Posts By: Tim Linden

WG Board Convenes in Sacramento

In late March, members of the Western Growers’ Board of Directors engaged over several days in a series of Sacramento meetings and discussions with administration officials and state legislators on key issues affecting the specialty crop industry.  Additionally, Governor Jerry Brown visited with Executive Committee members prior to the week’s events.  Water, labor and workplace…

AG TECHNOLOGY: WG Announces Major Investment in Future

Western Growers and Silicon Valley Global Partners (SVG Partners) have entered into an exclusive strategic alliance agreement to find, accelerate, advance and invest in innovative solutions intended to solve critical challenges to production agriculture through technology and produce more with less water, labor and inputs. The two companies will collaborate on innovation centers in Salinas…

WATER EFFICIENCY EQUATION: Reducing Use Per Unit Gaining Traction

With California now firmly entrenched in its fourth drought year in a row, the irrigation industry is rightly focused on water efficiency. Paul McFadden, who is senior sales manager for Toro Micro-Irrigation, El Cajon, CA, said while the focus is clear, that doesn’t always mean using less water.  “It’s an equation: units of input vs. ...

DIRE STRAITS: Persistent Drought Reaches Epic Proportions

On Wednesday, April 1, Jerry Brown stood on a bare patch of ground in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and announced mandatory statewide cutbacks in water use to deal with the California drought.  It is now in its fourth year and, by some measurements, is the worst drought on record. In fact, the location picked for ...

Tony Rivero: representing Arizona’s 21st House District, including Peoria

(Editor’s Note: Questions and answers have been paraphrased for brevity and clarity.)   (Arizona House Representative Tony Rivero, a Republican, won in his first run for the state Legislature in November 2014.  Previously he was on the Peoria City Council.)   Where were you born and raised? I was born in Phoenix and grew up ...

Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Implementation

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) will be holding several public listening sessions to receive comments regarding the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) over the next several months.