Joe Pezzini shares his experience during the 2006 spinach outbreak with agtech startups in theWG Center for Innovation & Technology.
Carmen Ponce (right) has been a champion for finding solutions to the ag labor shortage.
sustainable supply of water for farmers to grow the food that feeds the state, nation and world. In fact, while he was Western Growers (WG) chairman, he was asked to join then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the San Luis Reservoir to call attention to the need for more surface water storage and stress the need for a comprehensive water solution. FOOD SAFETY Joe Pezzini: Pezzini, president and CEO of Ocean Mist Farms, played an integral role in rebuilding the industry after the E. coli outbreak in spinach in 2006. He served as the first chairman of the California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA) and was one of the people most responsible for creating this unprecedented organization. During the crisis, Pezzini, along with other industry advocates such as WG, worked with regulators to learn what steps needed to be taken to get the leafy greens industry back in business. The industry took it upon itself to raise the bar for food safety practices and created the LGMA, which has since been on the leading edge of science-based food safety standards. Ron Ratto: Over the years, Ron Ratto has implemented progressive farming practices and invested in the latest technological advancements to enhance food safety at Ratto Bros. This includes a product recall program designed to trace back, trace forward and, if necessary, recall any products that may have food safety concerns from the farm or the packinghouse, as well as an Integrated
Pest Management Program to prevent food adulteration by pests or pesticides. Additionally, Ratto has made food safety the foundation of his workforce, ensuring that all employees—beyond the Quality Assurance/Food Safety Team—have quality-related responsibilities. LABOR Carmen Ponce: Ponce, who currently serves as the vice president and general counsel of labor at Tanimura & Antle, is an advocate for finding solutions to the chronic
labor shortage that is jeopardizing the future of agriculture in California, Arizona, and across the country. She works closely with numerous organizations to share her knowledge about the H-2A program including compliance, best practices and possible long-term solutions for easing the cumbersome process. In addition to managing all employment related legal matters at T&A, she has been involved with numerous boards dedicated to improving labor relations. These include the Center for Community Advocacy—an organization that provides education, orientation and legal support to farmworkers—and WG’s Labor Committee. Sonny Rodriguez: Joseph Rodriguez (Sonny) actively touts the need for Congress to pass immigration reform legislation, including a guest worker program for agriculture, which would provide the industry with a reliable, legal source of labor to provide the nation’s food supply. In addition to being vocal on the need for agricultural immigration reform, he serves as president/CEO of Arizona- based The Growers Company, a farm labor contractor that provides hundreds of seasonal workers to work vegetable fields in Arizona and California, from thinning and weeding to harvesting the crops. ENVIRONMENT Tom Mulholland: Mulholland is perfecting the use of beneficial insects and integrated pest management to reduce
Ron Ratto has implemented progessive farming practices to enhance food safety.
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JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2020
Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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