Thomas Nunes V from The Nunes Company Joins WGCIT for Lunch and Learn Thomas Nunes V (known in the industry as “T5”) visited the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology (WGCIT) to address agtech startups for our first ‘Lunch & Learn’ of the year. He spoke about his connection to farming and family, joking about finally “using his Ivy League education.” T5 played football while studying at Cornell University. He was especially close to his grandfather (T3), who also played football in college. After graduating, T5 returned home to work in the family business. He worked his way up through the business, starting in field crews in the desert. He credits his experience in every department of the company for his strengths as the current President of the Nunes Company. T5 also discussed his family’s deep understanding of branding in the marketplace. Foxy Produce is famous for featuring actress Brooke Shields in their early advertisements. Shields recently participated in a social media movement revisiting the historic campaign with the Nunes family, including T5’s sister, Mindy Amaral. T5 talked about the success of Foxy Organics, attributing it to their ability to ride the economic wave around 2008 as consumer behavior was shifting. They also diversify their farming locations to ensure steady production, such as acquiring higher elevation ground in Nevada for the summer months. When evaluating new agricultural technologies, Foxy Produce does not look at technology in isolation. An agtech success story at the Nunes Company this year was that their winter farms in Yuma, Arizona were 95 percent automatically thinned for the first time. They have always been open to automatic weeding and thinning solutions, but this year, the labor market necessitated the use of automatic thinners. T5 acknowledged that the agricultural market in California is very competitive, but with many challenges facing the industry, farmers will need to work together to adopt new solutions and counter regulations. T5 also advised the agtech entrepreneurs that the people they need to talk to at Foxy are the busiest, so they must be consistent with their communications and make it easy for them to try new solutions. Regarding data and analytics, he emphasized that technologists must understand that nothing will be the same from year to year: weather, regulation, labor, water, natural disasters, etc. This luncheon was a fantastic way to kick off 2025 with WGCIT agtech startups and included a record number of participants. -Emily Lyons
Western Growers Selects Leadership Program Class VIII Western Growers is welcoming the eighth class of its Leadership Program, a group who will be embedded in specialized networking and agricultural leadership development events with the organization for the next two years. Class VIII includes: • Carson Britz, Sr. Manager, Nutrien Ag Solutions • Kristen Camarena, VP Farming, Wonderful Orchards • Charles Ferini, Harvest Manager, Betteravia Farms • James Larsen, GM, Owyhee Produce • Marisol Moreno, Controller, Allied Potato • Patrick Pinkard, Farm Ops Manager, Terranova Ranch • Geoffrey Ratto, CEO, Ratto Bros. • Freddy Rodriguez, COO, Legacy Cooling Members of the class will be invited to participate in all regular Western Growers board meeting functions for the next two years, in addition to standalone farm tours with WG board members and trainings with the organization’s subject matter experts. In 2011, Western Growers welcomed the inaugural class of the Leadership Program. The competitively-selected Leadership Program is designed for the next generation of leaders within Western Growers member companies interested in becoming more informed and effective advocates for the fresh produce industry. These individuals are policy-minded and have expressed a desire to serve the industry – both now and in the future – in volunteer leadership capacities. -Ann Donahue
37 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com March | April 2025
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