WGCIT Updates: March/April 2023

March 1st, 2023

By Ellie Amesse

The Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology was created to link Western Growers members with innovators in the agtech space. Below are news updates from the Center’s startups, as well as updates on activities at the center and its popular podcast!

Aanika Biosciences

Biotechnology start-up Aanika Biosciences has entered into a food insurance agreement with Satur Farms, a specialty crop producer with operations in New York and Arizona. Aanika will bundle its technology for tracing fresh produce with a novel parametric food recall and contamination insurance policy. Aanika is developing products to combat pathogen growth and reduce outbreaks, which could further support the ability to write risk coverage in crops that are historically plagued by food safety issues.

Agrology

Agrology, a seed-stage climate technology start-up, was one of six partners awarded approximately $5 million in funding from the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative. The partners will further develop the capacity for growers to quantify climate-smart practices. Agrology will focus on quantifying regenerative practices.

“Farmers, ranchers and growers need high-quality, ground-truth data to help them with the transition to climate-smart agricultural practices,” said Adam Koeppel, Co-Founder and CEO of Agrology.“This data will prove their success and help them capture value in carbon markets. We are honored to receive a USDA grant to work alongside academics and growers to uncover ways to make climate-smart farming financially accessible to growers of all sizes and all crops.” For more on Agrology, please see the story on page 28.

AgTools

AgTools was invited to submit a White Paper to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting in Paris, where 50 ministers of agriculture from throughout the world met. The theme of AgTools’ paper was the importance of data in supporting and improving supply chains. For the past 60 years, OECD has been an international forum that focuses on developing policies for improving economic systems worldwide. The AgTools OECD White Paper: “The Critical Role of Data in the Food Supply Chain,” can be viewed here: www.oecd-forum.org/posts/the-critical-role-of-data-in-the-food-supply-chain

FarmWise

At the World Ag Expo, FarmWise launched its next-generation weeding implement, Vulcan, which was named to the Top-10 New Products list of the World Ag Expo. Vulcan removes weeds inter-row and intra-row with sub-inch precision, eliminating the need for hand-weeding crews for over 20 vegetable crops including lettuce and broccoli. The result is a cost-efficient, precise, and reliable weed control solution for vegetable crops.

Last month, FarmWise welcomed a new CEO, Tjarko Leifer, a recognized industry leader and former SVP of Strategy at Climate Corporation. Leifer had been serving the company for the past few years as an independent board member. Former CEO Sebastien Boyer stepped into the role of Chairman. He will continue to support the team with external communications and as a strategic advisor.

Ganaz

Ganaz, a people management platform for agriculture, announced the launch of “Envíos con Ganaz” powered by Remitly. In its continued efforts to help create safer, fairer, and more profitable workplaces while providing the financial services needed to help workers forge a path out of poverty, Ganaz is integrating a remittance service into its Ganaz MasterCard® Payroll Card. This new partnership enables bankless agricultural workers to move to a fully digital remittance experience. Remittances are critical to many agricultural workers for expenses like food, clothing, medical needs, and paying off debts, and are also used to pay for higher education and acquire property.

IntelliCulture

IntelliCulture, a company providing farm equipment management software that drives sustainable farming practices through actionable insights, efficiency improvements, and risk mitigation, has joined the John Deere Startup Collaborator program. They are excited to be working alongside John Deere this coming year.

Kula Bio

Kula Bio, based in Natick, Massachusetts, is the leading biofertilizer solution, helping growers improve yield and minimize environmental impacts. Kula bio has rediscovered the air–soil connection and has developed a powerful natural nitrogen solution. This solution will help growers adapt to new regulations and shifting consumer demands for sustainable produce. Kula Bio is growers, scientists, and engineers all bound by shared values with a desire to offer sustainable, affordable solutions for nutrient management.

Nexus Robotics

Going commercial this summer with its weeding robots, Nexus is now set to unfold its next phase by adding new applications to its autonomous vehicle. After operating its fleet of five robots, Nexus has reached a weed removal rate of 85%+ while covering three to five acres a day depending on the weed density. Nexus will be doing demos through 2023 and we invite growers to reach out to us to discuss potential ROI for your farm.

Farm Forward with unique technology and join our journey towards having a totally autonomous scout on your farm.

PickTrace

PickTrace, the winner of the 2022 AgTech Breakthrough award for Labor Management Solutions, is the only all-in-one labor management suite for agriculture. It’s never been this easy to stay compliant, analyze labor costs, and run payroll. With PickTrace onboarding, users can rapidly hire/rehire employees, generate and digitally store their I-9 and W-4 documents, and bulk import employee data into their payroll system. Time and productivity are tracked in real time, enabling you and your team to feel confident in your payroll compliance. Easily pay your workforce with PickTrace Paycards and provide your employees faster access to their hard-earned money. PickTrace recently increased its presence in Salinas and Yuma, focusing on delivering an exceptional customer experience, optimized field processes, and operationalized data.

What’s New at the WGCIT?

In the first WGCIT Lunch & Learn event of the year, Mark Mason from Huntington Farms shared his thoughts about the future of agriculture, both in terms of workforce development and how to integrate new innovation into existing systems.

Mason, who manages Huntington Farms’ location in the Salinas Valley, spoke about the potential for the Next Gen Ag Workers program, coining the term “two-year tech,” and his hope to hire these students for his ranch.

The Next Gen Ag Workers program is a Western Growers effort to implement modules into the current two- and four-year college programs to educate students about technology and systems unique to a career in agriculture. The modules are set to be utilized in the upcoming Spring 2023 semester. Once a student completes five of the 10 modules available, they will be able to have access to internship opportunities with Western Growers members.

For the representatives from 18 startups that were in attendance, Mason talked about “farming by committee” and how the integration of new technology has to marry itself with the systems that already exist on a farm for implementation to happen.

For more information about WGCIT’s monthly Lunch & Learn events, visit wginnovation.com.

Catch up on new episodes of the WGCIT’s podcast, Voices of the Valley!

Voices of the Valley just passed a major milestone—we reached 10,000 listens in less than a year. Be sure to tune in and listen to the latest developments with the major innovators and thinkers in the area of agricultural technology. Voices of the Valley can be found on all major podcast distribution platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Anchor.fm and Spotify.

In a February episode of Voices of the Valley, Stuart Woolf, President and CEO of Woolf Farming Company, shares his interest, knowledge and utilization of agtech, which started in 1982 with his first Apple computer computations.

Woolf is the second generation of growers who stays grounded in the present while looking to the future: “One thing my Dad did—which I thought in retrospect was really kind of genius—he looked at the crops that were predominantly being grown out there in the mid-‘70s and it was a lot of cotton, grain, melons, those kinds of things, and he thought ‘You know, I don’t want to be beholden to farm programs and support payments and all that.’ So he really started to focus on crops that were unique to California like almonds and pistachios where we had global competitive advantage. He narrowed it down to a handful of items that turn out to be highly mechanized, we had a global advantage, we enjoyed a better return per acre-foot on those crops.”

That inclination to see the big picture and how it relates to success over time means a focus on innovation. Of the topics that are on his radar—water, labor shortages and soil health, to name a few—Woolf says there is one area of innovation he and his team have an eye on: data processing. His take makes this episode a must listen for any grower, innovator or environmental health advocate.

In a January episode, Seana Day, Partner with Culterra Capital and Venture Partner with Better Food Ventures, joins Donohue and Wilson to share her perspective about the need for digital systems to better utilize farmers’ time, information and resources.

“When we think about the role of technology and optimizing our assets, our resources, it just doesn’t make sense to me why more companies aren’t thinking about integrating those technologies…it’s always surprising to me how much loss or waste operators are willing to assume as just a cost of doing business,” Day shares.

Day also speaks about the growing need for a workforce trained in the unique environment of an agricultural organization and how important it is for those working in specialized roles to integrate with one another and the software that’s available.

“I’m looking at all of this information and it’s siloed,” Day says. “It’s so disconnected. It’s so analogue. It’s all done on pen and paper, and it takes forever. Making any kind of remotely real-time decision—let’s be honest, there’s a lot of risk. You leave revenue on the table. Your costs are inflated. There’s more risk than there should be because we’re not able to access information…to make those swift decisions.”

As Venture Partner, Day also offers insight into the three things that stand out to her when she’s assessing startups and what sets the two-to-four that are chosen apart from the hundreds that apply.

 

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President’s Notes: Hey Sacramento, Still Not an Exodus?

March 1st, 2023

About a year ago, demographers and others—notably U-Haul—reported data that strongly suggested a stream of people leaving California. It was no shock to those frustrated by the policies and practices emanating from Sacramento and many local governments. I wrote about it here, noting that the very earliest indications of a trend often present that last good opportunity for politicians to take notice and course correct; waiting for incontrovertible proof that the trend is real means fewer options.

Representatives of the state’s business community, vastly outnumbered Republican state legislators and even some of their Democrat colleagues tried to get the attention of those in power, but by and large were ignored. A veteran Los Angeles Times columnist at the time asserted, “There is no exodus.” Nothing to see here!

Collectively they sounded like Sergeant Schultz from the old television series “Hogan’s Heroes” who insisted to his superiors, “I know nothing! Nothing!” despite having intimate knowledge of the security violations of Colonel Hogan and his crafty band of Allied prisoners of war.

It’s getting harder for the Sgt. Schultz characters in Sacramento to plead ignorance. New data released in February confirms that a heck of lot of Californians loaded up the U-Haul and headed out.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in February that between 2020 and 2022, the number of Californians fleeing the state outnumbered those coming in by nearly 900,000.

Even in a state of 39 million souls, that is an exodus.

The effects are sure to be even worse than the numbers suggest. We can assume the refugees share at least this in common: They are taxpayers. The weight of California’s painfully high taxes, sky-high housing prices and energy costs powerfully motivates working families to depart. In contrast, the state’s very wealthy are better able to accommodate those costs, though certainly some have bailed out.

California is home to about 30 percent of the nation’s homeless, a cohort that compels major public expenditures. Beyond the homeless population, California has a large and growing population dependent on public health and other services. Combine a stampede of taxpayers heading to other states and a large population tapping public programs and eventually, as Margaret Thatcher warned, “Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money.”

A glimmer of hope arrived recently in the form of an executive order issued by Governor Gavin Newsom, directing state water authorities to retain water in our reservoirs that would otherwise be released to rivers and out to sea to satisfy environmental rules. Activist environmental groups went ballistic, as they always do when they don’t get everything they demand.

Why did Newsom do this? The motivations of politicians are easy to speculate about, and equally easy to get wrong. But perhaps Newsom realizes that the rigid and punishing rules imposed on our water system are increasing economic and social despair in the Central Valley while failing to deliver the ecosystem benefits touted by environmental activists to justify them. And, hopefully, Gavin Newsom has drawn a connection between these punitive and failed water policies and the U-Haul caravans retracing – in reverse – the paths of previous generations who sought greater freedom and economic opportunity in the Golden State.

***

On February 9, we learned of the passing of Allan Zaremberg. After serving as chief legislative aide to Governors Deukmejian and Wilson, Allan led the California Chamber of Commerce as CEO from 1998 to his retirement in 2021. I was fortunate to work with Allan throughout my tenure with Western Growers and before as a consultant and political appointee in the 1990s. Allan was rightly remembered by many for his dedication to and belief in the powers of the private sector to serve
the needs of society.

Less prevalent in the remembrances, however, is something more poignant to me. Zaremberg’s passing recalls a better era in Sacramento, one defined by compromise and practicality in policy making, undergirded by shared confidence in private enterprise as the strongest agent for positive economic and social outcomes. Suffice to say, such is not the case today.

Perhaps the pendulum will swing back, but those dedicated to advocating for the business community know we must be far more aggressive as long as the interest groups that dominate Sacramento, and the lawmakers aligned with them, continue on their current path.

Allan Zaremberg was an honorable and dedicated advocate for California’s business community. May his example live on.

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WGCIT Sponsor: Netafim USA -Technology Today to Solve Tomorrow’s Problems

March 1st, 2023

Netafim USA has a clear mission: Advance the agricultural industry and help farmers. Navigating challenges like rising input costs, water scarcity and labor shortages is a daily reality for growers, and Netafim has set out to not only remedy strains on production but to increase yields with less. As the world leader in drip irrigation technology, Netafim supplies many industries with smart irrigation technologies to assist growers with their sustainable farming.

“Innovation in precision irrigation solutions helps farmers adopt more sustainable practices and tackle some of the most pressing external issues that threaten their livelihoods,” said Mike Hemman, President and CEO of Netafim USA. “We continue to further develop our digital farming solutions to help farmers monitor, analyze and automate their irrigation from anywhere. If data strengthens decision-making, partnerships and collaborations strengthen the industry.”

An ever-pressing pain point for agriculture is the availability and regulation of water. “To alleviate our water challenges,” Hemman said, “we need to focus on efficiency. With little water, how can we keep growing crops and feed the population? Technology can help to solve this challenge.”

Many growers are turning to drip irrigation technology as a component to an overall solution to drought management. Netafim USA’s objective is to create systems and tools to prioritize the application of technology by efficiently managing irrigation practices. Growing more product with less water does more than create a proactive system to navigate a tightening water supply, it also helps to better utilize land resources.

“Farmland is a limited resource that continues to dwindle. It’s up to farmers to invest in the land available to us, making it as productive as possible as we face growing demands from an ever-increasing population,” Hemman said.

For those who are looking to start integrating more of Netafim’s products to help with resource management, Hemman shared that initial moves for implementation don’t have to be big or sweeping: “Start now and in small steps. Innovation in your company does not always have to be a breakthrough technology. It’s important to continuously evaluate new ways of getting the job done. There are almost always novel and valuable variations to your current business model that can help differentiate your business.”

Technological advancements are a means to adapt to changes in resources and workforce, and the more options available to growers allows for more agility in a system. More and more growers are utilizing technology to reach sustainability metrics, and establishing systems now allows for maneuverability around future challenges.

Netafim USA is looking ahead at ways to continue to assist growers reducing water consumption, reducing labor costs, increasing production yield and making the best use of space.

An often-unsung accomplishment of the agricultural community is how open and capable it is of adopting new ways of conducting business, and Hemman makes a point to recognize the work that has already been done. “As professionals in agriculture, it’s important that we take the time to step back and be proud of the work we’re doing. We should strive to advocate for sustainability and regenerative farming practices as we advance in our careers,” he said.

Netafim USA offers a range of products tailored to work best with different varieties of crops. Visit www.netafimusa.com for more information about available technologies, and click here to learn more about Western Growers’ Innovation initiatives.

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WGCIT Resident: Agrology – Turning Predictions into Prescriptions

March 1st, 2023

It’s easy for anyone who hears Adam Koeppel—one of the three founders of Agrology—talk about the work he, Tyler Locke, Kevin Kelly and their team are doing to catch the wave of his excitement for the company, the utility it provides and the opportunities still yet to unfold for the future of agriculture.

Agrology is a technology platform that applies machine learning and artificial intelligence to deliver real-time information and alerts that growers can use to react to potentially costly challenges in a timely way. The Agrology system also provides predictive data, alerting a grower to possible issues before they become a problem.

“For us,” Koeppel explained, “it’s real-time data coming in continuously to grower’s smart phones, to their text messages, weekly, monthly reports, it’s things that they don’t have to wait a long time for. And they also have all the history that they can go and look back for and correlate the outcomes they’re seeing from the data outcomes with the actions they’re taking. I think it makes it a lot easier to close the loop on what’s happening in the field. I think that’s really powerful.”

Capturing information as its occurring in the field is actionable data. The Agrology system makes seeing reactions in the soil from water needs to soil carbon sequestration levels as easy as opening a mobile app. The continuity of the data means a more complete picture of the natural reactions to grower influence to gain a better understanding of what could be a biological response that needs to be addressed versus what is a normal reaction that can be left alone. Knowing when action is necessary and when it isn’t is the cadence of efficiency.

One of the areas where information is imperative is how to best utilize water. With persistent drought issues affecting growers all over the West, knowing how to use every drop and when has never been more important.

“We can show in real time how the soil is changing with the water supply and help people know that they’re not just irrigating efficiently with their drip system, but they’re irrigating effectively with the timing and the duration,” he said.

Koeppel expands on the concept: “If you have a well that can only flow for a third or a quarter of your ranch, where are you flowing on a given day? Those are questions that we can help them answer to drive efficiency.”

Utilizing water in the most cost-efficient way isn’t the only thing on the list of challenges Agrology is looking to address. By accessing information from multi-point field data, Agrology’s technology is also set to accommodate the workforce shortage. “The problem is that there’s just not enough people, so how do we augment the labor force that exists today, how do we give them information 24/7 when they’re not going to be in the fields the whole time?” he asked. “A lot of growers have ranches that are maybe, if they’re lucky, a few miles apart, if they’re unlucky, an hour drive apart. How do we get them insights to be in both places at once so that any given day they can decide where they need to go to focus their attentions? These are the things we really hope to build with our product and the problems we’re looking to solve.”

Growers have already experienced the benefits of Agrology in the few years since its launch. Koeppel shared that there have been interesting developments when working with growers. “As we work with our customers, they’ll come back to us and they’ll tell us how they use our product in ways that we didn’t even anticipate…It means that they’re finding new and creative ways for problems that we didn’t even set out to solve that our data or our predictions can solve and enable them to develop new techniques and new strategies to handle some of these climate threats.”

For more information, visit www.agrology.ag. Click here to learn more about Western Growers Innovation initiatives.

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Want an Intern? Western Growers’ Next Gen Ag Workers Program Can Help

March 1st, 2023

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” —Mark Twain

Last year, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) awarded Western Growers $750,000 to work with two- and four-year universities to build cross-disciplinary programs to help cultivate the next generation of farmworkers. Since receiving the award, Western Growers has joined forces with community college faculty, growers and the CDFA to pave the way for a new generation to find their place in the world of agriculture.

Walt Duflock, Vice President of Innovation at Western Growers, announced the grant by saying: “This grant gives us a chance to develop and deliver curriculum modules that help teach students the key skills growers and AgTech companies have identified as crucial. One of the key requirements is for cross-disciplinary students who know a variety of subjects, from engineering to agronomy to biology to computer science. This collaboration between WG members, partners and California educators will ensure growers and agtech companies get access to students who are AgTech enabled the day they finish school.”

After a year of collaboration and effort, the modules created to achieve this aim are set to take flight. With modules set to be integrated into the academic structure in the Spring 2023 semester and the first set of interns ready for Western Growers members soon, a prevailing sense of excitement exists: This is just the beginning.

The Next Gen Ag Workers Program has many facets, but the core concept that makes them all shine is the goal to provide students with the “a-ha” moment of realization that the agricultural industry has a lot to offer in the way of an exciting and rewarding career.

“They may not have even realized what’s out there for them,” said Carrie Peterson, Next Generation Ag Worker Program Grant Manager, who helps implement the CDFA grant. Leimone Waite, a Horticulture Instructor at Shasta College, echoed the sentiment: “I get that all the time from students. I teach a lot of introductory plant science and horticulture courses, and every semester half the students in the class are like, ‘Oh, we had no idea that it was so involved.’ Even though they had an interest, they just had no idea that it was such a technical field.”

It’s this technology-rich agricultural environment that needs these excited students, and, in turn, their need for a specialized curriculum is not being ignored. “What can we do to quickly look at these skill gaps that members and employers are seeing and then how can we address those?” Peterson said. “So, we opted for a module format…we were very mindful of how to quickly deliver the really essential skills.”

A key feature of the program’s utility is that the modules are designed to integrate into coursework that already exists. A team of college faculty and industry experts created 10 modules to be used by community colleges throughout California.

These modules are Irrigation Practices, Programmable Logic Controllers, Local Commodities Knowledge, GPS/Geospatial Technologies, Precision Ag Software Skills, Soft Skills, Internet of Things (Artificial Intelligence and Data Collection/Monitoring), Unmanned Aerial Systems, Communications, and Food Safety.

According to Terry Brase, Director of Farm of the Future at West Hills College, these modules answer a need for instruction to succeed in a more technology-heavy, data-driven work environment. “The concept of having modules where instructors can adapt them in different ways or to fit the courses they’re already teaching I think is extremely important,” Brase said.

Creating modules that are applicable to the industry’s needs require the collaboration of the creators of the modules, the instructors who will use them, and the growers who know the needs of the industry.

“This is a really good way for the colleges throughout the state to collaborate with each other on, first, determining the skills that industry is really interested in our students working on and possessing, and at the same time providing quality curriculum that is consistent at the different campuses because we’re working together,” said Dorothy Farias, Assistant Professor and Department Chair for Ag at Ventura College. “I think it’s probably one of the biggest benefits of a project like this is having that opportunity to have the sense of unity within the community colleges and the growers.”

In order for the modules to have practical value, grower’s needs were considered in the content’s development. Peterson noted that integrating the language used in agriculture—everything from irrigation to unmanned aerial systems—was critical for students in order to enter the field with baseline knowledge. Because the insight is coming directly from growers, students are sure to get a head start on merging into the work environment.

The adaptability of the module system means that content can be added or modified to account for developments and changes that the future will bring. During its year of development, a new component of the program extends the classroom education into real and practical opportunities. Students who complete five of the 10 modules unlock the ability to view internships with Western Growers members. The plan allocates a portion of the awarded grant funds to go toward offsetting the cost of a summer internship for a Western Grower member.

“It’s a great way to get students in jobs but also helps the members by offsetting the cost of that intern. It’s almost a 60/40 split,” Peterson said. The link between faculty and growers shows its value in that  community college instructors will have the connections with the students who are the most interested in an internship as well as the WG members who have expressed an interest in mentoring an intern. It’s an all-around mutually beneficial system, as the instructor further benefits from having more of their students in learning-based work.

The Next Gen Ag Workers Program is set to build a new kind of relationship between the agricultural community and California community colleges, and this new connection is built upon a main objective: Help the younger generation find their place and purpose in a career in agriculture and share the variety of complex and exciting opportunities that await them. “The more sharp minds that are in this realm of food production, the better we all are. We’re all better off,” Waite said.

The beginning of the Spring 2023 semester is more than just the start of new classes and newly-acquired knowledge, it’s the ribbon-cutting to a clear-cut path toward the open door of the agricultural community in California. The curriculum is much more than the sum of its parts. It’s the message to those already living in agricultural communities—and who may have family contributing to these farms—that they are wanted within the ranks of these organizations. An enriching and challenging career awaits them, and they’ll have the support to get there.

If you are interested in providing an internship opportunity, please contact Carrie Peterson at (209) 602-4288.

 

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From Seed to STEM: The Need for Science-Minded Employees Grows in Agriculture

March 1st, 2023

Help wanted for agricultural business. Comprehensive understanding of the scientific method required.

Would you be surprised if you saw that requirement in a job ad? You shouldn’t be! Agriculture has been the launch point for technological advancements for thousands of years. Finding ways to feed a civilization has long been a driving force in advancement throughout human existence. While much has changed in agricultural requirements, that core concept has remained the same. More than ever, society relies on farmers to create more from less while considering and accounting for environmental impacts into the production process. The needs of the corporate structure of agricultural organizations reflects the emergence of more science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs within the org charts.

Today, there are more jobs requiring a high level of understanding in one or more areas of STEM in all levels of agriculture, and the need for rapid response in areas like water, climate, food safety and biological solutions means agriculture will continue to be an ever-adapting landscape for STEM-smart employees in all areas of the organization.

The following job titles are a few examples of the positions that grower operations—including Western Growers members—are requiring more and more:

Agronomist

Agronomy is a key science specific to agriculture. It is the area of agriculture that deals with field crop production and soil management. According to their job description, an agronomist must have “knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment. Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances. Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.”

The tasks conducted by an agronomist on staff include conducting research in breeding, physiology, production; managing agricultural plants; studying the chemical, physical, biological and mineralogical composition of soil in relation to crop growth; and investigating effects of alternative practices on soil and crop productivity.

An individual looking to embark on a career as an agronomist must have a minimum of a four-year bachelor’s degree.

Automation Technician

The requirements for this automation technician position are a high school degree or an associate’s degree. In one job posting, the ideal candidate for this role should be able to “facilitate the installation, operation, monitoring, and maintenance of computer-controlled irrigation and hydraulic systems. They will work regularly with low voltage electrical components, hydraulic controls, and other electro-mechanical devices (valves, pumps, filters, chemical injectors, etc.).”

An employee holding this position will need to have enough of a knowledge base to understand the automation software and systems to troubleshoot problems and keep detailed records as well as an understanding of engineering concepts to manage an array of technologies on the farm—irrigation, hydraulic controllers and wire systems for interconnected devices, to name a few.

Food Safety Manager

Having a food safety manager on staff isn’t a new addition to a successful agricultural team, but it continues to be a vital component that requires cutting-edge scientific knowledge. A food safety manager needs to have a deep understanding of the biological systems that contribute to ensuring a consumer-safe product.

A member of the food safety team oversees policies, procedures and programs associated with food safety. It is the responsibility of the Food Safety Manager to ensure that all preestablished standards are being followed and other members of the organization have access to resources and training to maintain those standards.

This role typically requires a bachelor’s degree in food science or biological science, though higher roles may require a more advanced education.

Industrial Engineering Technician

The Industrial Engineering Technician position is another role that supports and maintains the mechanical needs of the grower operation. One posting for this position notes that the individual hired will support the equipment in the field and the factory-based production equipment to identify and remedy any issues that arise and work to improve performance and utility of the machinery.

This hands-on engineering-based position requires an associate’s degree in engineering or a minimum of two years of engineering experience.

Mechatronics Technician

Mechatronics is “an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the integration of mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering systems, and also includes a combination of robotics, electronics, computer science, telecommunications, systems, control, and product engineering.”

With new agtech being introduced to the market all the time, having a specialist on hand who has a background in industrial electricity management, mechanical components and their upkeep, and robotics is important.

Job opportunities within the mechatronic space range from a Mechatronics Technician to a Senior Mechatronics Engineer, with an education requirement of an associate’s degree to a bachelor’s degree, respectively.

R&D Manager

One source lists the attributes of an R&D Manager as someone who can “use creative abilities and research methods to develop programs that allow the improvement of existing products or their expansion into new markets, and the development of new products to meet the growth targets of the company.”

The role of the R&D Manager is to apply an intellectual and creative assessment of an organization’s needs. The right person for this kind of role will be able to report to senior management the technical needs of the company as well as developments within the market. As noted, the agtech opportunities are ever-changing, and an R&D Manager will be able to keep a watchful eye on offerings with a thought to how new products can integrate with the existing structure and know when and how to update existing products.

A background in data analysis is also important for a person in this role, as they will be required to input, organize, analyze and present R&D data to upper management.

The right candidate for a role like this will likely need a bachelor’s degree or above in plant science or agronomy and have five years of work experience managing R&D projects in specialty crops and have a comprehensive understanding of the scientific method.

***

One key shift in agricultural org charts has been at the executive level. Some titles that have shown up in the boardroom and even up to the C-suite in the past few years are VP of Technology, VP of Innovation and Chief Technology Officers. Western Growers’ Dennis Donohue, Executive Director of the Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology, says the adaptation of the corporate structure to make room for roles that specialize in technology and innovation in agriculture is important: “Food safety shifted from a department to a boardroom consideration after the spinach crisis.  I think Technology and Innovation is in the same category. It needs to be part of every organization’s strategic thinking and planning on a go-forward basis,” he said.

The shift in organizational mindset is necessary for the push of adjustment brought on by ever-changing  access to resources. Mechanization, data aggregation and biological solutions have limited utility without the right people to implement and understand them. The brightest minds may not yet look to farming as the best path to travel for a mentally challenging and invigorating career, but they should be. Better still, agricultural organizations should be looking to the valuable minds already participating in the growing process to provide the tools and resources to navigate a field that is becoming more STEM-reliant by the day.

For more information about job postings like these specific to agriculture, visit SunnySkiesProduce.com and Producecareers.com.

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A River Runs Through It: How Farmers Have Fought to Save the Colorado

March 1st, 2023

If the history of the Colorado River were to be presented as a work of fiction, the depth of plot and complexity of the story would read like a great American classic. The churning, cutting power of the water that passes through the terrain of the West parallels the complicated human effort that goes into wrangling it.

For over 100 years, a growing civilization has utilized the river to irrigate agriculture and sustain large populations. But climate, the geography of the West and the Colorado River are reminders that the environment is a complicated and dynamic force, and the variance of water availability is a pressing reminder that adaptability has long been the key to sustainability.

Farmers have known that accessing the Colorado River and the human-manned systems that branch from it is fractal in its complexity. Every water agreement has finer details that reveal themselves on closer inspection, and every detail connects to another discussion, its nuance fine and delicate. Navigating successfully within the body of the system is surgical and varies from location of one farm to another. A solution for water sequestration for one operation isn’t the same for another. But all farmers along the path of the Colorado know one thing: they live or die by the natural and man-made flow of the river. Conserving water is paramount, as it has been for generations.

Robert Medler, Arizona Government Affairs Manager at Western Growers, summarizes the approach to finding solutions to current water availability realities: “Everybody’s looking for the silver bullet and you really need the silver buck shot. It’s going to be a whole bunch of little things that are all going to be great and that are all going to make a difference and make an impact.”

***

The wide-shot bird’s eye view begins with the Colorado River Compact signed in 1922. The collective enforcement of the Compact is commonly referred to as the Law of the River. In the early 20th century, representatives from the seven basin states came together to set a standard for allocation of the water flowing through the states: 7.5 million acre-feet per year to the Upper Basin states—Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico—and 7.5 million acre-feet per year to the Lower Basin states—California, Arizona and Nevada. The allocation was later changed in 1944 to allocate 1.5 million acre-feet to Mexico.

The establishment of the Law of the River wasn’t the end of the negotiation. Instead, it became the skeletal structure that agricultural entrepreneurs would build their businesses, and these businesses would go on to stretch through generations, feeding millions of people along the way. Over a hundred years later, the environment has changed, and growers, government agencies and citizens are still fighting over water use in the West.

Responding to changing water availability isn’t new to California, and farmers have long played a role in conserving in order to make sure urban areas thrive. In the early 2000s, California invested in the infrastructure required to make better use of water. “In order to cut back to its allocation of 4.4 million acre-feet,” shared Mike Wade, Executive Director of the California Water Coalition, “urban areas in the state invested in water conservation. So Metropolitan Water District and Coachella Valley Water District and some others put a lot of money into on-farm water conservation. Most of it, if not all of it, is happening in the Imperial Valley. So, the Imperial Valley through voluntary on-farm and other conservation has generated 500,000 acre-feet of water a year that’s going to meet Southern California’s urban water needs. So that’s an example that we think other states can follow.” In response to the recent decline in water levels, California has put an additional 400,000 acre-feet of water on the table for conservation as well as another 350,000 acre-feet to be stored in Lake Mead for future use. “To avoid a large scale expensive legal battle, the Law of the River needs to be followed,” said Gail Delihant, Senior Director of California Government Affairs for Western Growers.

These proposals on top of the savings already taking place means that negotiations to sustain through dry years is just beginning. The answer to the negotiation of price for an acre-foot of water exists on a pendulum, and the range of this pendulum may be different depending on the location and other water resources available to a grower. But even the diversification of water resources is becoming strained.

In an effort to negotiate less agricultural water use, the Bureau of Reclamation has offered $400 per acre-foot, but for most, the offer is a non-starter. Some growers are saying that the dollar amount per acre-foot needs to be closer to $2,000 an acre-foot for the deal to make financial sense. With $4 billion now coming from the Inflation Reduction Act to the Bureau of Reclamation for the intended use to alleviate the pressures from a drying system in the West, some see that the space for negotiation of the dollar amount per acre-foot has widened. The positive outlook is that there’s an openness for discussion to find a solution for most people looking to the future of available resources and the longevity of their businesses. As a senior water rights holder, Larry Cox of Lawrence Cox Ranches said, “We recognize that it will take the engagement of Senior Ag to stabilize the reservoirs.”

***

For Arizona, the room for movement and negotiation has its own challenges. Access to water set by the Law of the River means that Arizona is allocated less of the amount set for the Lower Basin region. A growing metropolitan system in central Arizona has challenged or eliminated the water available for agricultural use over the decades. Areas on the western side of the state, cities like Yuma, have continued to have access to necessary water supply from the Colorado River because of early water rights.

Growers in the Yuma region have been mindful of their use throughout the years and are present to the resource’s value. “They have been extremely efficient,” Medler said, “and have continued to become more efficient with the use of water, use less water, get a substantially larger amount of product using less water…That’s the right way you want it to go. Substantially less water use. More product. They continue to go down that road.”

The environmental challenges associated with the Colorado River will always be a maze of complexity, built with the varied needs and perspectives of different players in different regions. The way through may be currently muddled in discussions and negotiations, but one thing is clear, growers will continue to accomplish the impossible: growing more with less and utilizing technology to get use out of every drop and to see the system and their role in it through a long lens.

Jack Vessey, President of Vessey & Co. in the Imperial Valley, shared insight from a company that just celebrated its centennial last year: “My dad, about 15 years ago, he had the forethought and said, ‘There’s going to be an issue here.’ There was a growing population, and we weren’t necessarily in a drought, but we had been through some droughts, nowhere near where we are today. That’s when we started investing in some more irrigation pipe and started to focus on really watching our water a little more closely than we ever have in the past.”

Vessey & Co. isn’t an anomaly when it comes to being aware and proactive about changes in resources in the grower community. Many are keeping an eye on emerging technologies to boost efficiency with less. Companies like Netafim’s drip irrigation technology and Agrology’s machine learning and artificial intelligence platform are two examples of the entrepreneurial and technological pieces to the possible solution puzzle.

Many farmers agree that they are key players when it comes to finding a solution to a depleting water supply. For a cultural system to continue to flourish, people need to have access to good food. Cutting a vital resource to the people who grow that food isn’t an option. As Delihant said: “We can’t grow food out of thin air.”

 

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WGAT: Supporting the Health Care Needs of Ag Workers

March 1st, 2023

Not all health plans are created equal. In fact, not all health plans are created with a unique audience in mind. For more than six decades, Western Growers Assurance Trust (WGAT) has been committed to ensuring a healthy future for our members in the agricultural community. WGAT offers solutions that address unique situations, such as health care coverage for field workers, seasonal employees and workers who only speak Spanish. And although we specialize in services that help farmworkers and the Spanish-speaking community, we ensure our plans and programs serve all demographics.

Cross-Border Health Care

Close to a million Americans cross the border every year to receive medical treatments that are otherwise considered too expensive to receive in the U.S. In fact, many of these patients mainly come from the states of California, Arizona and Texas, according to statistical data from Patients Beyond Borders.

Cross-border health care combines innovation and resourcefulness to reduce health care costs for employers while creating more options for their employees. Because WGAT recognizes the significance the border region has on the agriculture industry, we designed a comprehensive Mexico Cross-Border Program to provide flexible medical and dental care options for our members. The program includes a list of specialty and diagnostic services, such as anesthesiology, dermatology, internal medicine, orthopedics and much more. In addition, WGAT enhanced its Mexico plans in the last year to include nutritionist consultations for patients diagnosed with diabetes, as well as on-site consultations for cardiology and neurology.

Recently, WGAT announced the opening of Healthy Families Medical Center, conveniently located close to the border in Mexicali, Mexico. The state-of-the-art facility allows our members to seek affordable and quality health care across the border, which includes general and family physicians; knowledgeable and skilled care providers; personalized care from bilingual staff; and pharmacy, lab and X-ray services. This new addition further expands our members’ access to high quality and affordable health care.

Cedar Health and Wellness Centers

To serve the primary health care needs of our members and their employees, WGAT created its Cedar Health and Wellness Centers as an effective solution for employers in agriculture to offer affordable and basic health care coverage and prevention care for their employees.

Our Cedar Health and Wellness Centers and associated Cedar Network is included in every WGAT plan, and we continue to expand our list of network providers throughout California and Arizona. Our Cedar plans are a popular option for employers in ag and enable both employers and employees to significantly save on health care costs.

As the marketplace looks for more innovation and cost-efficiency, WGAT recently announced exciting plan enhancements that will take effect this year to deliver more value to members and reduce costs. These enhancements include $0 copays for our best-in-class Cross-Border Mexico network of health care providers, $0 copays for Cedar Health and Wellness Center visits, and a $0 cost-share telemedicine program so members can access virtual primary care without any expense.

Telehealth services can be extremely cost effective for both employers and employees, which is why we encourage our members to make use of virtual health care. Members in ag benefit from telehealth services in a number of ways, from receiving bilingual services to engaging with a doctor from any location within minutes.

Telehealth has surged since the start of the pandemic, with an estimated 83.9 percent of patients using virtual health care visits for the first time, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). As more patients discover the convenience and benefits of telehealth, we can expect the popularity of virtual health care to continue to rise.

If you don’t have a WGAT plan and would like to know more about how we can help you better manage your health care costs, contact Western Growers Insurance Services for more information. You can reach a sales team member at (800) 333-4WGA. 

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Director Profile: Craig Alameda, Treasurer, Topflavor Farms, Inc.

March 1st, 2023

Craig Alameda, Treasurer, Topflavor Farms, Inc.

Director since 2022  |  Member since 1993  |  D-2 Yuma

Craig Alameda discovered his love of agriculture at an early age while working alongside his grandfather, father and brothers at grower-packer-shipper L.S. Williams Company in Fremont, Calif. “Farming was bred into us,” he said, as he recalls his days of picking cucumbers, harvesting cauliflower and lettuce and driving tractors in the summertime during his teenage years.

“One of our jobs as kids was to try and make straight rows, doing it by eye and the seat of your pants,” he said. “So much has changed in my 45 years in ag. We went from hand-leveling to laser-leveling and GPS-leveling, and now we have GPS on our tractors to make rows and tractors that drive themselves.”

Alameda graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in ag business. It wasn’t long after that the owner of L.S. Williams was looking to sell the company and retire. The timing seemed all too perfect. Alameda and his brothers came together to buy the farm and officially start their family business, which became The Alameda Company in 1984.

“We were a grower-packer-shipper. I handled the payroll and accounting and also sold cauliflower and lettuce. One of my brothers was out in the field running operations and the other was doing the harvesting,” Alameda said.

But after facing some economic hardships, mostly due to inclement weather and record storms, the brothers had to look for different options to keep the business afloat. Perfect timing set in again after Skyview Cooling reached out to Alameda and his brothers to assist and manage its operations in Mexico during the winter months.

“They needed someone to help supervise and grow cauliflower. It was a total cultural awakening coming down to Yuma, but it gave us a great opportunity to learn a different area. We realized there were bigger areas to farm than just our neck of the woods, and it really opened our eyes for new opportunities available to us,” he said.

After spending a few years in the region, grower-shipper Tanimura & Antle reached out to Alameda and his brothers with an opportunity to farm for them in Yuma. In 1991, Topflavor Farms, Inc. was born, which has since grown into a diverse family farming operation that produces a variety of crops, including romaine lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, kale and much more.

At Topflavor Farms, Alameda sits as Treasurer, and his brothers Steve and Tony hold the positions of President and Vice President, respectively. “We aren’t that big on titles,” Alameda said. “We make all of our decisions as a group—that’s the magical deal. When there’s two, you usually can’t decide on anything. With three, there’s a tiebreaker.”

Alameda was elected to the Western Growers Board last fall and is currently serving his first year. “I’ve always been the guy behind the curtain, and when it came up that I had been nominated, I couldn’t believe anyone knew who I was. It was quite an honor,” Alameda said. “I am blown away by all the people on the board. It’s like a ‘Who’s Who in Ag.’ It’s been amazing to hear about everyone’s experiences and life stories.”

One of his goals for serving on the board is to address costly food safety and liability insurance costs. “There are many issues facing growers today, from water and labor and everything in between. It’s the nature of our business. Costs have been driven up by recalls, fires and weather catastrophes all over the country. I think everyone can agree on this issue and band together to see how we can improve these rates under one big umbrella.”

 

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WG Member Profile: BlazerWilkinsonGee

March 1st, 2023

BlazerWilkinsonGee

Member since 2008

There’s something about a picture-perfect strawberry that has made the fruit consistently rank as one of the most popular fruits consumed by millions of Americans each year. According to grower-packer-shipper BlazerWilkinsonGee, there are five to seven petals per strawberry flower, an estimated 200 seeds on a strawberry’s surface, and five pounds of average yield per strawberry plant. But who’s counting?

Realizing the potential of this beloved fruit, John Wilkinson and Scott Blazer joined together to form BlazerWilkinson in 1996 to start selling strawberries. “Strawberries were really increasing in popularity at the time, and we knew we could sell a lot of them,” owner Wilkinson said. “Sooner or later, we realized we couldn’t buy enough of them, so we started farming them in 2003, and we’ve expanded little by little every year since.”

Wilkinson notes that part of his company’s expansion can be attributed to its relationship with the Nunes family, when they licensed their Foxy label for strawberries in 2008. “This is a well-known brand in the vegetable industry, and this helped us as we expanded our farming operation. Since that time, the relationship has deepened considerably. They farm some fields for us in the Salinas area, we lease some land from them and they rotate vegetable crops through the farms between berry crops,” Wilkinson said.

Fast forward nearly two decades later to 2021 when BlazerWilkinson teamed up with Daren Gee, a successful strawberry grower in the Santa Maria area. Together, they formed BlazerWilkinsonGee, a vertically integrated grower and shipper of both conventional and organic strawberries headquartered in Salinas, Calif.

Its vertical operation enables the company to stay connected with its product every step of the way, ensuring strict standards of quality and flavor are maintained throughout the entire process. “There’s a lot that goes into it,” Wilkinson said. “We make sure we produce high quality fruit that gives us a lot to choose from for when it comes time to pack it.”

BlazerWilkinsonGee farms an estimated 2,200 acres of strawberries between Oxnard, Santa Maria, and Salinas, Calif., and Plant City, Fla. The company also imports strawberries from Mexico during the mid-winter months to ensure it delivers quality strawberries 365 days a year.

In addition to supplying premium fruit, the company has made tremendous strides in sustainability to ensure it remains a good steward of the land. BlazerWilkinsonGee COO Kiana Amaral, who is also the daughter of Wilkson, noted that California farmers are under more scrutiny than any other state in the country.

“It’s important we do everything possible to reduce our overall impact, from precision irrigation, to promoting biodiversity through crop rotation, to reducing food waste during the distribution process, to compostable cardboard packaging,” Amaral said. “But every bit as important as the sustainability of the land is the sustainability of our people and community. As a family run company, we take our role in supporting a healthy and vibrant community very seriously.”

On top of those efforts, BlazerWilkinsonGee announced that it would be rolling out 100 percent recyclable clamshell packaging in 2020. “There hasn’t been a solid history of recycling clamshells. The recycling industry recycles a bunch of water bottles—and that’s a good business—but it’s not embracing clamshells yet. I see that as an area where we can all improve upon,” he said.

“We felt the need to provide recyclable packaging regardless of whether or not people were going to recycle them. Most homes want to put in the effort to improve recycling, and now we just need to somehow encourage the recycling industry to step in and embrace it.”

BlazerWilkinsonGee has been a member of Western Growers since 2008. “I’ve been in the agricultural industry all my life. My grandfather was an ag professor and a VP of an agricultural company, and my dad and uncle were both lettuce growers—so I’ve been in or around Western Growers for many years. Western Growers is an association that most fully represents California and Arizona perishable agriculture, so it’s important for us to be a part of this distinguished group.”

 

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FIRA USA: If World Ag Expo and World Agri-Tech had a Baby

March 1st, 2023

Back to back weeks in Toulouse, France and Tulare, USA have convinced me that the format we are adopting for FIRA USA in Salinas in September 2023 is the best event format for the most important activity at a specialty crops automation event—starting and advancing conversations between growers and Agtech companies.

It may sound obvious, but a lot of events focus on other things for various reasons (sponsor dollars, organization agendas, and trying to attract a larger audience chief among them). When we launched FIRA USA last year in Fresno, we wanted to take the best aspects of two shows, focus the effort on one specific group of crops, and try and find an audience of agtech companies and growers. The goal was to bring the specialty crop AgTech automation community together for some great content, some great demos, and start a bunch of great conversations.

We found a willing audience on both sides—startups enjoyed being part of a focused event where most of the attendees were looking for their type of solution, and growers were also interested in attending a show that focused on one type of solution.

When you think of Tulare and the World Ag Expo, you think about an event for all ag products—dairy, livestock, Midwest crops, and specialty crops are all well represented and you better pack comfortable shoes if you want to see all of them because you will be putting some miles on to get across all the exhibitors in three days. Back from a one-year COVID hiatus in 2021, World Ag Expo re-appeared in 2022 and quickly got back to most of its former glory. The 2022 crowd was great, not quite at full capacity, but everyone was glad to have the event back and a chance to re-connect with people you didn’t get a chance to see much of in person for a couple of years. The old adage (and ‘80s song lyrics from Cinderella) is true—sometimes you really don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone (or was it Joni Mitchell?)—and Tulare proved it in 2022.

World Ag Expo in 2023 in February had a bigger crowd and more companies in attendance. It turns out seeing ag equipment live is one of the best ways to create curiosity and questions from an audience. Tulare does this really well—that is the essence of what we hoped to capture for specialty crops for FIRA USA in Salinas in 2023.

World Agri-Tech in San Francisco is an entirely different affair. You’re paying $500/night for a lot of nights in San Francisco at the Marriott Marquis—for Tulare, it’s only a special event like World Ag Expo that can convince people they should pay $500 for a Courtyard in greater Tulare that’s not even that close to the event venue. Tulare is about the outdoors, walking for miles over a long day, learning about the latest equipment offerings, and getting some great BBQ and peach cobbler. World Agri-Tech has really high-end food and a lot of presentations that have you sitting theater style listening to some of the brightest agtech and investor minds talking about what’s here now but more about what could (should? must?) happen for later. Tulare is $20/ticket—World Agri-Tech is $2,500—and nobody should wonder why farmers don’t go to World Agri-Tech. At $2,500 a ticket and $500/night, the average farmer shakes that off faster than they shake off a trip to the mall. At World Ag Expo, exhibitors talk with and to farmers. At World Agri-Tech, presenters talk about farmers, and not always in a nice way.

As we wrapped up World FIRA and Tulare, we begin planning for FIRA USA. FIRA USA is the perfect mix of Tulare and World Ag Expo with San Francisco and World AgriFood. It’s focused on specialty crop automation. It has world class content for three days on just that segment of agriculture, developed by growers and with grower feedback. It has great Agtech demos and exhibitors for three days—you can watch panels, see exhibitors, and watch demos all without leaving the grounds. This year we make it even better with the Robot Extravaganza, which provides the whole event in a three-hour format for everyone to attend on Day One.

As I said in the title, FIRA USA is exactly what you would get if World Ag Expo and World AgriFood had a baby—it’s a pretty good looking infant and we’ll see if it can avoid those pesky “Terrible Twos” as it approaches its second year.

This blog was originally published on the Medium site of WG’s VP of Innovation Walt Duflock.

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What are the Best Management Practices On-Farm After a Flood?

March 1st, 2023

On Feb. 1, 2023, Western Growers, in collaboration with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, held a webinar titled “On-Farm Flood Management and Response.” The webinar was offered to answer important flood management questions and was presented by Dr. Ali Stickland, FDA Biologist; Dr. Erin Leigh DiCaprio, Associate Professor UC Davis Cooperative Extension; Vivian Soffa, County Executive Director Farm Service Agency; and Angie Ramirez, Food Safety and Organic Compliance Manager, Triangle Farms.

The speakers addressed best management practices and mitigation strategies that may be applied on-farm after a flood event. They also discussed technical resources and emergency disaster assistance programs that can help farmers address flood related challenges.

Here are important learnings in Q&A format:

How does the FDA define flooding?

Flooding is the flowing or overflowing of a field with water outside a grower’s control. Pooled water (for example, after rainfall) that is not reasonably likely to cause contamination of the edible portion of fresh produce is not considered flooding.

What environmental factors and commodity characteristics should growers consider when evaluating the impact of flooding to crops?

Consider the following when conducting a flood assessment:

  1. The source of flood water (runoff from adjacent land use, overflow from nearby stream, overflow from nearby irrigation canal, or pooling from overhead rain)
  2. Consider the type of crop and whether edible portion of the crop has potentially contacted flood water—edible portion is close to ground or in contact with flood water (spinach/lettuce) or edible portion is on a stalk, away from and not in contact with flood water (broccoli/cauliflower/artichoke). In some cases, your crop may be too young to have any edible portion developed. In this case, the risk of contamination would be considered low.
  3. Stage of growth (very young with no edible crop or mature crop, close to harvest)
  4. Level of inundation—how flooded is the field/crop?
  5. Duration of flooding—how long before the water receded from the field?
  6. Results of testing (water source, soil, etc.)

After considering these factors, a food safety professional should assess the level of impact and mitigation and management strategies.

What mitigation and management strategies should growers implement after a flood event?

Growers should consider the following mitigation strategies post-flooding to minimize the risk of cross contamination:

  1. Segregate flooded crops from non-flooded crops using visible markers such as flags
  2. Establish a 30-foot buffer between flooded and non-flooded areas
  3. Avoid movement of people/equipment between flooded and non-flooded areas
  4. Where movement can’t be avoided, use sanitation protocols to prevent cross-contamination

Protect wellheads and other water sources. If water sources have been impacted, take appropriate corrective actions and test the water source before use to verify water quality is suitable for intended use.

Who can growers contact for assistance with flood damage assessment?

Growers can contact their local Farm Service Agency, extension specialists and agricultural trade associations for assistance. Western Growers and other entities have online resources:

     Assistance Resources for Farmers Impacted by Recent Flooding | Western Growers (wga.com)

How long must a grower wait to replant a crop after flooding has occurred? What are the requirements for conventional crops? What are the requirements for organic crops?

Per FDA guidance, a waiting period depends on conditions, but state/LGMA/research recommendations are to wait 30-60 days to allow the soil to dry out. This wait period can be shortened through soil testing, allowing growers to plant earlier.

What labs and methods can I use for soil testing?

Contact local labs to determine if soil testing services are provided and to confirm they are using validated methods. Review internal lab protocols where applicable. For example, if AOAC validated methods are not available, review the lab’s internal validation protocols. Work with your lab to determine how to collect your soil sample.

When should a soil sample be collected post-flooding? How long should I wait before collecting a soil sample?

Growers should allow the soil to sufficiently dry before collecting a soil sample. Growers can work the soil to expedite the drying process. Equipment used to work the soil should be properly sanitized after use to prevent cross contamination.

Can I divert my flooded crop to animal feed?

In certain cases, yes. Crops must be tested for mold, bacteria, chemicals and heavy metals. Contact the public affairs specialists located at your nearest FDA field office for more information.

What are the possible contaminants in floodwater?

Flood water may contain:

  • Microbiological pathogens
  • Chemical contaminants (pesticides, heavy metals, petroleum products)
  • Sewage from nearby treatment plants

Although organic production wasn’t specifically covered in this webinar, here are some commonly asked questions related to the impact of flooding to organic crops.

Are certified organic lands no longer organic after inundation?

Any parcels flooded will maintain their certification until surrendered, suspended, or revoked. Crops on the parcel may not be eligible for sale as organic if prohibited materials were in the flood water.

What needs to be done to re-certify organic land after flood inundation?

Growers whose farms have been flooded and are concerned that prohibited materials may have been in the flood waters should notify their certifier as soon as possible. Certifiers will work with growers to determine the potential for contamination and next steps. In general, certifiers view unintended water from flood as a drift situation and would require that any contaminated crop not be sold as organic but most likely there would not be a requirement for a three-year transition. However, corrective actions should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to make that determination.

What about food safety concerns with this inundation, such as the introduction of feces to waters, that may impact microbial loads (e.g., E. coli outbreaks associated with crop)?

All crops directly contacting flood waters and 30 ft. around cannot be harvested for human consumption, and growers can’t replant for 60 days unless soil test results can determine it’s free from pathogens—then growers must wait 30 days before replanting.

What should I do if I am unclear about next steps with my organic crop post-flooding?

Growers should contact their certifier and provide details about their specific situation. Certifier representatives will provide guidance that is specific to each situation.

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The Need to Place Food Security Front and Center in Policy

March 1st, 2023

Admittedly, I’m a light sleeper. This combined with the fact that I’m an avowed coffee drinker make for many nights that I’m left to my own quiet thoughts as my family peacefully drifts off to sleep. Although I realize that I need to get back to a regular sleep schedule, I’ve grown increasingly accustomed to this being a time for me to ponder legislation and regulations that are currently affecting or, if passed, would affect California’s agricultural industry and what strategic and tactical responses Western Growers should undertake to limit negative consequences and instead encourage positive outcomes. Food security is the topic that has been front and center in my thoughts lately. The more thought I give it, the more worried I get. In fact, I’m asking myself on every piece of legislation that gets introduced: “What impact would this legislation or these regulations have on food security?”

Food security is a broad topic that encompasses national security, economic security and personal well-being. I’m increasingly concerned, if not convinced, that not enough attention is being given to this basic and needed function—the ability of farmers to adequately provide for this nation’s food supply in the future.

By and large, we’ve been living through a time of plenty where anything that we would like to eat is readily available. There is a seemingly endless array of commodities for us to enjoy as well as export. Given this, it’s natural human behavior for us to not worry about the future and just take for granted that the food system in place today will simply remain into the future. I’m guilty of taking it for granted, too.

The actions that California continues to take in policy areas including labor, water, crop protection and air quality are all factors that are adding unnecessary challenges to our ability to maintain strong food systems. Shouldn’t California officials be working with our industry to find reasonable and effective solutions for our labor shortages, allocating more funding for construction of new water storage systems, incentivizing additional (not fewer) crop protection tools and focusing on ensuring that we can move our crops out of the field and to consumer tables should there be a failure of our electrical grid? The answer is a clear and resounding “Yes.”

To that end, WG advocates are asking the “How?” question in all of our meetings with legislators and regulators, whether it’s on the state’s sustainable pest management goals, more water storage, or on the overall carbon neutrality mandate. It’s one thing to set the goal and another thing entirely to achieve it in such a manner as to not disrupt business operations and livelihoods. Getting this right is crucial. We have to find a successful pathway forward for future generations. Yes, that’s an often-used phrase, but true nonetheless.

The primacy of food security should be driving the state’s policy considerations instead of virtue signaling press conferences and bill proposals that assuage the needs of today but ignores the realities of tomorrow.

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New California Employment Laws for 2023

March 1st, 2023

Governor Gavin Newsom was active at the end of 2022, signing several significant new California employment-related laws. Of the 1,166 bills sent for signature, 977 were signed and 169 vetoed. Ninety employment-related bills were signed with 27 vetoed. Below is a non-exhaustive summary of several of the laws affecting employers in the state. All bills, except as otherwise noted, took effect Jan. 1, 2023.

SB 1162 Pay Transparency

Amends pay data reporting duties to include median and mean hourly rates within all job categories by race, ethnicity, and gender, and imposes penalties on employers for non-compliance.

Amends current EEO-1 “same or substantially similar” pay data reporting practices (100+ employees) and requires qualified employers to submit a pay data report directly to the Civil Rights Department. Reports are now due on or before the second Wednesday of May. Employers with 100+ employees hired through labor contractors must submit a separate pay data report for those employees.

Multi-establishment employers are no longer required to submit consolidated reports but must continue to submit a report for each establishment. Significant civil penalties imposed for non-compliance.

Requires employers, upon request, to provide employees with the pay scale for the employees’ current position. Employers with 15+ employees must also include the pay scale for a position in any job posting, including postings with third parties. Pay scale means the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position. Records of each employee’s job title/wage rate history must be maintained for the duration of the employment plus three years after termination of employment.

AB 2693 COVID-19 Exposure

Eliminates notice requirements to local public health agencies related to COVID-19 outbreak. Eliminates CA Department of Public Heath posting requirements relating to COVID-19. Extends exposure provisions until Jan. 1, 2024, and modifies employer notification requirements.

AB 1751 Workers’ Compensation: COVID-19

AB 1751 extends to Jan. 1, 2024, the rebuttable presumption that an employee’s illness resulting from COVID-19 was sustained in the course of employment for purposes of workers’ compensation benefits.

AB 2068 Cal/OSHA: Postings

Requires that specified notices be posted when the Division of Occupational Safety and Health issues a workplace health or safety citation or order be written in be available in English and the top seven non-English languages used by limited-English-proficient adults in California, including Punjabi.

AB 1949 Bereavement Leave

Requires employers with five or more employees to provide up to five days of unpaid bereavement leave within three months of the death of a family member.

AB 1041 Designated Person

Expands “family care and medical leave” under California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and “family member” under the paid sick leave law to include a “designated person,” defined as “any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.” A designated person may be identified by the employee at the time leave is requested. Employees may be limited to one designated person per 12-month period.

SB 1044 Emergency Condition

Prohibits adverse action against any employee for leaving or refusing to report to work because of an “emergency condition,” defined as disaster or extreme peril to the safety at the workplace caused by natural forces or a crime, or an evacuation order due to a natural disaster or crime at the workplace, an employee’s home, or their child’s school. Pandemics are specifically excluded from the definition. Adverse actions include preventing checking mobile devices to seek emergency assistance, assess the safety, or communicate with a person to confirm their safety.

AB 2183 Ag Labor Relations

Gives unions the option to represent agricultural workers by either vote by mail (if the employer enters a “labor peace compact”) or through a newly created card check mechanism, rather than in-person secret ballot process.

Signing was conditioned on a letter signed by the United Farm Workers President and the California Labor Federation agreeing to the passage of “clarifying language” eliminating the mail-in option, and installing card check as the sole alternative to secret ballot elections; changes to be made during the 2023 legislative session. To be repealed, by its terms, as of Jan. 1, 2028.

AB 2188 Discrimination: Use of Cannabis (January 1, 2024)

The new law protects California workers from discrimination if they use cannabis off the job and away from the workplace.

Prohibits employment-related decisions based on a drug screen test finding the person to have nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites (NCM) in their blood, hair, urine or other bodily fluids. The presence of this metabolite does not indicate current impairment, only that the worker or applicant has recently consumed cannabis. The law does not impact an employer’s right to conduct drug screening. The law applies to most employers, except the building and construction industries, and workers who are subject to federal drug testing requirements.

AB 2091 Reproductive Health
(September 27, 2022)

Prohibits employers and healthcare plans from releasing information identifying or relating to a person seeking/obtaining an abortion except pursuant to a subpoena, unless the subpoena is based on another state’s laws that would interfere with an individual’s abortion rights.

SB 523 Contraceptive Equity Act of 2022

Expands Fair Employment and Housing Act protected classifications to include “reproductive health decisionmaking.” This includes, but is not limited to, decisions to use/access a particular drug, device, product or medical service for reproductive health.

Prohibits, as a condition of employment, continued employment, or a benefit of employment, the disclosure of information relating to an applicant’s/employee’s reproductive health decisionmaking. The bill also requires that health benefits cover contraceptives and vasectomies as of January 2024.

Conclusion

California employers are encouraged to review their policies and practices to ensure they are following the State’s new employment laws.

 

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Limiting the Parameter of Sexually Harassing Conduct

March 29th, 2023

A recent California Court of Appeal decision offers individualized guidance on the limits of an employer’s responsibility to prohibit sexually harassing conduct when such conduct occurs during off-duty hours between friends.

In the case Atalla v. Rite Aid Corp (2023)i the Court of Appeal limited the extent to which an employer can be held liable for after-hours conduct between friends/co-workers with a long-standing personal history. Both the lower court and the Court of Appeal found that the conduct engaged in by Atalla’s friend/co-worker was undisputedly inappropriate but did not extend liability to Rite Aid as the co-worker was found not to be acting in his capacity as a supervisor at the time.ii

It was determined that the long-standing nature of the friendship between Atalla  and her co-worker, both before and after they worked together, evidenced communications on a range of topics that included work as well as personal subjects and that the friendship included an acquaintance with one another’s spouses as well as regular meetings for coffee, lunch, holidays and birthdays. Key to the Court’s analysis was the fact that the harassment occurred outside of working hours and that Atalla was a willing participant in the personal friendship that pre-existed her employment.

Arguably, the Atalla decision is limited to a specific factual situation; a long-standing friendship predating the working relationship with conduct occurring after hours. Nonetheless, it does offer some guidance as to what the Court considers to be the outer limits of an employer’s sexual harassment liability.

Federal law prohibits harassing conduct in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. California employers with 5 or more employees are also subject to the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) which prohibits harassment, discrimination and retaliation based on protected classifications such as sex and gender. Additionally, under the FEHA, employers with only one employee are subject to laws against harassment.

Despite the favorable outcome for Rite Aid in this case, it remains true that conduct taking place outside of the workplace can still be considered harassment and an employer may be found liable because, although the alleged harassment took place outside the workplace, it arose out of the employment relationship. Employers should take seriously all complaints of sexually harassing conduct as well as the duty to take reasonable steps to prevent and promptly correct discriminatory and harassing conduct and to create a workplace free of harassment.

 

i Atalla v. Rite Aid Corp 2023 WL 2521909 (Cal. Ct. App. Feb. 24, 2023).

ii Late night, sexually explicit, text messages were sent to Atalla by her friend/co-worker after working hours.

 

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DOL to Host Webinar on New H-2A Wage Rule

March 29th, 2023

The Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification invites interested stakeholders to participate in a webinar that provides an overview of the new Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) Rule and gives the stakeholder community an opportunity to familiarize itself with the regulatory changes. The webinar will discuss the methodology behind the new AEWR rule and prepare examples of how it will be applied. 

Date & Time: Tuesday, April 4, 2023: 12:00 PM PDT | 90 mins. 

Join from the meeting link:  

https://usdol.webex.com/usdol/j.php?MTID=m186d9be8a696067a5ab821f7d23b1e0d 

Join by meeting number: Meeting number (access code): 2763 980 8196 Meeting password: 2023AEWR 

Tap to join from a mobile device: 1-877-465-7975, # US Toll Free +1-210-795-0506, # US Toll 

Join by phone: 1-877-465-7975 US Toll Free 1-210-795-0506 US Toll 

Join from a video system or application Dial [email protected] 

You can also dial 207.182.190.20 and enter your meeting number. 

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CA Pay Data Reporting Deadline is Fast Approaching

March 23rd, 2023

California employers with 100 or more payroll or labor contractor employees are required to annually submit pay data – including hours worked and employee demographics – to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).   

This year’s filing deadline for the 2022 reporting year is May 10, 2023. 

Employers must use the CRD’s Pay Data Reporting portal to submit the required pay data reports. Templates to assist in preparing 2022 reports can be found on the portal along with instructions, a User Guide, and helpful FAQs. 

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Department of Labor Provides Guidance on PUMP Act

March 29th, 2023

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) extending additional rights to nursing employees. As discussed here, the PUMP Act expands workplace protections for employees with a need to express breast milk. Specifically, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), as expanded by the PUMP Act, requires employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for their nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk. Employees are entitled to a place to pump at work, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public. 

Moreover, under the FLSA, when an employee is using break time at work to express breast milk they either must be completely relieved from duty or must be paid for the break time. 

In an effort to provide additional guidance on the PUMP Act, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division, which enforces the FLSA and other federal labor laws, has recently issued an updated Fact Sheet and new FAQs. Interested employers can also view the DOL’s “Pump at Work Protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act” webinar.  

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Best Practices: Worker Health & Safety Reminders

March 23rd, 2023

As many agricultural operations begin harvesting efforts it is important to remember preventative measures are key to lowering the incidence of workplace accidents. Included below are a few Cal/OSHA approved harvest-related best practices: 

  • Develop a standard operating procedure, including a system of communication between operators of equipment and crew members, and a means of accounting for personnel.  
  • Provide adequate training and instruction on harvester safety, including standard operating procedures, signaling and communicating with the operator, required PPE, machine guarding and emergency procedures.  
  • Improve visibility by providing portable lighting to be used for employees working underneath harvesting equipment and equip harvesters with windshield wipers and washers to periodically clean windows during each shift. Consider equipping each harvester with side mirrors and remote cameras for additional visibility.  

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NLRB Offers Guidance on Confidentiality and Non-Disparagement Prohibitions

March 23rd, 2023

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has released a guidance memorandum clarifying its position on the use of confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in employer settlement agreements.   

As discussed here, the NLRB’s late February decision in the matter McLaren Macomb reversed the agencies prior precedent on an employer’s use of confidentially and non-disparagement provisions in severance agreements. The decision created confusion among employers seeking to comply with the newly restrictive mandates including whether the use of a comprehensive disclaimer would insulate an employer from liability.    

The agencies memorandum offers guidance on the scope and effect of the McLaren Macomb decision including the retroactive effect of the decision and its application to supervisors. Guidance is also provided regarding the kinds of severance agreement provisions that could violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) if offered, maintained, or enforced, including confidentiality, non-disclosure, and non-disparagement, among others. Key provisions of the memo include: 

  • Confirmation that the decision is to be applied retroactively.  
  • The recommendation that maintaining and/or enforcing a previously signed severance agreement containing unlawful provisions should be considered a continuing violation warranting waiver of the NLRA’s six-month statute of limitations period. 
  • Regardless of whether an agreement contains a severability clause or not, typically the unlawful provisions, as opposed to the entire agreement will be voided.1

Employers concerned about the retroactive application of this decision are encouraged to seek legal counsel.  

 

 

1.Such a decision will always be considered based on facts specific to the matter before the NLRB

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