social distress. 

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Digital Edition of September/October 2021 WG&S Magazine is Now Available

September 23rd, 2021

The September/October issue of WG&S Magazine is a key part of the build-up to the Western Growers Annual Meeting on Nov. 7-10, 2021; it is now available for viewing and download here: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/334960038/

Chandler Farms’ Carol Chandler, the 2021 recipient of Western Growers’ highest honor, the Award of Honor, graces the cover. The agriculture advocate will receive the AOH at the Annual Meeting during a dinner the evening of Nov. 9. “Through the years, I’ve found that in Sacramento and Washington D.C., when women who are involved in agriculture speak up, they listen,” she said. “The women involved in our business, we’re moms and shoppers and food safety advocates and healthy eating advocates and advocates for our farm labor.”

Below is a preview of the stories, columns and profiles features in the September/October edition:

  • President’s Notes: Build it, Dam it!
    “Ironically, the embrace of ‘resiliency’ has so far served to rob our water infrastructure of the very capabilities needed to maximize flexibility, i.e. resiliency. In recasting water priorities, we now have a system that has been rendered incapable of serving the needs of cities, agriculture or rivers and habitat.”
     
  • Tech Corner:
    • WG Goes All in for Agtech Workforce Development
    • Duda Farm Fresh Foods: Collaboration Key to Technology Effort
    • Boost Biomes: Harnessing the Hidden Relationships of Microbiomes for Ag
    • Harvest Automation: In Search of New Capital
    • Data Corner: Capture Once, Use Multiple Times
  • Member Highlights:
    • Soulmates: Power Couples Running the Farm
    • Rod Braga: Organic Pioneer Has Deep Salinas Valley Roots
  • In-Depth Analysis:
    • Drought Triggers Cuts to Arizona Water Supply
    • A Bit of Normalcy Returns to Ag Legal Battles
    • Bipartisan Infrastructure Package Addresses Critical Western Needs
    • The Far-Reaching Consequences of Drought
    • Tackling the Cost of Chronic Disease in the Workforce
    • Keep Your Eye on the Ball Even as Workers’ Comp Rates Decline
  • Inside Western Growers:
    • Western Growers Ag Legal Network Directory
    • 2021 Annual Meeting Schedule

For questions about WG&S Magazine, contact Stephanie Metzinger at [email protected].

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Port Crisis, Water Infrastructure and Immigration Among Top Issues During DC Fly-In

September 28th, 2021

Last week, the Executive Committee of the Western Growers Board of Directors met with members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives during the annual D.C. fly-in.

The Executive Committee met with nearly 20 senators, representatives and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials over the course of three days. Legislators were from California, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Arkansas.

During the meetings, the Executive Committee shared the specialty crop industry’s stance on immigration/labor, taxes, water (and the need for a bipartisan infrastructure package) and food safety as well as the importance of ample funding for agricultural research and development. Additional topic of discussion included the port congestion crisis, COVID-19 worker safety assistance, ag education and training, disaster assistance and climate change.

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WG Annual Meeting Offering Three Featured Sessions

September 30th, 2021

Delve into the topics of water and agriculture, vertical farming and cutting-edge agricultural technology at the 2021 Western Growers Annual Meeting. From November 7 – 10, Annual Meeting attendees will have the opportunity to attend three educational and exciting featured sessions. Each session will include an all-star panel who will discuss issues most important to industry stakeholders and their operations.

Here’s a sneak peek at this year’s sessions:

Monday, November 8 @ 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.

  • Featured Session: Replace or Rejuvenate? The Future of Vertical Farming (“Controlled Environment Agriculture”) in Fresh Produce Production
    • Panelists:
      • Arama Kukutai, Partner and Co-Founder, Finistere Ventures
      • Bruce Taylor, Chairman and CEO, Taylor Farms California
      • Larry Kohl, Vice President, Quality Assurance at Retail Business Services, LLC (an Ahold Delhaize USA company)
    • Moderator:
      • Walt Duflock, Vice President of Innovation, Western Growers

Tuesday, November 9

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

  • Featured Session: On a Dry Horizon: Water and Agriculture in the West       
    • Panelists:
      • Ellen Hanak, Vice President and Director of the Water Policy Center and Senior Fellow Ellen Hanak Chair in Water Policy
      • Kevin Moran, Senior Director of the Colorado River Program, Environmental Defense Fund
      • Gary Van Schuyver, Senior Vice President and Chief Banking Officer, American AgCredit
      • Stuart Woolf, President/CEO, Woolf Farming & Processing
    • Moderator:
      • Dave Puglia, President and CEO, Western Growers

3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

  • Featured Session: AgSharks® Competition    
    • Preview: Western Growers and S2G Ventures present AgSharks® — a groundbreaking collaborative forum to advance agricultural technologies for the fresh produce industry. Watch as cutting-edge startups pitch their technologies, venture capital fund veterans look for investment opportunities, and Western Growers members vie for the chance to test the new tech in their fields. In 2019, an agtech start-up company walked away with a potential investment offer of $500,000. In 2018, the winning startup won $250,000 (and they have since raised a $10.9 million Series A funding!). In 2017, two companies received a combined $2.25 million dollars in investments. Annual Meeting guests can expect another exciting year, with new surprises as the AgSharks Judges evaluate startups and technology for real-time investments opportunities.

These three featured sessions will be accompanied by a host of engaging Annual Meeting activities including dynamic keynote addresses from Magatte Wade, Gordon Chang and Timothy Sandefur; the Award of Honor Dinner; Chairman’s Reception; Party with the Partners; and more! Click here to see the full agenda.

The Annual Meeting will be held at the breathtaking Fairmont Grand Del Mar, San Diego. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE 2021 WESTERN GROWERS ANNUAL MEETING.

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Support Industry Commerce & Make More Informed Credit Decisions

September 8th, 2021

Every day thousands of produce transactions occur. Western Growers would like to share a valuable opportunity for shippers to consider which supports industry commerce and will help your company make the most informed “sell or no sell” business decisions by joining Blue Book’s Accounts Receivable (A/R) Contributor Program.

Hundreds of companies serving the produce supply chain already confidentially submit their monthly A/R Aging file to Blue Book, and more data is needed. In exchange for those WG members that particpate by submitting their A/R Aging file, Blue Book will e-mail a monthly A/R Analysis Report on their customers and will have access to companies’ Blue Book Online A/R Reports. 

What’s Include in Blue Book’s A/R Reports?

  1. A/R Analysis Report:  A monthly report reflecting your customers’ aggregate dollars owed to A/R industry contributors. Report includes:
    • Your customers’ current Blue Book rating and score
    • Aggregate A/R aging performance from industry A/R contributors
  2. Online A/R Report:  Available to Blue Book members, this report:
    • Identifies pay performance and trends
    • Includes 24 months of a company’s aggregate A/R aging
    • Provides total A/R aging owing for the month and A/R owing in four time periods

Harold McClarty, CEO, with The HMC Group Marketing, Inc., Kingsburg, CA states, “Participating in Blue Book’s A/R Contributor Program allows us to see payment trends and get ahead of issues with collections before they arise. The monthly A/R Analysis Report on our customers’ rating, Blue Book Score, and aggregate A/R is a valuable tool that our sales and accounting management teams rely on to make customer approvals, set credit limits, and continuously refine our collection process.”

Make more informed business decisions with Blue Book’s A/R Reports, support industry commerce, and join the community of companies who submit their confidential monthly A/R Aging file to Blue Book. Contact Jeff Lair, [email protected], to get the process going.

Watch this short video for a Complete Overview of the A/R Contributor Program.

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Update on Canadian Import Requirements for Romaine Lettuce

September 16th, 2021

On September 14, 2021, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) released new import requirements for all imported romaine lettuce originating in the United States between September 30 and December 31, 2021. CFIA is implementing temporary Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) license conditions during this period to decrease the risk associated with E. coli in romaine lettuce from the geographical area identified by U.S. authorities as to the source of the outbreaks.

Starting September 30, importers of romaine lettuce and products containing romaine lettuce from the United States must:

  • declare that the product does not originate from counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey in the Salinas Valley, California; or
  • submit an attestation form and Certificates of Analysis for each shipment to demonstrate that the romaine lettuce does not contain detectable levels of E. coli O157:H7

A key change from last year’s revisions is two sampling options instead of one. Sampling can be conducted on finished product or at pre-harvest level, and Western Growers Appendix C is listed as a resource on how to carry out pre-harvest tissue sampling. Click here to see the current version of Appendix C.

The complete details on the SFC license conditions and other existing import requirements are outlined on the CFIA website. These temporary SFC license conditions are in addition to other already existing import requirements, which can be found here.

For a Q&A sheet on Canada import requirements for U.S. romaine lettuce, click here. 

The CFIA is still working on updating form 5961. Western Growers will update all members if any further information on this becomes available. If any members have questions or comments, please reach out to Western Growers Science at [email protected].

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AB 616 UFW Card Check Bill Heads to Governor Newsom

September 1st, 2021

AB 616 (Mark Stone, Scotts Valley) – a UFW bill that would erode farmworkers’ choice in whether or not to join a union and threaten employers’ due process rights – has passed the Assembly and Senate and now heads to the desk of California Governor Gavin Newsom. The initial vote count to move the bill was 42-14. Western Growers will share the final vote count once it is tallied.

If AB 616 were to become law:

  • farm employees will be forever stripped of their right to express their choice for union representation or not by a secret ballot election supervised by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB);
  • union organizers will go to great lengths to influence farm employees in order to force a card check certification and avoid secret ballot elections;
  • employers will be in perpetual legal defense mode at the ALRB, as AB 616 has harsh penalties against employers but not the unions; and
  • the bonding requirement present in the bill represents a direct threat to an employer’s due process rights.

Western Growers thanks all the members who contacted their respective Assemblymember and Senator asking them to vote “no” on AB 616. Western Growers staff will continue to reach out to Governor Newsom, urging him to veto AB 616.

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