California Fruit and Vegetable

Tag: LGMA

  • Western Growers to Honor John D’Arrigo at the 2023 Annual Meeting

    During its quarterly Board Meeting, the Western Growers Executive Committee announced it will bestow D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of California CEO/President and Chairman of the Board John D’Arrigo with the 2023 Award of Honor. The Award of Honor is Western Growers’ highest recognition of achievement and is given to individuals who have contributed extensively to the agricultural community.

    D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of California is a vertically integrated grower, packer and shipper of fresh fruits and vegetables in California, Arizona and Mexico. John D’Arrigo, a third-generation farmer, began his farming career cutting and packing lettuce, loading celery and planting fields in the Salinas Valley during the 1970s.

    Under his leadership, D’Arrigo Bros. became pioneers in developing automated robotic harvesting equipment and drip irrigation systems.  In addition, the company is the largest, privately owned, net energy metered solar powered operator in Monterey County and recipient of the prestigious Clean Air Leader Climate Change Advocate Award from the Monterey Bay Air Resources District.

    “Some say that maintaining a family legacy is both a blessing and a curse, but in his years at the helm of D’Arrigo Bros., John D’Arrigo has opted not only to count his blessings but to also build upon them,” said Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia. “His pioneering innovations as a grower, packer and shipper are only matched by his dedication to lifting up those around him through his extensive charitable endeavors and advocacy to improve the lives and business opportunities for everyone in agriculture. John is widely admired for decades of support of his family, his company and his community. No less important to him and to our industry is John’s long and deeply engaged service on both the Western Growers Board of Directors and Western Growers Assurance Trust Board of Trustees. John D’Arrigo is among the most impactful leaders in our industry and is a natural selection to receive Western Growers’ highest honor at our annual meeting in November.”

    John served on the Western Growers Board of Directors for 28 years and as Chair in 2004. In addition, he served on the Western Growers Assurance Trust Board of Directors from 1997 – 2022.

    D’Arrigo was an inaugural appointee by the California Secretary of Agriculture to the board of the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA). He is a founding member and on the advisory council of the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA), an innovative public-private partnership with The University of Arizona to improve all aspects of desert crop production.

    He has been a supporter of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation; D’Arrigo California has donated over $2 million dollars to fund over 42,000 hours of breast cancer research. In 2010, John founded The Agricultural Leadership Council, known as TALC, which is dedicated to changing and saving lives of agricultural workers and their families at Natividad Medical Center.

    “Given my family’s three generations of involvement in Western Growers, this award is particularly meaningful for me,” D’Arrigo said. “I am humbled and honored to be joining my father, Andy, and the many legendary award recipients who have come before me. Together, we have built an industry we can be proud to leave to the next generation.”

    John and his wife Sandy have been married for 32 years; they have three sons: Christopher, Michael and Matthew.

    D’Arrigo’s achievements will be celebrated at the Award of Honor Dinner Gala at the Western Growers 2023 Annual Meeting at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa. The 2023 Annual Meeting will be held from Nov. 12-15, 2023. For more information about registration or to take advantage of sponsorship opportunities, please contact Assistant Vice President, Membership Kim Stuart at kstuart@wga.com.

    About Western Growers:

    Founded in 1926, Western Growers represents local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Western Growers’ members and their workers provide over half the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, including half of America’s fresh organic produce. Connect and learn more about Western Growers on Twitter and Facebook.

  • LGMA Partners with Western Growers to Offer Remote Food Safety Audits During Pandemic

    Mandatory government food safety audits of leafy greens farms under the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement are continuing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Announced today by Western Growers (WG) and the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (CA LGMA), is the availability of a new process developed through a collaboration with iFoodDecisionSciences (iFoodDS), that streamlines all verification documents and data for online review by government auditors.

    This process will allow the execution of remote audits and has been reviewed and accepted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which has oversight of the LGMA programs and auditors. While in-person inspections may be temporarily limited to protect farm workers, farm office employees and government auditors, much of the LGMA audits are focused on reviewing verification documentation which can be presented in various forms, including large amounts of paperwork. 

    “As an industry leader in produce safety, Western Growers remains committed to leading produce safety initiatives and solutions,” said Sonia Salas, WG assistant vice president of food safety, science & technology. “In a time where COVID-19 is testing all industries, this new auditing process will support food safety oversight during this pandemic.”

    The system was developed over the past few weeks, has been tested and is now available to certified members of the LGMA who are audited an average of five times over the year.

    “We were able to use this new process in a real audit situation and it worked extremely well from start to finish,” said Sharan Lanini, Director of Food Safety for Pacific International Marketing and chair of the LGMA’s Technical Committee. “This is a great development in the government audit process.”

    “The streamlining of data and verification documents online is a really positive outcome of our ‘new normal,’” said Diane Wetherington, Executive Chair of the iFoodDS board. “The use of iFoodDS software will not only save the auditors time, but it will allow them to more efficiently assess compliance with LGMA food safety metrics through the use of a consistent online verification system.”

    “When the LGMA began in 2007, it was the first program of its kind in the nation. As we navigate through these unprecedented circumstances, the LGMA program continues to find innovative ways to move forward and achieve its objective of advancing food safety for leafy greens products,” said Scott Horsfall, Chief Executive Officer of the California LGMA. “This new auditing system is another example of the pioneering spirit of the LGMA and its commitment to find new and better ways to enhance the safety of leafy greens.”

    WG has worked with the AZ and CA LGMAs since their inception in 2007 and is currently the facilitator of proposed changes to the LGMA food safety guidelines. WG continues to explore and support new ways to enhance food safety efforts, particularly in these challenging times. 

    About California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement:

    The California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA) was formed to protect public health by reducing potential sources of contamination in California-grown leafy greens. LGMA membership requires verification of compliance with the accepted food safety practices through mandatory government audits.

    About iFoodDecisionSciences:

    iFoodDecisionSciences is a leading provider of food safety and process control data management software solutions for growers, shippers, packers, processors and distributors. iFoodDecisionSciences’ client-centered SaaS offerings provide easily accessible database and underlying analytics for regulatory compliance and process improvements. iFoodDecisionSciences is privately held.

    About Western Growers:
    Founded in 1926, Western Growers (WG) represents local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico. WG members and their workers provide half the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, including half of America’s fresh organic produce. For generations WG members have provided variety and healthy choices to consumers. Connect with and learn more about Western Growers on the association’s Twitter and Facebook.

  • The Recent Romaine Recall and the LGMA

    Although the Center for Disease Control announced on January 9, 2019 that the recent e-coli outbreak is over, there is another part of the story that doesn’t seem to be getting allot of traction. During the investigation the FDA made the comment that based on the spread of the traceback it’s highly unlikely that it originated from a single farm. I don’t have any first-hand knowledge that hasn’t already been publicly disclosed, but I do understand how the produce supply chain works. A single source could be a possible scenario when you think through how one farm can go to multiple processors and terminal markets. There are two troubling allegations floating around about this outbreak that need put to rest.

    First, that the only grower/shipper implicated so far was not a member of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA). The LGMA recently sent out a statement confirming that is accurate so that’s not up for further debate. Since it was formed in 2006 the backbone of the LGMA has been that members voluntarily subject themselves to minimum food safety standards verified through unannounced inspections conducted by California Department of Public Health (CDPH) inspectors. The LGMA was never intended to stop all recalls but that through a HACCP type approach to continuously reduce risk starting at the field. Since the marketing agreement was voluntary the failsafe were the commitments made by some of the largest retailers and food service distributors at the time that their buy side would support LGMA members for West Coast sourced leafy greens.

    Being a member of the LGMA is not cheap. One recent study suggested that the incremental cost per acre since 2006 to abide by all of the minimum food safety standards and inspections that come with LGMA is close to $180 per acre. A non-LGMA farm can have the most stringent standards in the industry on paper. However, without incurring the incremental costs associated with maintaining “trust but verify” standards, supported by unannounced site audits they would have a substantial cost advantage over LGMA members.

    The second issue is how a non-LGMA member can get their leafy greens into the retail and food service channels. Just prior to the outbreak the romaine supply was extremely tight in many areas which was reflected in the USDA Mostly Market reports for romaine. Maybe it’s just coincidence, or maybe there is a hole in the process that the buy side needs to step up and address, especially when the industry is short. This is the second recall situation I am aware of in the past three years where the trace back implicated a California shipper/handler that was not an LGMA member.

    I’m not suggesting that somehow LGMA members have a safer product than anyone else. I am suggesting that we owe it to ourselves as an industry and to consumers to ensure that everyone is at least working from the same floor. How high someone wants to go above that floor is an individual business decision. The LGMA may not be the perfect solution to maintaining minimum standards on an industry wide basis, but right now it’s the only solution.

    If the buy side isn’t going to step up and support LGMA for leafy greens sourced from the West Coast, especially when supplies are tight, then maybe it’s time to rethink it. When everyone is allowed to revert back to their own standards, then we really have no standards which is where we were in 2006.