Posts By: Tim Linden
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WGCIT Sponsor: Research & Innovation are at Bayer’s Core
By Tim Linden Supporting innovation in the fresh produce industry by sponsoring the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology is a natural for Bayer, which considers itself the leader in agricultural research and development with specialty crops its main focus. Daniel Kurdys, Director of Horticulture & Seed Growth in North America for Bayer Crop ...
C.H. Robinson Predicts Supply Chain Pressures to Ease in 2022
By Tim Linden There is not a quick nor easy fix, but a trio of executives from C.H. Robinson recently predicted that the supply chain issues that have plagued the nation during the pandemic will ease some in 2022, especially in the latter half of the year. The CHR experts—Steve Raetz, Director of Research and ...
Necessity Led to Founding of Organic Marketing Specialist
CA Member: Homegrown Organic Farms, Porterville, California Member since 2019 By Tim Linden Background: John and Cindy France were farmers in the San Joaquin Valley in the mid-1990s who were continually increasing their production of organic fruit crops. But they kept running into trouble marketing their output. “They had a number of bad experiences with ...
Update from the Center – May/June
aerialPlot aerialPLOT joined WGCIT at the beginning of March, and immediately kicked off its membership by hosting a two-day training session with a key multi-national client. aerialPLOT is a research company that integrates aerial sensors with other data sources to monitor real-time crop dynamics. In addition to operations covering row crops throughout the Midwest, aerialPLOT ...
WGCIT Sponsor: RDO Actively Facilitating Tech Advances by Growers
From more than 75 locations nationally, RDO Equipment Co. is a leading supporter of agriculture’s move to a more technology-oriented future. It sells and supports agriculture, environmental, construction, surveying and irrigation equipment from leading manufacturers, including John Deere. “There are 11 equipment stores in California plus three RDO Water locations along with eight stores in…
WGCIT Resident: Naïo Technologies Offering New Robotic Weeders to U.S. Ag
Naïo Technologies, a French company specializing in autonomous robots for agriculture, has just celebrated its 10th anniversary with 300 robots in operation worldwide, 80 people employed across the globe and more than 60,000 hours of operations under its belt. The company has been operating in California since 2019 and now has four robot models in ...
Legislator Profile: Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris Represents Business from a Unique Perch
Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris freely admits it was the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016 that first led her to consider a career in an elected office. “It was a wake-up call for a lot of us, ” she said. In fact, there was a clarion call for women to get involved and become candidates. ...
How to Get the Most Out of a WG Membership
Western Growers has long been known as the major voice of the western fruit, vegetable and nut industries. Since its inception almost a century ago, the association has represented the best interests of its members as they go about the business of growing, harvesting, packing, selling and shipping the best medicine in the world. Western ...
Director Profile: Mike Way Forges Own Path to Produce
Like many of his colleagues on the Western Growers Board of Directors, Mike Way grew up in Salinas, graduated from Salinas High School and went to college to major in ag business. But he was not born with agriculture in his blood. “I was born and raised in downtown Salinas,” he recalls. “My dad ...
Western Growers Touts Board Elections Amid Changes
As it does every two years, the Western Growers membership is approaching election season for its Board of Directors. Western Growers is one of the very few produce industry associations that elects the lion’s share of its Board in competitive races with a plurality vote picking the winner. In practice, each Western Growers Regular Member ...
Inside Western Growers: A Look at WG Employee Champions
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…
Agtech Updates
Below are a few more agtech updates from companies that have chosen to advertise in this special “Agtech” edition of Western Grower & Shipper. DPG Continuous Fertigation is a paradigm shift in the way nutrients are applied to crops. DPG Continuous Fertigation, also known as The White Box, is an autonomous, computer-controlled series of fertilizer ...
Update From the WGCIT
AGNote: Field splitting is a useful feature for vegetable growers. Since AgNote joined Western Growers in early 2022, it has had an opportunity to learn more about farm management software requirements for vegetable growers. One of the company’s learnings is it has discovered that vegetable growers often plant multiple crops and varieties in the same field. ...
Agtech is Already Here
There are many very cool high-tech ideas bouncing around the specialty crop industry, moving forward at various levels of speed, jumping one hurdle after the next. But there are also success stories and real agtech being utilized on the farm. Below are two companies that are well past concept development and are offering equipment that ...
The Promise of Agtech
It was a glorious June morning. D’Arrigo California CEO John D’Arrigo and the company’s tech guy, Andy Holtz, Director of Mechanized Equipment Development, were riding on the front end of a working romaine harvester as it moved through a pristine field of beautiful heads of lettuce. Directly underfoot were a number of cameras feeding images ...
It’s All in the Family
Director Profile John Powell Jr., Peter Rabbit Farms, Coachella, Calif. Director 1996-2012, 2022 | Member since 1977 (Cardinal Distributing Co.) John Powell Jr. first joined the Western Growers Board of Directors when he just entered his 30s and was one of the younger chairmen when he took the helm in 2005. During his first stint ...
A Look at WG Employee Champions: Inside Western Growers
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…
WGCIT Resident: Corigin Utilizing Nutshells to Improve Yields, Environment
Utilizing a high-tech process involving thermal decomposition, Merced, Calif.-based Corigin Solutions LLC is turning crop waste into a biochemical plant growth enhancer that is proving to increase yields, reduce costs and sequester carbon. “It is the epitome of a circular economy,” said Founder and CEO Michael Woelk. He noted that the company is an investor-backed ...
Death of PAGA Claims Greatly Exaggerated
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Federal Arbitration Act supersedes California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), at least in part, employers and their attorneys rejoiced. In a nutshell, the Supreme Court ruled in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana that employees, who are subject to an arbitration agreement, can be compelled ...
Sense of Purpose Drives Arizona State Senator Sine Kerr
Editor’s Note: Sine Kerr is a member of the Arizona State Senate, representing District 13, which covers northwest Maricopa County and northern Yuma County. She assumed office on Jan. 8, 2018. Her current term ends on Jan. 9, 2023. She is running unopposed for reelection in November. Arizona State Sen. Sine Kerr (R-13) did not ...