Founded in 1926, Western Growers represents local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico. Western Growers provides a lobbying voice in state and federal government, affordable health benefits, technology and innovation development, transportation solutions, legal and human resources guidance and more. Behind the association are more than…
The Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology wants to acknowledge and thank the original eight members of its Food Safety Cohort, who have been working with the center on cutting edge solutions to food safety issues. WGCIT Executive Director Dennis Donohue said each of these companies has invested their time and resources to work ...
Since its inception, the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology has been a credible incubator for ideas in the agtech space with the goal of bringing news from forward-thinking entrepreneurs to WG members. On the food safety front, WGCIT seeks to be more strategic and intentional around the needs of Western Growers members. “The ...
Driscoll’s has long been an innovator in the fresh produce industry as it was among the first grower-shippers to establish a proprietary breeding program. Today it has a robust research and development team affecting all aspects of its company. It still has an innovative crop breeding program, and has brought that same forward-thinking passion to ...
Founded in Ontario, Canada in 2018, IntelliCulture provides equipment management software for farms to provide insights into spray coverage, operational health and labor management. The founders of the company were engineers working in the automobile industry in the autonomous space when they decided to launch their company to apply their learnings to the agricultural world ...
By Matthew Allen, Vice President, State Government Affairs Attending the circus can be a really fun time for your family, especially for the kids. It’s amazing to watch all of the magical acts, animal tricks and acrobatics taking place. It’s fantastical, and that’s exactly the feeling and impression that you are supposed to have. Attending ...
By Tim Linden Sen. Padilla was first elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1999, serving for seven years. He also served in the California State Senate and as California Secretary of State before being appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2021. He was on the November ballot to both complete the current term ...
Ocean Mist Farms Member since 1947 By Tim Linden It is telling that Castroville’s Ocean Mist Farms, which is the leading producer of artichokes in the United States, does not rank that crop on the top of its list in terms of volume. Chris Drew, who was named president and CEO of the company in ...
Vic Smith grew up in southern Colorado, the son of a lawyer without ever considering agriculture as a career. He hung around the towns of Alamosa and San Luis enjoying a normal childhood and then went to the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he studied economics and business law. His father was a practicing ...
Growers up and down the state were celebrating an abundance of rainy days during the first two weeks in December, which had many people hoping the end of the three-year drought was near. Even the chief hydrologist for the California Department of Water Resources, Maury Roos, was quoted on Monday, Dec. 15, that he was ...
Seed industry representatives are urging California growers to get their cucurbits seed certified as free of the Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus (CGMMV) before planting because of several outbreaks that have occurred over the past two seasons. Ric Dunkle, senior director of seed health and trade for the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), told WG&S ...
(Editor’s Note: The questions and answers have been paraphrased for clarity and brevity.) Where did you grow up and what were some of the key elements of your youth? Our house burned down when I was three and I do remember that. I grew up in Visalia where my dad was a teacher and ...
Leo & Suzette Overgaag North Shore Greenhouses Inc. Thermal, CA Member Since 1996 Background: Leo and Suzette Overgaag met at Hollandia Farms in Carpinteria where Leo worked at his father’s firm in the greenhouse flower business and Suzette first found employment as a teenager. After several years went by, the duo became a couple and ...
The human resource staff at Tanimura & Antle spend a lot of time carefully filling out the forms that make up the annual Western Growers Professional Compensation and HR Practices Survey. “We are spending a lot of time getting it right and we hope other companies are doing the same thing,” said Carmen Ponce, vice ...
In his January column in this magazine, Western Growers President and CEO Tom Nassif told readers it is the association’s goal “to advance technology innovation in the fresh produce industry thereby improving our ability to produce more food in more efficient ways.” He said the association is not willing to sit back and let others ...
(Editor’s Note: The questions and answers have been paraphrased for brevity and clarity.) Ben Allen won in his first attempt for the California Legislature in November of 2014. At 36, he is the second youngest senator in the state. Where did you grow up and did you have any defining moments in your ...
Fuel rates are as low as they have been in years, which will have a positive impact on freight rates as long as the current situation exists. However, that doesn’t mean freight rates are going to drop precipitously. “By all means challenge your carrier about the cost dynamics,” said Luke Gowdy, general manager in the ...
According to a report by the California Strawberry Commission (CSC) published last year, just about two thirds of the strawberry growers in the Golden State are of Mexican descent. In the past generation or two, many Mexican laborers have come to the United States looking for work and eventually ended up farming the land. In ...
It is the era of “Big Data” and everyone is trying to harness available information to make better decisions in all facets of business. Possibly nowhere does that make more sense than when dealing with the weather and agriculture. After all, the two are interconnected and the amount of weather-related information now available has grown ...
In late February, Western Growers CEO and President Tom Nassif signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA) to form a strategic alliance between the two trade associations. Members of CFVGA now have immediate access to Western Growers services and staff, and Western Growers is providing federal lobbying ...