Posts By: Dave Puglia
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Reality Check: From Farm to Fork, We Gotta Have Plastic
“I want to say one word to you. Just one word… Plastics. There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it.” This is a slightly truncated quote from the 1967 film, “The Graduate,” starring a very young Dustin Hoffman. In this scene, his character, Benjamin, is offered unsolicited career advice by Mr. McGuire, a friend of his family. That scene has often popped into my head these…
A More Inclusive Definition of Public Benefit in Water Infrastructure
During his presidency, Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the American people about the dangers of what he termed the Military-Industrial Complex: the increasingly tight relationship between a segment of the government and a sector of the economy, each able to serve the other’s interests at the expense of the greater public interest. Today in California, we suffer from a form of this. Some…
A Moth, a Tractor and the Bigger Picture
A long time ago as a college student, I took a course on bureaucracy. That one word constituted the entire name of the course, which felt a little like Dante’s warning: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Friends who had taken other political science courses with me now waved off; not one of them dared dedicate an entire semester to something so mind-numbing as…
Can California Still Build Big Stuff?
This may be unfair to former Gov. Jerry Brown, but I want to reflect on a comment he made years ago that haunts me as we consider the increasingly tenuous fate of the Sites Reservoir project. Shortly after returning to Sacramento in 2011 for his third term as Governor, the WG Executive Committee met with Brown over dinner. He was intensely focused on advancing two big infrastructure projects.…
Give This Senator a Chance
Weeks after the historic 2024 election, my daily news scan was halted in its tracks. On December 10, I noticed an Op-Ed in the Bakersfield Californian, written by Adam Schiff. The longtime U.S. Representative from Los Angeles was sworn into the Senate the day before, to fill the remaining fragment of the term of the late Dianne Feinstein, and would be sworn in again on Jan. 3, 2025, to begin the…
Mapping MAHA
Editor's note: This is an early preview of an article set to appear in the May/June 2025 issue of the Western Grower & Shipper. Has a new presidential administration ever moved so quickly and boldly across so many policy areas? Historians will assess that. For now, let’s try to map out one of the key pillars of the Trump agenda – the Make America Healthy Again movement, or “MAHA”…
Europe’s Green Revolt: A Harbinger of Things to Come in California?
On his first day back in office, President Donald J. Trump wasted little time issuing a series of executive orders overturning regulations restraining U.S. innovation and competitiveness. European CEOs took notice. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in late January, Morten Wierod, CEO of the Swiss robotics company ABB, echoed the sentiments of his fellow chief executives:…
Legislation and the University of California
Anyone familiar with the apps that allow people to rate everything from restaurants to doctors to airlines has seen the tags: “cannot recommend” and “can recommend,” coupled with a rating of zero to four stars. I don’t think we have an app like that for something as arcane as university research, but maybe we should, especially for research that impacts public policy development and…
Think Covid Messed Up Supply Chains?
Wait Until California Mandates Electric-only Trucks Sometimes I lazily revert to a line used by the title character in the movie “Forrest Gump” to explain whatever California policy madness has animated a family member or friend: “California is as California does.” For those who don’t know the reference, my apologies. But there’s really no rational way to explain why…
The Larger Meaning of PAGA Reform
“On my desk in the Oval Office, I have a little sign that says: There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” - President Ronald Reagan. Even though I hold Ronald Reagan in the greatest esteem, I am going to violate that admonition a little bit for what I think is a good purpose. Not so much to give credit, although it’s important…
A Hopeful Moment for California’s Reservoir Projects
Let’s pause from all our troubles for a moment to call out something that might be going right in California. Especially surprising is that it’s happening in water infrastructure. Caught your attention, didn’t I? Two long delayed water storage projects are moving forward: Sites Reservoir and the raising of the dam at San Luis Reservoir. It’s still too early for the ceremonial…
Kim Stuart Retires from Western Growers; Cory Lunde Takes Over Membership Department
After 7 1/2 years as the head of our Membership Department, Kim Stuart embarked on a well-deserved, yet bittersweet, retirement at the end of April. During her time at Western Growers, Kim has brought professionalism and discipline to the department and elevated our association's profile within the fresh produce industry. Our task now is to honor her contributions and build on the great work she…
Spiraling Labor Cost and Opportunities Lost
America’s agriculture sector has been through the ringer these last several years. First came the trade wars and exceedingly high tariffs imposed by China on numerous American agricultural products. Then the COVID pandemic and the supply chain disruptions that created logistical and economic chaos for many food producers. More recently came spikes in fertilizer and other input costs amid world…
To Be Disfavored by Sacramento
Sometimes we might feel that we are alone in California. The state legislature and regulatory agencies – spurred on by myriad special interests on the left, ranging from labor unions to environmental activists and others - moves from one new mandate on agriculture to another without pause and lacking any interest in the economic consequences to come. But we are not alone, as the Wall Street…
A New Way for FDA
My interactions with the California Department of Motor Vehicles – the dreaded DMV – have been increasingly hassle-free and efficient recently, even with some complicated transactions. Maybe it was just luck, but it feels like real change has taken hold in the DMV. Could it be that the person appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 to modernize and improve this calcified bureaucracy – a…
President’s Notes: The Statesmanship Gap
As I write this, the passing of Sen. Dianne Feinstein is less than a week past, and the appointment of Laphonza Butler by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the remainder of Feinstein’s term has only been public for two days. While I have not worked with Sen. Butler before, and there is little in her experience that sheds light on her views on issues affecting agriculture, my team and I are…
California Fresh Fruit Association Names Daniel Hartwig as New Association President
My team and I are excited to work with Daniel Hartwig as the new President of the California Fresh Fruit Association. Daniel brings strong experience with private grower operations, most recently with our very own board chair Stuart Woolf (Woolf Enterprises) as well as agricultural associations and is a highly respected advocate and leader within our industry. Finding a replacement for Ian…
President’s Notes: Telling Our Story
Back in April, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the California State Board of Food and Agriculture released a plan entitled Ag Vision for the Next Decade. While the focus was primarily on climate action, the document did speak to the need to enhance public understanding of agriculture and engage urban audiences. In his commentary on this plan, Richard Smoley,…
President’s Notes: Hey Sacramento, Still Not an Exodus?
About a year ago, demographers and others—notably U-Haul—reported data that strongly suggested a stream of people leaving California. It was no shock to those frustrated by the policies and practices emanating from Sacramento and many local governments. I wrote about it here, noting that the very earliest indications of a trend often present that last good opportunity for politicians to take…
President’s Notes: The water supply crisis is devastating California’s farms. It’s time for a crisis-level response.
Editor’s note: This opinion piece was first published Dec. 1 in The Bakersfield Californian. Reprinted with permission. For decades, California has been paralyzed, prevented from securing an adequate water supply by endless debate, red tape and litigation over where, how, and even if the state should create more water supply infrastructure. In the last few years some major farming regions…