Posts By: Tim Linden
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Need Boosts H-2A Filings
H-2A certifications in California and Arizona are poised to reach a record high this year as growers access the U.S. Department of Labor program in an effort to address the acute labor shortage that plagues production agriculture. For the past decade, the Western Growers Legal Department has been helping those members traverse the bureaucratic maze ...
WGCIT Sponsor: All Terrain Mower Has Roots in Czech Republic
As an installer of ground-mounted solar panels, Russell Pacific was continually being asked for help regarding the maintenance of those installations, particularly in regard to the overgrowth of weeds and other ground cover. After a while, the overgrowth can block the sun’s view and cut down on the efficiency of the panels. Vice President of ...
From NASA to the Farm
Director Profile Neill Callis Sales & General Management Turlock Fruit Company Turlock, CA Director Since 2019 | Member Since 1944 New Western Growers Board Member Neill Callis isn’t a rocket scientist, but he rubbed shoulders with plenty of them during a 17-year career at NASA prior to joining Turlock Fruit Company a half ...
Father/Son Team Innovate Potato Category
Bob & Nathan Bender Tasteful Selections Bakersfield, CA Member since 2010 In the 1990s, Bob Bender was a chip potato grower in Nebraska for a major manufacturer. He and his teenage son, Nathan, would often bring home the baby size potatoes that didn’t make grade because of their size. “It was only the large ...
Technology Driving Innovation at RDO
Whether an early adopter or among the last to join in on the latest technology offering, few can argue against the overwhelming benefits it continues to offer the agriculture industry. From the simplest in-cab control upgrades to advanced systems for automation, data management, and remote machine monitoring, technology advancements are constantly coming from one end ...
Injury Dooms Baseball Dream; Marriage Leads to Produce Career
Director Profile Kelly Strickland Vice President of Operations Five Crowns Marketing Brawley, CA Director Since 2018 | Member Since 1985 Growing up in San Jose, CA, Kelly Strickland was quite the baseball player. He was heavily recruited out of high school as a pitcher and continued his planned path to the Major Leagues at Azusa ...
Water Infrastructure Ag Industry Hopeful Congress Will Act
Water infrastructure is a lot like the weather—everyone talks about it but nothing is ever done about it. Consider that the vast majority of water projects serving California were in the planning stage 80 to 90 years ago and were built in 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Since then, there have been virtually no massive public ...
RURAL CONNECTIVITY: Federal Funding Promises Widespread Broadband Coverage
When Vice Chancellor Linda Thomas surveys the challenges facing the students at West Hills Community College in Coalinga, CA, lack of economic stability nears the top of the list. Few students can afford full-time, uninterrupted studies. They have to go to class, do homework and complete their coursework while working, taking care of family and ...
WGCIT Sponsor Yamaha Identifies Ag as Major Growth Market
For decades, Yamaha Motor Company has been involved in innovative research, searching for technology to improve their core products as well as to find solutions for vexing problems. That effort led to the development of the Yamaha Motor Ventures and Laboratory Silicon Valley, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company and an ...
A Rich Family Legacy to Uphold
Director Profile Brandon Grimm General Manager, Cal Organic Division Grimmway Farms Bakersfield, CA Director Since 2019 | Member Since 1986 Company Background: Brothers Rod and Bob Grimm grew up in Orange County and were growers and marketers of sweet corn and other crops for about 15 years before moving the operation up to Bakersfield and ...
Hirakata Farms: A Century Long Legacy
Member Profile Glenn Hirakata Hirakata Farms Rocky Ford, CO Member Since 2013 Hirakata Farms has a legacy in Colorado that dates back more than a century, spans five generations and has survived countless changes in its lifetime. Today, the firm continues to surmount the challenges of being commercially viable in an area that isn’t really ...
WGCIT Sponsor: Innovation Still Drives Vessey & Co.
In the 1930s, Elton Vessey, who founded Vessey & Co along with his wife, Maudie, developed an innovative transportation technique utilizing a flatbed truck for the harvesting of crops in the Imperial Valley. Today, the Vessey & Co. website (www.vessey.com) devotes a paragraph to the innovation in its retelling of the company history. It notes ...
Labor is Again at the Forefront
While there has always been a need for lawyers in the business of farming, it was clearly issues surrounding labor in the 1960s and ‘70s that led to rapid increase in the number of attorneys who practice in this sector. In fact, elsewhere in this issue, Attorney Mike Saqui reveals that he is very proud ...
Law Firm Committed to Creating “Employers of Choice”
Mike Saqui grew up the son of a union organizer in heavily-unionized New Jersey expecting that someday he would come back home and help union members take back control of their union from less-than-ethical leaders. Instead, after graduating from a California law school, he met a labor lawyer named Tom Nassif who directed him to ...
Ag Career Was Always On Tap
Dominic J. Muzzi CEO/COO Muzzi Family Farms, LLC Moss Landing, CA Member Since 1984 | Director Since 2018 CATCHING THE FARMING BUG: When Dominic Muzzi was six years old, his father put him on top of a tractor and let him drive it. From that day on, he knew he would take up the family ...
Nassif Takes His Place in Western Growers History Always the Advocate
A few months ago, former Western Growers chairman and longtime board member Gary Pasquinelli commenting on the career of soon-to-be-retired WG President & CEO Tom Nassif, said the association got more than it bargained for when it hired the former ambassador to Morocco almost two decades ago. “When we hired Tom, we knew we had ...
Value-Added Pioneer Moving Forward Under New Banner
Mary Thompson CEO Bonduelle Fresh Americas Member Since 1973 (originally joined as Ready Pac) Value-Added Pioneer Moving Forward Under New Banner The Back Story: The Ready Pac brand was established about a half century ago as founder Dennis Gertmenian’s story of chopping, cleaning, and bagging lettuce from a bathtub is a well-known part of the ...
Tom Nassif’s Tenure Celebrated at 2019 Annual Meeting
From the opening gavel of the on-site board meeting to the closing Award of Honor dinner, the 2019 version of the Western Growers Annual Meeting in mid-November had the underlying theme of celebrating the 18 years of service President and CEO Tom Nassif gave to the association. Of course, the Western Growers Annual Meeting, held ...
Water Issues Top the Charts
Member Profile: Mark Borba President Borba Farms Inc. Riverdale, CA Member Since 2006 It was in the early 1900s that Mark Borba’s ancestors started working the land, near Hardwick in the San Joaquin Valley. His grandparents were dairy farmers. After World War II, the Borba family began to rethink the economics of dairy farming and ...
Concept Clean Energy Targets Solar Solutions
The solar industry has progressed tremendously since Concept Clean Energy Vice President Ryan Park entered the space almost two decades ago. Prices for solar panels have dropped significantly, efficiency has improved tremendously, and the technology continues to advance year after year. “We are now providing targeted solutions for the challenges growers and shippers have, Park ...