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REBUTTAL: Recycling Food into Fertilizer Registered for Use in Organic Agriculture
By Dan Morash Founder, California Safe Soil We read with interest the July/August 2017 Western Growers article entitled: “Cause for Concern Over Organic Fertilizer Made from Food Waste?” by Stephen Meyer & Thomas Marrs of the Downey Brand law firm. The article raises concerns for organic growers that may currently be using, or considering ...
Legislator Profile: Representative Ken Calvert from California’s 42nd Congressional District, encompassing parts of western Riverside County
By Western Growers staff Born and raised in the city of Corona, California, in the western-most part of Riverside County, Congressman Ken Calvert witnessed the growth explosion of his hometown and the surrounding areas over the last several decades. The lifelong Riverside County resident, who currently represents the state’s 42nd Congressional District and serves ...
Using Technology to Limit Shrink
If you ask Hazel Technologies co-founder and CEO Aidan Mouat where the idea came from for creating the technology that helps prevent food waste by keeping fresh produce edible longer, don’t expect to hear an astonishing tale of discovery. “Everybody always thinks there is this ‘Eureka!’ moment in chemistry where some flash of inspiration starts ...
The Evolution of Produce LTL From Inconvenient to Enabling
By Steve Gabrick C.H. Robinson Regional Sales Manager Today’s supply chains are changing—they are becoming increasingly complex—especially when fresh produce and other perishable commodities are involved. There are many reasons behind this, but consumer buying influences, multi-channel sales, and speed of the order seem to be driving the most change. Millennials’ buying behavior…
#MeToo Movement Demonstrates Importance for Sexual Harassment Training
Sexual harassment is not a recent phenomenon. However, recent allegations against high-profile figures in entertainment, media, sports, business and politics show how important it is to address inappropriate behavior in the workplace. Sexual harassment is often downplayed or worse—excused, sanctioned and obscured. It is important to educate your workforce and to establish a culture where…
Water Tech Updates
SWIIM’s 2.0 in Beta Testing With thousands of acres using its irrigation management software, SWIIM has its 2.0 version in beta testing and is in line for another round of funding to continue developing its cutting-edge water use tracking technology and add staff and offices. Kevin France, founder and CEO of SWIIM (Sustainable Water and ...
Small Compliance Errors Can Become Large Liabilities
By Jonathan A. Siegel, ESQ. of Jackson Lewis P.C. Employers managing for success should foster a culture of workplace compliance now more than ever. As operations expand, systems supporting the business should grow with it. Additionally, employers should consider reviewing their operations to ensure there are not systematic compliance issues which have not been previously ...
Trump, China, Tariffs, and TPP
By Christopher Oerman With the presidency of Donald Trump, the United States has found itself on the brink of a trade war with China. On President Trump’s first full day in office, he notoriously backed out of TPP, or the Trans Pacific Partnership. The Trans Pacific Partnership was an agreement between 12 countries: the United ...
Growing a Better Environment for the Future
Farmers are the original environmentalists, stewards of the land and protectors of the open space. Those who tend to our crops understand the symbiotic relationship between healthy food, healthy soil and clean water and air. The overwhelming majority of farmers operate with a single overriding objective: to sustainably manage our land so it can be ...
The Debt and Dangers of the Eurozone
You may have heard the words ECB, Eurozone, or even “Mario Draghi’ sometime in the past. But who and what are they, and why should Americans care about what’s going on across the pond? The Eurozone is a monetary union of 19 of the 28 European Union member states that have adopted the euro as ...
California Supreme Court Ruling Threatens Independent Contractor Relationships
By Terry O’Connor An increasingly unloved category of working persons, the Independent Contractor, has been moved to the endangered species list by a recent California Supreme Court decision. On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court adopted a new test for determining whether a worker should be classified as an independent contractor or an employee. ...
CROP FORECASTING AgriData Estimates Months in Advance
When Cyrille Habis and Prasad Nair embarked on their journey into agricultural technology, they did not envision that their end product would be a revolutionary data imagery package that could forecast yields weeks to months in advance. After all, the two specialized in building robots. “We initially wanted to build a drone or robotics company, ...
Green Jobs Still a Small Fraction of the California Economy
The concept of green jobs has increasingly been used as a tool to justify a broad range of environmental policies in California. Take, for example, AB 32 and SB 32, which individually require significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Proponents of these expansive environmental mandates rely on claims that these regulations will be “cost-free” as ...
Move Over Siri and Alexa, AgVoice Offers Speech-to-Text Technology Tailored to Ag
Think Siri, but for agriculture. When Bruce Rasa first conceptualized the idea of a speech-to-text data service powered by artificial intelligence, he knew that he wanted to design it with and for food and ag professionals. Growing up, Bruce always had both hands full while working on his family’s 4,000-acre farm in Missouri. His family ...
Legislator Profile Arizona State Representative TIM DUNN Representing the 13th District
(Editor’s Note: Tim Dunn was appointed to the Arizona House of Representatives to represent Arizona’s 13th Legislative District. After earning his Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from the University of Arizona, Rep. Dunn started his own grain company alongside his father. As a proud Yuma native, he understands the agricultural needs of his city.) Being ...
New Congress to Bring New Challenges & Opportunities
As we ring in the New Year we will be welcoming a new Congress to Washington. As all of you know that Congress will look very different in the House of Representatives than what was in place after the 2016 election, as Democrats are in control. Democrats flipped 40 seats—the fourth largest total of seats ...
De Minimis No More: The End of Even Nominal Off-the-Clock Work in California
By Christine Samsel and Sherli Frank The “de minimis” doctrine comes from the Latin maxim de minimis non curat lex, which means “the law does not concern itself with trifles.” The maxim suggests that technicalities must yield to practical common sense and justice so as to avoid expensive litigation. For the past 70 years, ...
Always Put Our Members First
By Matt Luis Being born and raised in the Central Valley, I’ve been surrounded by farming and production agriculture my entire life. But it wasn’t until a couple of years ago, when I came to Western Growers, that I embarked on a journey that allowed me to truly understand the complexities of an agricultural ...
2019 Economic Outlook
By Chris Oerman 2018 turned out to be a lackluster year for the equity markets after an unprecedented nine quarters of earnings growth and a historic bull run dating back to 2011. All of the major indices had flat or negative returns for the year, and it’s been hard to find any sort of ...
Shipping Trends to Watch in 2019
By Gary York Vice President, Global Sales, C.H. Robinson Recognizing how much the U.S. trucking market can influence transportation budgets is one of the most critical steps to managing spend. Temperature-controlled shipments can be especially affected—both in price and service—as market forces shift across the truckload landscape. Predicting the future for supply chains may ...