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The Future World of Autonomous Vehicles
By Mark Petersen, Vice President of C.H. Robinson Autonomous vehicles are making headlines. Whether for personal or commercial use, there’s a lot of speculation about what the future will bring. However, autonomy isn’t all or nothing. As shown in the graphic below, it’s a progressive continuum with five distinct levels of capabilities. Not all levels ...
Best Practices to Build a Resilient Supply Chain During COVID-19
By Mark Petersen, Vice President of Temperature Controlled Transportation, C.H. Robinson Do you know how your supply chain will recover after the disruption of the COVID-19 health crisis has passed? There are several important steps you can take now to address this concern and be prepared for the future. Businesses that weather disruption the best ...
Beyond the Vine: Wineries Can Build Tailor-Made Health Plans
Though COVID-19 has left a trail of destruction, the pandemic has also brought forth numerous opportunities for growth. One such being an opportunity for employers to play a central role in helping build a more resilient health system for the future. For many employers, this period of economic strain brought about by pandemic-induced recession has ...
Opinion: The Army Corps of Engineers Has Become a Rogue Agency
By Tony Francois, Pacific Legal Foundation This piece originally published in The Hill. In World War II, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers played a proud role in the Allied victory over totalitarian aggression in Europe and the Pacific theater by building bridges, clearing beaches and harbors, and creating the conditions for military units to ...
Western Growers’ COVID Response
Western Growers has stepped up as an effective advocate for our members in response to the immediate challenges presented by COVID-19, helping to shape the emergency response at the federal and state level. H-2A Program: When the State Department suspended regular visa processing at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and all U.S. consulates in ...
Science & Technology: Virtual Audits Offer a Solution for a Novel Problem
By Marlene Hanken This year has been a wild six months full of obstacles and uncertainties. The emergence of COVID-19 has produced numerous unforeseen challenges and difficulties for the economy and agriculture has been no exception. While it would be easy to dwell on the hardships and what seems like never-ending obstacles combating the spread ...
2020: Restructure, Reflect, and Refocus to Usher in a Brighter 2021
The commencement of a fresh decade brought with it an unprecedented array of adversity containing a fury of events from Mother Nature herself. The world spent a majority of 2020 operating under the umbrella of a novel virus that upturned normality as we knew it. Despite the numerous effects stemming from these events, Western Growers ...
De Ann Davis Named Senior Vice President, Science
De Ann Davis, PhD, has been named senior vice president, science of Western Growers. Davis brings extensive expertise to the leadership team with more than 25 years of experience in the development and execution of technical global programs, including food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance. “Western Growers has long led our industry’s efforts to ...
Water Markets in California Can Reduce the Costs of Drought
By Ellen Hanak California’s increasingly volatile warming climate is making droughts more intense, and complicating water management. A just-launched commodity futures market for the state’s water provides a new tool for farmers, municipalities and other interested parties to ensure against water price shocks arising from drought-fueled shortages. Taking a Wall Street approach to an…
Systems Approach to Safety Defines Western Growers’ New Science Expert
Over my career in product safety and compliance, I’ve had the opportunity to work for a variety of businesses, large global corporations to smaller regional producers. These companies have made everything from cleaning products to medical devices, skin lotions, cheeses and fresh-cut salad blends. Yet, my role in each organization has been the same: to ...
Joint Employers Under the FLSA
In January 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its Final Rule on the often-litigated joint employer issue under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which took effect on March 16, 2020. Prior to the publication of the Final Rule, the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (“FLSA”) joint-employer standard had not been substantively changed in ...
Guest Column: Low-Income Californians Must Help State Set Climate Change, Economic Justice Goals
By Will Scott Jr. (Editor’s Note: The following op-ed originally published in The Fresno Bee on April 2, 2021) As a Central Valley farmer, I experience some of the most serious issues facing our state on a daily basis: climate change-fueled drought, navigating some of the strictest regulations, the painfully high cost of doing business ...
The Next Generation of Employee Benefits is Here
By Eric Trost, Vice President of Employee Benefits, Western Growers Insurance Services You have been stuck with skyrocketing healthcare costs while your employees face the maze of medical care without the adequate tools and resources they need to be healthy. You can’t measure what you can’t see! Welcome to Western Growers Insurance Services and Western ...
The Supreme Court Can Protect the Rights of California Farmers
By James Burling The United States Supreme Court is about to decide a case that was planted in the fertile soil of California’s agricultural politics, but which has its roots going back to the first stirrings of colonial resistance against the British empire. What’s more, the results in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid will reverberate ...
Trade Practices: Best Practices to Avoid Running Afoul of Walmart’s OTIF Policy
By Bryan Nickerson, Manager, Trade Practices & Commodity Services Retailer supplier performance compliance policies have been in force for many years with varying degrees of success. However, the rigorous requirements of the Walmart policy have caused considerable concern among shippers regarding how to retain Walmart’s high volume produce business and avoid fines. According to McKinsey…
Member Profile: Steve Couture, Couture Farms, Huron, CA
Grower’s Past Helps Navigate the Future Couture Farms: Member since May 1, 1946 (75 years) Background Information: My grandfather came to California shortly after the beginning of the 20th century. My father was born in 1918, and he started farming after he got out of college. In the 1940s, he came to Huron; he planted ...
Root Cause Analysis for the Produce Industry
By Afreen Malik, Science Programs Director Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a systematic yet flexible approach to problem solving. It helps identify and address the root causes of failures in processes that may lead to defects or problems. One of the most used techniques in RCA is the “5 Whys” which was developed by Sakichi ...
6 Ways to Strengthen the Supply Chain
By Greg Gatzke, President, ZAG Technical Services Every Western Growers (WG) member plays a critical role in ensuring the continuity of the supply chain that provides fresh produce for all Americans. Each step in the production process is essential and technology-dependent. Criminals threaten this critical supply chain, and both the agriculture and technology industries must ...
Transportation: Analysis on the 2021 Transportation Market
By Laurence Stern, Stern Consulting Since 1973, I have been in involved in transportation management for the produce industry. Transportation is a commodity and commodity pricing is subject to the laws of supply and demand. During my career, I’ve seen a lot of transportation markets with short equipment supplies, high rates and resulting lost sales. ...
Western Growers Ag Legal Network Directory
Participants in this referral service agree to give Western Growers members a 15 percent discount off of their normal legal services rates.* The WG member law firms listed below specialize in a wide array of legal issues to fit virtually any need a member may have, from business contracts to labor issues to food safety ...