Western Growers members joined Canadian Produce Marketing Association Chair, Colin Chapdelaine, and CPMA staff at the organization’s town hall and reception in Salinas, Calif. on Jan. 30, 2024. The group toured the Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology with Executive Director Dennis Donohue, and then during the town hall discussed a multitude of topics, including updates on the Canadian market, the upcoming CPMA Convention and Trade Shows, and a buyers panel including interactive discussions on top issues, trends, and the 2024 landscape.

Environment and Climate Change Canada is advocating for a near-elimination approach for plastic packaging that would require 75 percent of all produce that is currently sold in the supermarkets, to be sold in bulk or non-plastic packing by the year 2026, increasing to 95 percent in 2028. Regulatory updates including forced labor, supply chain issues, the Safe Food for Canadians Act’s review, and grades & consultations were also on the agenda.

I’ve always pictured my first visit to Mexico would be a touristy hotspot, complete with a pool, beach and a refreshing drink in hand. Instead, as someone with an immense appreciation for the agricultural industry and its workforce, I was privileged to visit Mexico for an entirely different reason. The occasion for my visit was purely medical and came thanks to Western Growers Assurance Trust (WGAT).

My journey started on a Tuesday morning, when I crossed the border to visit the OSMED medical clinic in San Luis Rio Colorado in Sonora, Mexico, a border town about 20 miles south of Yuma, Arizona. The 24-hour facility is operated by Dr. Raul Payan, who has been an independent provider contractor in Mexico for WGAT for more than 30 years. Dr. Payan and his team provide general and urgent care, imaging and routine medical services to the community, including essential migrant workers who play a significant role in growing our food.

OSMED medical clinic stands out as an ideal destination for migrant agricultural workers due to its convenience. An estimated 80 percent of the clinic’s patients reside in the U.S. and commute across the border to receive their care. I arrived at the facility within minutes after crossing the border and was warmly greeted by Dr. Payan at the entrance. But before starting my tour of the facility, I made sure to get the full Mexico Cross-Border health care experience.

WGAT designed its comprehensive Mexico Cross-Border Program to provide flexible medical and dental care options for members and their families who prefer to receive their care in Mexico. Within WGAT’s exclusive network, members can find licensed providers and medical facilities in several convenient locations. These providers offer a comprehensive range of specialty and diagnostic services, including anesthesiology, cardiology, neurology, dermatology, internal medicine and orthopedics. Making an appointment works the same way as it does in the U.S.— by simply reaching out to a provider to schedule a date and time for your services. At this facility, walk-ins are welcome for general practice services, while appointments are necessary for specialty care, imaging services and lab work.

The Full Mexico Cross-Border Experience

OSMED’s reception room was bright, airy and spacious and was completely devoid of the typical discomfort often associated with doctor’s offices. The clinic’s efficiency started the moment I approached the reception desk, where multiple employees were greeting and assisting patients. After a smooth intake process in the reception area, I had my vitals taken in a room adjacent to the reception desk and then proceeded to an examination room for a general checkup with a physician.

The exam room was large and comfortable, complete with an examination table and several chairs positioned beside the doctor’s station. When Dr. Payan constructed this facility six years ago, he designed it with the patient experience in mind. “It’s important for patients to establish a personal rapport with their doctors, and we strive to make sure each visit is personalized, conversational and designed for their comfort,” he said.

Once my checkup was complete, I was escorted a short distance to the diagnostics, imaging and specialty medicine unit’s reception area. From there, I was guided to a private room for my blood draw, where I was informed my results would be ready in a few short hours.

The experience was quick and efficient, and the staff went above and beyond to accommodate me. I’m not fluent in Spanish, so a bilingual care provider was by my side throughout the entire process. She mentioned that she grew up in Arizona, attended school in Mexico and eventually decided to stay there for work.

Raising the Bar

I must confess that before my visit to OSMED, I was expecting to see a standard medical facility, at best. I’ve lived in multiple states in the U.S. and have seen my fair share of waiting rooms, doctor’s offices, urgent care facilities and hospitals, and none of them have been particularly noteworthy or remarkable. And up until now, I never would have imagined describing a medical facility as “grand in scale” or “extremely pleasant.”

While there are numerous medical facilities that describe themselves as cutting-edge or state-of-the-art, OSMED truly lived up to its reputation. The facility boasts eight examination rooms; an observation area; and a diagnostic, imaging, and medical specialty unit equipped for mammograms, cardiac diagnostic testing and other minor procedures.

OSMED’s mammography room was spacious and inviting. Large-screen televisions hung on the walls of both sides of the mammogram machine, which played soothing music and displayed calming images to enhance the patient experience during the scan. Patients in the ultrasound room of the specialty unit experience advanced technology with a 4-D ultrasound machine and can instantly view their ultrasound images on a large-screen television.

Within the specialty care clinic, endocrinologists, cardiologists and neurologists rotate throughout the week, providing patients with comprehensive care under one roof. Given the high prevalence of diabetes within Hispanic and agricultural communities, OSMED also provides a dedicated nutrition unit to support its patients. For patients requiring medications, OSMED’s 24-hour pharmacy is conveniently situated right across the street, coincidentally at the former location of Dr. Payan’s previous practice.

The facility’s second floor includes a sizeable breakroom for staff, which includes 15 physicians and 10 registered nurses, and accommodates the administrative offices.

Building for a Healthier Tomorrow

Considering all of these amenities, it’s astonishing to think that Dr. Payan’s first practice consisted of just one examination room and a reception area. Dr. Payan has plans to grow the clinic into a full-scale center for inpatient care right next to the facility. Last October, Dr. Payan initiated construction on a planned five-story hospital and specialty care tower, with an anticipated completion date set for fall 2025.

The hospital has gained the attention of several stateside investors, including U.S. board-certified physicians and Siemens. According to Dr. Payan, the hospital will be a certified, sustainable green building, a certification that no other hospitals hold in Mexico. The new hospital will enable U.S. board-certified physicians to perform more affordable procedures in Mexico while providing essential ag workers and their families convenient and quality access to care at a reduced cost.

WGAT has spent the last 50 years building and fostering contractual relationships with providers in Mexico for this very reason. “WGAT is an early pioneer of cross-border healthcare, ensuring our members have convenient access to high-quality care at a fraction of U.S. costs,” said Raquel Lugo, Senior Director of Client Services and Mexico Operations at WGAT. “Similar to Western Growers, Dr. Payan understands that farmworkers take care of the world by providing us with nutritious food, so it’s essential that we provide them with essential services, such as healthcare.”

If there’s one key takeaway from my cross-border experience, it’s the reassurance that migrant farmworkers, who exemplify the spirit of hard work and dedication to ensure we have access to an abundant food supply, are receiving exceptional care and support when it comes to their health.

If you’re a member of WGAT and would like more information on our Mexico Cross-Border program, you can contact Raquel Lugo [email protected]. If you’re not currently enrolled in a WGAT plan, reach out to Western Growers Insurance Services to learn more about our offerings and discover how we can assist you in effectively managing your health care costs at (800) 333-4942.

There are many reasons a person becomes a farmer. But there is a through line to their motivation: whatever farmers grow, they don’t want to waste it.

The issue of food waste is one that is growing in importance in the mind of the consumer. This goes beyond the “clean your plate!” orders from mothers throughout time to include an increased desire from the public to know about how much food goes from the field into productive use.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food waste is estimated to impact between 30–40 percent of the food supply. As such, preventing food waste is a “we challenge” in that it requires everyone’s participation – from consumers to growers. For Western Growers members, it means they often think of the best way to use as much of their product as they can.

For A.G. Kawamura, owner/partner of Orange County Produce, utilizing all the produce he grows has been a point of pride for a long time. “None of us grow food so that we can throw it away,” Kawamura said. “There’s been some wonderful opportunities that aligns itself with our processing industry that can take a strawberry that’s not that great looking and turn it into delicious juice cut it up and put it into a mash that’s ready for a smoothie.”

Buyers, on behalf of their consumers, are seeking the best looking, most-uniform produce available to stock their shelves, but that’s not always what comes out of the ground or off a tree limb. These measurements of visual or size value doesn’t correlate to a less healthful or tasty product.

While this concept of using the produce that doesn’t fit the mold may be new to some consumers, it isn’t new to growers. For many, they have been finding a place for these products that “have a face for radio” in frozen dinners, produce delivery services or chopped bagged lettuce. Bolthouse has a line of juices made from their perfectly imperfect carrots, which is certified through the Upcycled Food initiative to help consumers easily identify it on the shelves.

On top of finding ways to get food into stores and homes, there are also pathways to get parts of produce that are deemed not fit for human consumption as animal feed. Parts like leafy carrot tops or woody asparagus bottoms may find themselves on a cow’s menu.

Another avenue for preventing food waste is getting it to people who need food support. SunTerra’s Steve Brazeel, motivated to action amid the Covid-19 pandemic, started Project Food Box. Project Food Box moved to solve two problems by creating a bridge: allow farmers to get their products out of the field and get it to the people who need it the most. That bridge required strategic planning, hard work and industry insight, and it is still going strong to deliver this much-needed produce to food banks.

But Brazeel didn’t set out without guidance, and one of the people who shared insight with him at the outset was Kawamura. When it comes to connecting people with their food, Kawamura and Orange Country Produce put resolving hunger and nutrition problems in their community as a key feature of the company’s philosophy.

As a fellow grower, he understands the value of what they make: “What we’re seeing is when we are working these wonderful programs with the food banks is that everything has a good use and opportunity,” he said. “Things with a little bit of damage on them-it might be sunburn or crookedness on a squash or bell pepper, a super-small cabbage instead of a basketball sized cabbage – it can be used.”

With the increased consumer awareness around food waste, a layer of complexity is added to the conversation. If growers are doing everything they can, what amount of culpability falls on the consumer? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Municipal solid waste landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions from human activities in the United States…an estimated 58 percent of the fugitive methane emissions (i.e., those released to the atmosphere) from municipal solid waste landfills are from landfilled food waste.”

There are some positive signs that consumers are willing to take action. According to the consumer report Mintel, 70 percent of consumers say they believe buying and using canned/frozen produce is a good way to prevent food waste thanks to its longer shelf life. In the same report, 60 percent of consumers say they would try unfamiliar types of produce if they knew how to cook/prepare them. This indicates that there’s an industry opportunity to expand consumer’s produce interests and consumption with an education campaign.

In California, S.B. 1383, which was signed into law in September 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown and went into effect in January 2022, requires households and businesses to separate all compostables instead of throwing them in the trash. Though some might be uncomfortable with the new step, Kawamura shared that this is a good opportunity for consumers, growers and government to work together to achieve the long-discussed circular economy.

“Landscapers can’t take green waste and dump it in the dump anymore,” he said. “You have to turn it into compost or a mulch. We’ve had an agreement with a local Southern California company called Agromin that’s been around for a long time that has developed a more straight line. We get to take the green waste after it’s chopped up and ground up and turned into almost a compost and then we bring it in and then we turn it into compost on our property. That’s a great soil amendment for us.”

Food waste is just another example of how growers approach a challenge with a multi-pronged solution. And though there’s still much work to be done by everyone, grower solutions are limited only by their creativity and resourcefulness and those fields of possibility are palatial. Fortunately, some growers are already looking ahead at that terrain.

“These are the long-standing actions and activities that we’ve all been trying to do,” Kawamura said. “And now with new technologies, we have even better opportunities.”

Every grower’s water story is unique, but just like water, everything is intrinsically connected. With new groundwater basin classification and a rain response executive order in California alongside a newly formed council tasked with groundwater management in Arizona, the water terrain for these two states in 2024 is shaping up to be turbulent. Below, Western Growers provides an update of the recent legislative movement around groundwater in these two states.

California 2023 Overview

Those in California who rely on the rain, rivers and groundwater resources to grow food and fiber for an expanding population know that weather and the precipitation it brings isn’t reliably cyclical. Yet the conversations around water management and the regulatory measures that result from that discussion don’t recognize that reality, instead moving at a glacial pace.

The concept seems simple enough: when the rain comes, be ready to capture it. And if accounting metaphors apply, saving for a non-rainy day means the groundwater basins are one of the options for a savings account.

Early 2023 brought heavy rain to California after a long and difficult stretch of drought years. And with the influx, the water showed the holes in California’s system. In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued executive order N-3-23. In this Executive Order, he recognized that “the frequency of hydrologic extremes experienced in the State is indicative of an overarching need to continually re-examine policies to promote resiliency in a changing climate.”

The Executive Order also states that “groundwater use accounts for 41 percent of the State’s total water supply on an average annual basis but as much as 58 percent in a critically dry year, and approximately 85 percent of public water systems rely on groundwater as their primary supply; and capturing and storing storm and snowpack runoff underground to recharge aquifers is an important strategy to help regions stabilize water supplies in the face of hydrologic extremes.” To meet the stated aims, the Executive Order alleviated some of the constraints that were hindering groundwater recharge by expediting permitting.

Though the Executive Order was a move in the right direction, aligning with growers and investing in ways to support a large-scale recharge is a way forward to meet Newsom’s goal to increase average annual groundwater recharge by about 500,000 acre-feet. Some of that support could come through weaving of the new designation of groundwater reservoirs as natural infrastructures with a climate resilience general obligation bond that could potentially land on the November 2024 ballot.

Agriculture and water agencies across California are advocating for a $7.85 billion bond investment in water infrastructure that focuses on a number of critical water issues, including recycled water, groundwater recharge, storage, flood protection, dam safety, conveyance, storage, safe drinking water, water quality, regional watershed resilience, State Water Project improvements and water conservation.

Arizona 2023 Overview

Though the complexities of groundwater resources change from one basin to the next, the chain of difference does not live on a gradient. One stark line is drawn in the arid sand: the California and Arizona border. The story of Arizona groundwater has its own arc, and one of the current key players is Gov. Katie Hobbs.

After one year into her term as governor, she has made it clear that water use is a focus of her administration. In January 2023, she also issued an Executive Order to modernize Arizona’s groundwater management by establishing the Governor’s Water Policy Council to update the Arizona Groundwater Management Act. She also put a hard stop for any development of subdivisions reliant on groundwater. (She has since revised this, stating in January 2024 that communities will be allowed to use some groundwater with approval from the state water department.)

True to her word about groundwater transparency, she’s clear that her attention isn’t limited to new housing developments and that her agenda includes creating a new framework to allow for groundwater management in rural parts of the states. Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona governor who was responsible for Arizona’s Groundwater Management Act, has made his stance public and clear: Rural areas need local groundwater control.

In November 2023, the Water Policy Council ─ a council that was set up by Hobbs when she started her term ─ submitted the “Rural Groundwater Management Area” Framework Proposal. This proposal states that the director of Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has the option to designate a “Rural Groundwater Management Area,” which will include a hearing process. The expanded use of groundwater is paused during this process.

Each of the management areas will be given a goal that is tied to the needs and conditions of the local area. This goal is designated by the Council, which is made up of five-to-nine individuals from the area and is comprised of those who represent water use sectors within the area like agricultural, industrial and municipal users. The designation of the management area is to be reviewed every10years.

The Governor’s proposal has yet to be heard in a legislative committee. Instead, a counter proposal was drafted by Arizona State Sen. Sine Kerr, and was passed in a Senate committee on a party-line vote in early February 2024. “At this point of the Legislative session, it is very unclear as to what policy changes impacting rural groundwater use are going happen. There are two strong proposals, with significant support and opposition for each,” says Robert Medler, Western Growers Manager for State Government Affairs in Arizona. “A Legislative solution is important though, as Executive action would not be the preferred way to address this issue facing rural Arizona.”

Whether the groundwater site is in California or Arizona, there is one looming force that affects the situation, and that’s the Colorado River. Last year, California, Arizona and Nevada all agreed to cut water use from the Colorado River by 10 percent, which equates to about 3-million-acre feet of water, through 2026. The cuts to municipalities, tribes and agriculture results in reverberating water effects, some of which will influence groundwater use throughout 2024.

As a geological force, water is a juggernaut of power. It cuts through mountains and shapes deserts. The influence it has on nature is matched in the tenacity needed to manage human interests related to this resource. Contact Western Growers for more information and ways to engage with current and future water issues. Gail Delihant, Senior Director of Government Affairs in California, can be reached at [email protected] and Robert Medler, Manager of Government Affairs in Arizona, can be reached [email protected].

More than 60 years ago, third-generation farmer John J. Gless, owner of Gless Ranch, took a unique challenge. A friend and fellow Orange County farmer bet him $100, saying that it would be impossible for Gless to successfully cultivate citrus in the Woodcrest area of Riverside.

According to Gless, the acreage in Riverside was deemed unsuitable for farming by many because the land consisted primarily of decomposed granite. “Farmers weren’t interested in this land at that time,” he said. “But I knew that Metropolitan Water was bringing water to the area for those who were willing to invest in the line installation, and land in the area was available for a very reasonable price.”

Newly married and ready to venture out on his own, Gless developed a plan with the help of researchers at UC Riverside to make the soil viable for citrus. It was a huge gamble, but Gless and his wife Janet secured a loan and purchased their first 20 acres.

“We took the risk and planted the first grove in the Woodcrest area of Riverside in 1961,” he said. Gless himself embarked on the labor-intensive task of planting this first grove, which would come to be known as Number 1. The venture was challenging, but shortly thereafter, orange groves Number 2 and Number 3 followed. Needless to say, Gless ended up winning that $100 bet, which would have translated to a little more than $1,000 in current value.

Gless’s connection to citrus stretches back to 1907 when his grandfather, Juan Pedro Gless, tended to five acres of oranges, alongside his sheepherding duties, on the rangelands of El Toro in Orange County. Following in his father’s footsteps, John J. Gless’s father, John Pierre Gless, farmed 40 acres of Valencias and lemons before selling his land to developers in 1960.

“I was raised in a citrus grove in El Toro and had been farming alongside my dad through high school and college,” Gless said. It was the sale of his father’s ranch that prompted him to start a business of his own and scout locations in the Woodcrest area.

More than 60 years later, Gless Ranch farms nearly 10,000 acres across multiple regions in California, including Riverside, Coachella Valley and Kern County. Gless also farms the California Citrus State Historic Park and the orange trees lining scenic Victoria Avenue in Riverside.

“We grow oranges, lemons, grapefruit, tangerines, limes and avocados in Riverside, and oranges, lemons, grapefruit and tangerines in Kern County. In the Coachella Valley, in addition to citrus, we farm dates and raise citrus and avocado trees in a state-of-the-art nursery,” Gless said.

And then there’s the Gless Ranch Farmer’s Market in Riverside, which offers customers a diverse selection of fresh citrus, locally grown fruits and vegetables, local artisan foods and gifts, craft beer, wine and specialty items.

Gless credits his work ethic to his father and his success to his hard work and his dedicated family. His wife, all four children, and several grandchildren, have either contributed or are actively contributing to the farming and overall operation of Gless Ranch.

Like many farms in California, one of Gless Ranch’s biggest challenges has been water. Fortunately, his luck didn’t run dry last year. “Last year’s rain saved much of California’s farming as many were letting groves die because of the severe water shortage,” he said.

Despite the obstacles, Gless emphasized his profound appreciation for the joy and rewards of farming. “People ask me why I haven’t retired. I’m still at it because I enjoy it, and I love the challenge.”

In the evolving landscape of agriculture, ensuring the food safety of produce is a top priority for growers. As the industry experiences technological advancements, the integration of modeling and data-sharing can be a vital and powerful tool to assess and mitigate risk in growing, packing, processing, and shipping produce. A collaborative approach must be adopted to create a sense of community and foster community-driven responsibility as food safety challenges are tackled.

Simulations and predictive models are processes that attempt to replicate behaviors of real-world scenarios or use historical data to forecast outcomes. These models have proven to be indispensable tools for nearly every single aspect of our day-to-day lives, from weather to sports to social media, data, and models are ever-present. In the field of agriculture and food safety, these models can be valuable tools. Simulation models of leafy green supply chains have highlighted the importance of controlling and monitoring wash water chemistry to prevent cross-contamination and controlling temperature during transportation and retail to prevent microbial growth [1, 2]. Agent-based simulation models have highlighted the contamination dynamics, risks, and best corrective actions for processing facility equipment surfaces for Listeria monocytogenes [3,4]. New Center for Produce Safety (CPS)-funded projects such as one being conducted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Cornell University are looking to build a flexible model that the industry can use to assess best practices and guide food safety investments.

Data sharing is the concept of making data available for others to access, use, and in some cases distribute. Data sharing involves the intentional and controlled use of data for analysis and collaborative research. Like simulations and predictive models, data data-sharing has shown to be very beneficial, in healthcare data-sharing initiatives have embraced data-sharing related to treatment and diagnosis to achieve better medical outcomes. In transportation, companies such as Uber are sharing aggregated and anonymized data to better understand traffic patterns for more efficient urban planning.

In the produce industry modeling and data sharing together can have a tremendous impact. Data-sharing platforms such as GreenLink® operate as central hubs, enabling growers to contribute their testing and observational data for further analysis. These analyses can help areas such the parametrization, the process of defining variables to describe how something works or behaves, for predictive models as uncertain parameters such as in-field contamination prevalence and levels can be optimized by analyzing aggregated data. Decision-making and guidance documents can take a dynamic approach, where insights from time series analysis guide practices such as increased monitoring during riskier seasons. Association analysis, the task of finding interesting datasets, can be leveraged to prioritize practices based on risk. Finally, data sharing can allow the industry to anticipate food safety issues, to proactively create and provide timely resources to growers, packers, processors, and shippers. These collaborative approaches are fundamental to getting us closer to tasking smarter data-based decisions.

While data-sharing and modeling offer many benefits, challenges, and risks such as data privacy, security, and data quality exists. To address these challenges data-sharing platforms such as GreenLink® have instituted data-sharing policies and data-sharing agreements to address privacy concerns. Data is aggregated, anonymized, and access-controlled to address security risks. Data standards, quality checks, and data validation is conducted to control the quality of the data.

In conclusion, collaborative simulation models paired with data-sharing platforms are a pivotal advancement to proactively advance food safety. As agriculture and data become more present in day-to-day operations the path forward should focus on building a connected future where growers collaboratively shape produce safety and increase the amount of usable data for researchers to continue developing these modeling tools.

References

1.Mokhtari, A., et al., Evaluation of Potential Impacts of Free Chlorine during Washing of Fresh‐Cut Leafy Greens on Escherichia coli O157:H7 Cross‐Contamination and Risk of Illness. Risk Analysis,2021.42(5): p. 966-988.

2.Pang, H., et al., Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment for Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Fresh‐Cut Lettuce. Journal of Food Protection, 2017.80(2): p. 302-311.

3.Barnett-Neefs, C., et al., Using agent‐based modeling to compare corrective actions for Listeria contamination in produce packing houses. Plos one, 2022.17(3): p. e0265251.

4.Zoellner, C., et al., EnABLe: An agent‐based model to understand Listeria dynamics in food processing facilities. Scientific reports, 2019.9(1): p. 495.

5.CPS Center for Produce Safety. Flexible risk process models to quantify residual risks and the impact of interventions. 2023 [cited 2024 Jan 25th ]; Available from: https://www.centerforproducesafety.org/researchproject/491/awards/Flexible_risk_process_models_to_quantify_residual_risks_and_the_impact_of_interventions.html.

The implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 revolutionized the North American fresh produce industry, creating a unified marketplace and opening significant cross-border trade and investment opportunities. Despite its advertised benefits, however, this transformation also amplified the potential for disputes, contract breaches and related issues that invariably arise in fresh produce transactions.

While the U.S. already had a dispute resolution systemin place under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), Canada’s regulatory framework proved ineffective in resolving most disputes, and Mexico lacked an international dispute settlement mechanism entirely. Consequently, U.S. and Canadian produce companies often resorted to costly court proceedings.

Recognizing this gap in member protection, WG played a pivotal role in creating the Dispute Resolution Corporation (DRC) in February 2000, providing a non-profit membership-based dispute resolution body to support the North American fruit and vegetable industry. The DRC offers its members harmonized standards, procedures and services that help them avoid (and mediate, if necessary) disputes.

Crucial to the establishment and early successes of this tri-national dispute resolution system was long-time WG legend Matt McInerney, who guided the DRC as chair its first17 years. (In another notable, related accomplishment, McInerney was also instrumental in securing passage of the PACA Trust amendment in 1984, granting domestic produce suppliers first-priority creditor status in buyer bankruptcies.) After an illustrious 43-year career serving the fresh produce industry, McInerney retired in his role as Executive Senior Vice President in March 2019.

As a third-generation agriculturalist and McInerney protégé, I hope to continue his legacy in my position as Commodity & Supply Chain Services Director. Over the last decade, I have supported the WG membership in various capacities and now serve as the association’s expert in PACA and dispute resolution matters.

After a several-year WG absence following McInerney’s retirement, I was honored to have the WG torch passed to me in December 2023 when my nomination to serve on the DRC board was approved by its current directors. Once again, WG will be at the table in setting the policies and trading standards of the DRC, which is governed by a board of 14 directors representing Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Chile.

In particular, I am committed to monitoring Canadian issues impacting the domestic fresh produce industry and upholding the legacy of collaboration in addressing the North American trade challenges faced by our members.

One immediate area of focus is the Canadian legislative bill C-280, the Financial Protection for Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Farmers Act, which was passed in the House of Commons with all-party support on October25, 2023. If passed by the Canadian Senate, Bill C-280 would establish a trust mechanism for fresh produce growers and sellers in Canada, similar to the PACA Trust for U.S. producers, to ensure payment in the event of buyer bankruptcy.

The establishment of a PACA-inspired system in Canada has been a longstanding objective for the DRC, WG, and the wider North American fresh fruit and vegetable sector. The progress of this Canadian bill underscores the ongoing significance of the DRC in safeguarding WG members and highlights the pivotal role our association can fulfill in ensuring its sustained efficacy.

Thanks to his mentorship and the early influence he had on my career at WG, I am confident that my approach will closely mirror the legacy of the McInerney tradition.