Cover Story SONNY RODRIGUEZ, THE PEOPLE’S CHAMPION Celebrating Western Growers’ 2024 Award of Honor Recipient By Michelle Rivera, Senior Communications Manager
The remarkable evolution from apprentice to visionary is a tale as old as time, a story often told to inspire those looking to enhance their career paths or reinvigorate their lives. The recipient of this year’s Western Growers’ Award of Honor takes the myth and puts a human face on it. WG Board Member Sonny Rodriguez, the President and CEO of The Growers Company, has an inspiring legacy rooted in his family’s support and values, starting with his father, Joe L. Rodriguez, who - even with just an 8th grade education - profoundly influenced his son’s journey. Understanding the value of hard work is best learned at a young age, and Rodriguez’s father made sure of that. Sonny’s first job was grueling and consisted of spending 12 to 14 hours a day picking up empty burlap sacks behind the onion grading crews—a task he describes as the “dirtiest and smelliest job” he’s ever had. With his father’s wisdom and relentless drive influencing his path, Rodriguez achieved his goal of graduating from Arizona State University in 1975 with a degree in Business Administration. At the time, Rodriguez overlooked the significance of this accomplishment. “It didn’t dawn on me until later that I was a first-generation college graduate,” Rodriguez explained. “That’s a big deal.” But that was only the beginning. After nearly 50 years of impacting and revolutionizing the fresh produce industry, Western Growers will honor Rodriguez at the 98th Annual Meeting in November. The Award of Honor is Western Growers’ highest recognition of achievement and is given to individuals who have contributed extensively to the agricultural community. Rodriguez recalls the moment he found out he had been selected for this year’s Award of Honor at the Western Growers board meeting in Sacramento earlier this year. “I was shocked. I looked up, and for the first time in my life, I was at a loss for words. I’m not a grower. This board is made of growers and shippers, so never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I was going to get this award as a labor contractor,” Rodriguez said. “The Western Growers Award of Honor is typically bestowed on the growers for whom this association was created in 1926,” said Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia. “This year, we break with that practice to honor Sonny Rodriguez. Sonny ensures that his customers – growers of fresh produce – can be confident that their crops will be expertly tended and harvested by skilled farm employees, and he does this with the highest commitment to integrity, ethical conduct and compassion for all. “Sonny started working in the fields as a teenager and has never strayed from the values his father inculcated in him, none more important than treating every worker with dignity and respect.
Few in our industry have done as much to educate elected leaders and government officials about the many positive contributions – and the many challenges confronting – America’s fresh produce industry. He is a respected and well-known advocate for agricultural labor reform that would honor the work of our farm employees and bring rationality to the industry,” Puglia said. With more than a half a century of experience in providing labor services to farmers in Arizona and California, Rodriguez is truly a man of the people, embodying integrity, fairness and opportunistic employment for all of his workers. “There is a farm worker behind every piece of produce that we can buy at our convenience,” Rodriguez said. “I see what these workers go through, and I’ve gotten to know them on a personal level. I want everyone to appreciate what they do, and that’s why I became a champion of protecting the farmworkers.” Founded by his father Joe to provide labor services to farmers in the Glendale, Ariz., region, The Growers Company offered custom produce harvesting since 1950 and is a third-generation family business. Rodriguez joined the company in 1975 and today serves as its President and CEO. Headquartered in Yuma, Ariz., with offices in Huron and Salinas, Calif., the company harvests lettuce, mix lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli and many other commodities.
Sonny with Jaime Garcia. Garcia has been working with Sonny for 31 years, starting as a field worker, foreman and now a supervisor.
15 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com September | October 2024
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