Michelle Rivera, Author at Western Growers Association Western Growers Association

Michelle Rivera

Western Growers, Communications Manager

E: [email protected]/P: 949.885.4778 EXT 4778 Michelle Rivera serves as the Communications Manager for Western Growers, where she is responsible for ensuring effective internal and external communications for Western Growers members, industry partners and consumers across all platforms. Michelle has more than 15 years of marketing and communications experience in various industries, including adtech, consumer products […]

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Posts By: Michelle Rivera

Beyond the Way We’ve Always Done It

Canadian startup Sami Robotics, the first Western Growers-sponsored resident at Reservoir Farms, is bringing a new generation of multifunctional harvesting robots to California fields. A few years ago, Sami Robotics Co-founder Eric Lapalme returned to his family farm where he grew up in Quebec. As an engineer, he had spent years developing technology and watching industries transform through…

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“The Port That Farmers Built”

At the height of the supply chain crisis, cargo ships floated offshore for days, sometimes weeks, waiting to enter California ports. But not at the Port of Hueneme. There, containers kept moving. Trucks rolled in and out, perishables made their deadlines and exporters found space for freight that other ports couldn’t handle. While congestion dominated headlines across the industry, this…

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Jordan Energy & Food Enterprises: Harvesting the Power of the Sun

For growers across the country, rising electricity costs continue to challenge already slim margins, making energy efficiency and sustainability more important than ever. But while solar energy has become an increasingly attractive solution, many agricultural operations face a major barrier before installation even begins: securing the financial resources to make large-scale energy investments…

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Western Grower & Shipper Magazine Q3 2026 Digital Edition is Available Now

The Q3 2026 digital issue of the Western Grower & Shipper magazine is available for online viewing. In this issue's President's Notes, Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia examines the renewed push for federal agricultural labor reform and what the introduction of the Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act (SAWA) could mean for growers. Also in this issue, we celebrate California…

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