For example, for the cooler facility there are protocols for forklifts, the proximity on the loading dock for workers and for the semi-truck drivers who show up every day to pick up loads of fresh produce. “We don’t allow any non-employees into the cooler box anymore. And, of course we sanitize and re-sanitize everything.” D’Arrigo said that his company, like most others in the leafy green industry, had a head start on safety protocols because of the 2006 spinach crisis that caused a deep examination of all processes and the development of mandated best practices. “We had a lot of safety precautions already in place, but the coronavirus caused us to take it to the next level.” The company bought 4,000 bandanas issuing two to every employee. “One to wear and one to wash.” For the most part, he said wearing face covers has been the easiest hurdle as many farmworkers already did that. Social distancing in the field is another necessity that caused a reconfiguring of the harvesting mechanism and the installation of screens between packing stations on those winged harvesters. From one end of the business to the other, changes were made. D’Arrigo said no stone was left unturned. Initially, product was lost as about 30 percent of D’Arrigo’s business goes to the foodsaervice sector, and that business was lost overnight. “We disked under hundreds of acres,” he said. Previous to this pandemic, D’Arrigo was on a planting schedule that calculated its needs one to two years in advance. “Now we are reassessing sales every 30 days and adjusting acreage accordingly,” John said. The pandemic has changed consumer buying habits and D’Arrigo is constantly analyzing those numbers to make sure its production matches the needs of its customers. “It took us a while to figure that out, but we were able to adjust quickly. We are lucky that we haven’t had to lay off anybody during this period.” The change in consumer buying habits has also caused D’Arrigo to reexamine its products and how they are presented to consumers. During the pandemic, bulk sales dropped at retail while packaged produce saw a spike in sales. The company is adding packaging options where applicable. “Can we shrink wrap, sleeve or bag? We are looking at every commodity,” he said.
WESTERN GROWERS OFFICERS – 2020
RYAN TALLEY, Chairman ALBERT KECK, Senior Vice Chair STUART WOOLF, Vice Chair CAROL CHANDLER, Treasurer VICTOR SMITH, Executive Secretary DAVE PUGLIA, President DIRECTORS – 2020 GEORGE J. ADAM Innovative Produce, Santa Maria, California ALEXANDRA ALLEN Main Street Produce, Santa Maria, California KEVIN S. ANDREW Vanguard International, Bakersfield, California ROBERT K. BARKLEY Barkley Ag Enterprises LLP, Yuma, Arizona STEPHEN J. BARNARD Mission Produce, Inc., Oxnard, California BARDIN E. BENGARD Bengard Ranch, Salinas, California GEORGE BOSKOVICH III Boskovich Farms, Oxnard, California NEILL CALLIS Turlock Fruit Company, Turlock, California DON CAMERON Terranova Ranch, Helm, California EDWIN A. CAMP D. M. Camp & Sons, Bakersfield, California CAROL CHANDLER Chandler Farms LP, Selma, California LAWRENCE W. COX Coastline Family Farms, Salinas, California STEPHEN F. DANNA Danna Farms, Inc., Yuba City, California JOHN C. D’ARRIGO D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of California, Salinas, California THOMAS DEARDORFF II Deardorff Family Farms, Oxnard, California FRANZ W. DE KLOTZ Richard Bagdasarian Inc., Mecca, California SAMUEL D. DUDA Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Inc., Salinas, California CATHERINE A. FANUCCHI Tri-Fanucchi Farms Inc., Bakersfield, California DAVID L. GILL Rio Farms, King City, California BRANDON A. GRIMM Grimmway Farms, Arvin, California JOHN JACKSON Beachside Produce, LLC, Nipomo, California A. G. KAWAMURA Orange County Produce, LLC, Irvine, California ALBERT KECK Hadley Date Gardens, Thermal, California FRED P. LOBUE, JR. LoBue Bros., Inc., Lindsay, California FRANK MACONACHY Ramsay Highlander, Inc., Gonzales, California JOHN S. MANFRE Frank Capurro and Son, Moss Landing, California STEPHEN MARTORI III Martori Farms, Scottsdale, Arizona HAROLD MCCLARTY HMC Farms, Kingsburg, California TOMMULHOLLAND Mulholland Citrus, Orange Cove, California ALEXANDER T. MULLER Pasquinelli Produce Co., Yuma, Arizona DOMINIC J. MUZZI Muzzi Family Farms, LLC, Moss Landing, California MARK NICKERSON Prime Time International, Coachella, California THOMAS M. NUNES The Nunes Company, Inc., Salinas, California STEPHEN F. PATRICIO Westside Produce, Firebaugh, California RON RATTO Ratto Bros. Inc., Modesto, California CRAIG A. READE Bonipak Produce, Inc., Santa Maria, California ERIC T. REITER Reiter Affiliated Companies, Oxnard, California JOSEPH A. RODRIGUEZ The Growers Company, Inc., Somerton, Arizona WILL ROUSSEAU Rousseau Farming Company, Tolleson, Arizona VICTOR SMITH JV Smith Companies, Yuma, Arizona KELLY STRICKLAND Five Crowns, Inc., Brawley, California RYAN TALLEY Talley Farms, Arroyo Grande, California BRUCE C. TAYLOR Taylor Farms California, Salinas, California STUART WOOLF Woolf Farming & Processing, Fresno, California ROB YRACEBURU Wonderful Orchards, Shafter, California
John D’Arrigo
precautions that have been put in place by the organization; he has been too busy putting them in place. “We are going to have to do that soon,” he said in early June, after spending the previous three months on a daily quest to prepare the company in every possible area of concern. “I don’t know if it’s a quarter a box or a dollar a box, but it’s a lot. The cost has been horrendous.” According to D’Arrigo, the company got ahead of the curve by jumping on the situation very quickly. “Very early on, I realized this was going to be the real deal,” he said. “If you studied it, that became clear. I started looking at our different environments and made a plan for each one.” The office was closed to visitors with protocols established at the entrance, and tracing efforts enacted to track the movements of the company’s 2,000 employees and 60-plus labor-transporting buses. The goal was to minimize contacts between employees and establish new safer routines that could be monitored and improved upon. “We converted one building to a training facility and hired a trainer so we could teach everyone how to protect themselves and protect their families once they went home.” For the workers traveling on buses, D’Arrigo adopted assigned seating on each bus. The worker would go to and from the field as the only occupant of a particular seat. “That’s your seat every time and every day,” John said. Every process received the same scrutiny with a training squad working day and night to make sure protocols were followed. “We slowly developed a binder with all the protocols. That binder is updated almost every day.”
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JULY | AUGUST 2020
Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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