Ann Donahue
Western Growers, Director, Communications

Ann Donahue serves as Director, Communications for Western Growers, where she is responsible for external communication efforts and publicizing the Association’s executives, initiatives, and members across all media platforms. Ann spent more than 20 years as an editor and reporter covering entertainment journalism, with bylines at publications including Variety, the L.A. Times, Billboard, IndieWire, and […]

Posts By: Ann Donahue

Purchase a Congratulatory Ad Now to Honor John Harris at the Western Growers Annual Meeting

You have until Friday, Oct. 7, 2022 to purchase a congratulatory ad to celebrate 2022 Award of Honor recipient John Harris at the Western Growers Annual Meeting, which will be held Nov. 2-5, 2022 at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. The Award of Honor is Western Growers’ highest recognition of achievement and is given to ...

Purchase a Congratulatory Ad Now to Honor John Harris at the Western Growers Annual Meeting

You have until Friday, Oct. 7, 2022 to purchase a congratulatory ad to celebrate 2022 Award of Honor recipient John Harris at the Western Growers Annual Meeting, which will be held Nov. 2-5, 2022 at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. The Award of Honor is Western Growers’ highest recognition of achievement and is given to ...

Major COVID-19 Updates This Week

Once again, the State has announced major COVID updates this week. For starters, on Monday October 17, 2022 Governor Newsom announced that the California COVID-19 State of Emergency (SOE) will (supposedly) end February 28, 2023. However, he indicated that as the SOE ends, the California “SMARTER Plan continues to guide California’s strategy to best protect ...

Don’t Miss the Upcoming Leave Laws, Interactive Process, and Reasonable Accommodations Workshop in Oxnard

By Anna Bilderbach This four-hour onsite workshop is designed for new or veteran HR practitioners and department leaders. This course is delivered by Western Growers University and its Corporate Counsel. In this session, you will learn about: Federal and state employee leaves Who qualifies and who doesn’t? What is an employer’s obligation? The Interactive Process ...

EPA Denies Pesticidal Seed Treatment Petition

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity that asked the EPA to amend the “treated article exemption” to make clear it does not apply to seeds treated with systemic pesticides. This is a success for Western Growers; last month, WG joined more than 30 other agricultural organizations ...

WG President and CEO Dave Puglia Appears on Inside the Issues with Alex Cohen to Discuss Card Check Legislation

Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia appeared on Spectrum News 1’s Inside the Issues with Alex Cohen on Oct. 3, addressing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signing of AB 2183 and the ramifications that ending the secret ballot process will have on farmworkers in California. “It’s not really about mail-in voting – if it were, the [UFW] would not have…

WG Annual Meeting Less Than a Month Away – Register Now!

The Western Growers Annual Meeting will be held Nov. 2-5, 2022 at The Venetian Resort – that’s less than a month away! Click here to register now and experience the premiere networking event in Western agriculture, drawing hundreds of attendees each year for insightful panels and keynote speeches alongside networking events and top-tier entertainment. Speakers this ...

VofV: Jack Vessey on the Pressing Need to Implement Technology in Desert Agriculture

For Jack Vessey, President of Imperial Valley-based Vessey & Co., one fact of desert agriculture never changes: You have to do more with less. “We have to be proactive with trying things,” he said in this week’s episode of the Voices of the Valley podcast, noting that the pressures of labor, irrigation and crop protection ...

WGCIT Hosts Virtual Session on the Challenges and Rewards of Growing in the Central Valley

The Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology hosted Turlock Fruit Company General Manager Neill Callis and HMC Farms Vice President Drew Ketelsen to speak about their experience as growers in the Central Valley. Almost 30 startups attended the event, where the duo shared insights into their growing region and talked about the importance of ...

Early Registration Rate for FREP/WPH Nutrient Management Conference Ends Tomorrow

October 14 is the last day to receive the early registration rate for the 30th FREP/WPH Annual Nutrient Management Conference, which will be held on Oct. 26-27, 2022 in Visalia, Calif. Students, researchers, and industry members can present their ongoing research, outreach, or demonstration projects in California related to irrigation and nutrient management during the ...

Solicitation Now Open for SGMA Implementation Round 2 Grants

The Department of Water Resources announced that the Sustainable Groundwater Management (SGM) Grant Program’s SGMA Implementation Round 2 grant solicitation has officially opened. Round 2 will provide approximately $230 million for planning and implementation projects to help comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Round 2 is open to applicants located within medium- and…

Judges Selected for AgSharks Pitch Competition

IRVINE, CALIF. (Oct. 14, 2022) – Western Growers and S2G Ventures have announced the judges for the 2022 AgSharks Competition, a unique event where startup companies pitch their innovations in front of a live audience of the world’s largest specialty crop producers to win a $250,000 minimum investment.  Three startups will be selected to pitch ...

Last Chance to Register for the WG Annual Meeting!

It’s the final few days to sign up for the Western Growers 2022 Annual Meeting, which will be held Nov. 2-5 at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. Don’t miss out on these top-of-the-line educational opportunities, social events and entertainment: *Keynote speakers including Admiral William McRaven; Karl Rove; and Jennifer Sey. *Two informational panels will be ...

Western Growers’ Hank Giclas to be Honored at 2022 Food Safety Conference

The University of Arizona Food Safety Consortium’s annual 2022 Food Safety Conference will honor and dedicate this year’s conference to the late Hank Giclas, former Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning, Science & Technology at Western Growers, who passed away earlier this year. Hank served the Western fresh produce industry in various capacities with Western Growers for ...

Western Growers Premieres Video Series Featuring Next-Generation Agtech Robots

IRVINE, CALIF. (Oct. 18, 2022) – To celebrate the start of the first American edition of FIRA, the international agricultural robotics conference, WG debuts an inside look at cutting-edge technologies on the farm that will help ease the industry’s ongoing labor shortage. The three short videos feature 2-D orchards of trees harvested via a self-propelled ...

VofV: Global Competition Requires Urgent Supply Chain Tech Innovation

On this week’s Voices of the Valley podcast, Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson interview Gary Loh, the CEO of DiMuto and the Executive Chairman of First Alverstone Group, and Claire Pribula, the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Yield Lab Asia Pacific. Gary and Claire discuss the changes in the marketplace that have resulted in an ...

2022 Global Harvest Automation Report Survey Now Open to Growers, Start-Ups

The second year of data collection for Western Growers’ Global Harvest Automation Report is underway, and we need growers and start-ups to fill out surveys to help the industry confront the ongoing threat from chronic labor shortages. Western Growers’ Global Harvest Automation Initiative (GHAI) aims to automate 50 percent of the fresh produce harvest within ...

WGCIT Hosts Workshop on Hygienic Design for Automated Harvesters

The Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology is hosting an in-person workshop on hygienic and sanitary design for automation harvesters presented by WG’s Science Programs Director Afreen Malik and Justin Kerr, Founder of Factor IV Solutions. The workshop will take place at the CIT in Salinas, Calif. on Oct. 31, 2022 from 8 a.m. ...

Finalists Announced for AgSharks Pitch Competition

IRVINE, CALIF. (Oct. 21, 2022) – Western Growers and S2G Ventures have announced the three finalists that will compete in the 2022 AgSharks Competition, a unique event where startup companies pitch their innovations in front of a live audience of the world’s largest specialty crop producers to win a $250,000 minimum investment.  The finalists are: En ...

Western Growers Selects Future Volunteer Leaders Class VII

IRVINE, CALIF. (Oct. 24, 2022) – Western Growers is welcoming the seventh class of Future Volunteer Leaders, a group who will be embedded in specialized networking and agricultural leadership development events with the organization for the next two years. Class VII includes: Celeste Alonzo, Junior Enterprises Jose Covarrubias, Wholesum Farms Krystal Del Bosque, Del Bosque ...