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Proprietary Cultivars Reaping Fresh Patent Litigation
In January, amid a case docket otherwise dominated by electronics and pharmaceuticals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the group of D.C.-based justices whose jurisdiction over patent matters is second only to the Supreme Court, issued a decision concerning a seemingly more elemental technology: grapes. The decision in Delano Farms Co. v. ...
Gullickson Takes Over Lead Role for WGIS
Industry veteran Jeffrey Gullickson was hired as the new leader of Western Growers Insurance Services (WGIS) on July 1 when he was named senior vice president of the full-service, bilingual agency which serves the insurance needs of farmers and related businesses in California, Arizona and Colorado. As the leader of WGIS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ...
Labor Law: NLRB’s General Counsel Resurrecting Broader Joint Employer Standard
By Michael C. Saqui The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel is attempting to bring back the dead by advancing a joint employer standard that hasn’t been used in 30 years. This threatens not only big franchisors like McDonald’s, but also processing plants, coolers and companies that use temp agencies, farm labor contractors, ...
Ag Needs Voice in Water Discussions
By Robert Shuler We know that agriculture must have water to produce food and fiber. Whether it’s vegetables or livestock, cotton or strawberries, agriculture cannot survive without water. These are obvious statements that all of us in agriculture understand very well. Sadly, the public and many political decision makers don’t understand this fact. Especially these ...
Groundwater Management: Phase 2: Adjudication Reform
By Russell McGlothlin The enactment of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (“SGMA”) was a bold first step toward managing California groundwater. SGMA requires local agencies to elect to be “groundwater sustainability agencies” or “GSAs” to develop “groundwater sustainability plans” or “GSPs” for the state’s most at-risk basins. If local…
NLRB Establishes New Standard For Joint Employer Status
By Patrick Moody In the recent case of Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., 362 NLRB No. 186 (Aug. 27, 2015), the National Labor Relations Board established a new, and much broader, standard for determining if separate companies are joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act. The new rule changes what has been the ...
Nassif Sets Stage for Symposium Topics
On Wednesday, September 30, Western Growers President and CEO Tom Nassif was a featured speaker at the Bayer Horticulture Symposium held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Addressing a multinational audience, Nassif spoke on trends in fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and how the industry is responding to evolving demands from buyers and consumers. He was one ...
New California Employment Laws for 2016
By Martin R. Glick, David J. Reis, Christopher T. Scanlan and Matthew R. Diton of the law firm Arnold & Porter Effective January 1, 2016, new state laws will affect both public and private employers with employees working in California. As is typical, almost all of the laws tilt the balance of workplace regulation further in ...
FOOD SAFETY CONCERNS: Test Confirms Safety of Corrugated Containers
By Dennis Colley President, Fibre Box Association Executive Director, Corrugated Packaging Alliance The safety of our food supply is under intense scrutiny and arguably the number-one issue of concern to growers, shippers, foodservice providers, restauranteurs and retailers in this country. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost half a million deaths worldwide are…
EMPLOYEE TRAINING: Equal Employment Opportunity Claims Among the Highest in California
A report released in January of 2016 indicated that training needs, and the states where Equal Employment Opportunity charges are most likely to be filed, are highest in Texas, California and Florida. Here are some of the results: • The highest number of national-origin discrimination charges were filed in Florida at 1,353 with California following ...
Arizona Schools Receive $37,500 in School Garden Grants
Western Growers Foundation has once again proudly partnered with the Arizona Department of Agriculture to award K–12 Arizona schools with $37,500 in edible school garden funding. We are excited to announce the 25 winning schools that will receive $1,500 each—plus seeds and educational materials—to grow and sustain their edible gardens. The grants will be awarded ...
WG Donates $1 million to Campaign for Produce Safety
Western Growers has donated $1 million to the Center for Produce Safety (CPS) to advance food safety research and develop ready-to-use solutions to improve the safety of fresh produce globally. WG’s contribution puts CPS over the $10 million mark for their Campaign for Produce Safety, which aims to raise $20 million by 2020 to fund ...
The Private Attorney General Act: A Pathway to Real Reform
By Paul Coady The Private Attorney General Act, also known as PAGA, is the greatest threat to California employers since the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. Signed by Gray Davis in his waning days in office, PAGA deputizes employees to sue for monetary penalties for virtually any violation of the California Labor Code or IWC Orders. ...
TECHNOLOGY SPONSOR: Toro Applauds Western Growers For Taking Lead in Ag Tech
By Yvete Minor (Editor’s Note: We had the opportunity to discuss technology & innovation with Paul McFadden of The Toro Company, one of the charter sponsors for the Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology. Paul shared his insights into the world of agriculture and Toro’s view of how technology can help growers in our ...
Managing the Risks of Product Recall
By David Duvall The number of product recalls—especially in the food industry—has increased significantly in just these past few years. The need for recall and contamination coverage has never been greater. Just this year, there have already been dozens of recalls on products including pistachios, macadamia nuts, sprouts and fresh cut cantaloupe. Public data analysis ...
AG TECHNOLOGY: Crop Science Places Great Value on Innovation
By Yvete Minor Crop Science, a division of Bayer is one of the charter sponsors at the Center for Innovation & Technology, so we took some time to discuss their involvement, their interests in, and their thoughts about the Center. Bayer seeks to assist growers and partners across the food value chain with integrated crop ...
A Shrinking Tool Box?
By Ben Sacher The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for approving and reapproving crop protection tools, weighing the risks to human health and the environment against their benefits. This science-based, risk-benefit approach is rigorous: millions of dollars are spent to show the safety and efficacy of products. Growers don’t always get or keep the ...
Sustainable Employment Practices in an Era of Government Micro-Management
By Michael Saqui of The Saqui Law Firm The Obama Administration, through its alphabet soup of government agencies, has been dramatically overreaching into all areas of employers’ businesses. This markedly anti-employer trend has largely withstood legal challenge, despite vehement opposition. Many employers are reeling from the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) new aggressive stance on…
Mobile Devices in the Workplace: Increased Productivity Presents Risks for Unprepared Employer
By Terrence O’Connor Smartphones, laptops, and other portable devices are ubiquitous among today’s workforce. The use of such devices for work-related tasks presents potential issues for employers, including wage and hour problems, compensation problems, confidentiality and possible trade secret issues. Employers clearly benefit from employee use of mobile devices. …
GMO LABELING LAW What Does the New Federal Law Do?
By Dennis Nuxoll On July 31, 2016, President Obama signed legislation into law that addressed a long running debate: Are genetically modified organisms (GMOs) safe and should genetically modified food be labeled? The driving force behind a national labeling movement was a Vermont law requiring labeling for GMO products, excluding those in dairy and meat, ...