Pundit’s Mailbag —
More Questions About Leafy Greens Board
Jim Prevor’s Perishable Pundit, February 21, 2007
Our article, Marketing Make-up Causes Concern, brought a diverse response. The piece followed up on our article, California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement Board, which detailed the appointees to the board:
SALINAS-WATSONVILLE-SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
KERN COUNTY DISTRICT
John D’Arrigo — D’Arrigo Brothers
Eric Schwartz — Dole Food Company
Jamie Strachan — Growers Express
Dave Eldredge — NewStar Fresh Foods
Tom Nunes — Nunes Company
Joe Pezzini — Ocean Mist Farms
Alec Leach — Taylor Farms
OXNARD-SANTA MARIA DISTRICT
Mitch Ardantz — Bonita Packing Company
Chris Deardorff — Deardorff Family Farms
Ryan Talley — Talley Farms
BLYTHE-IMPERIAL VALLEY DISTRICT
Joe Colace — Five Crowns Marketing
Eric Wexler — Tanimura and Antle
Jack Vessey — Vessey and Company
10 alternates have been named, as well. They are:
SALINAS-WATSONVILLE-SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
KERN COUNTY DISTRICT
Bardin Bengard — Bengard Ranches
Steve Church — Church Bros.
Phil Adrian — Coastline
Charles Sweat — Earthbound Farms
Andrew Cummings — Metz Fresh
Tom Russell — Pacific International Marketing
Ron Ratto — Ratto Brothers
OXNARD-SANTA MARIA DISTRICT
George Boskovich — Boskovich Farms
Victor Tognazzini — Gold Coast Farms, Inc.
Glenn Teixeira — Teixeira Farms
We passed on a concern that the individuals were mostly management, marketing and financial people, rather than growers.
Now we have heard from a number of growers all expressing concerns that the composition of the board is too heavily skewed toward processors. Here is an example:
Eric is absolutely correct. True growers often have neither the inclination nor the time to serve on these types of boards. We actually ran a piece, The Nominations Are In, which detailed who submitted their name for the board as of that time. The following people submitted names but were not appointed either to the board or as alternates:
SALINAS
Mike Costa — Costa Farms
John Tamagni — Tamagni Farms
Nikolas Montori — Salyer American
SAN JOAQUIN
Gerald Davis — Grimmway
Don DeVine — Double D Farms
OXNARD
Jaime Monteil — Ventura Veg
SANTA MARIA
John Jackson — Beachside Produce
Craig Reade — Betteravia Farms
John Schaefer — Gold Coast Packing
EL CENTRO/BLYTHE
Larry Cox — Larry Cox Farms
Ralph Strahm — Strahm Farming Company
Bart Fisher — Fisher Ranches
PUBLIC MEMBER
Ed McGrew
In addition, two names not on the original list have been nominated as alternates for the board:
Charles Sweat — Earthbound Farms
George Boskovich — Boskovich Farms
We don’t know every single person on all these lists, but one name that jumps out at us is Mike Costa of Costa Farms. He is a real grower who grows over 5,000 acres of leafy greens for Nunes, Mann Packing and many others. A perspective such as his probably would be useful on a board such as this.
Here at the Pundit, our basic concern about the board is from a public relations perspective. We would have liked the board to have independent food safety experts on it who could add credibility to the industry effort. We also would have liked to see some women, particularly mothers, such as Margaret D’Arrigo Martin or Lorri Koster on the board.
We’re not big believers in the idea that there are male and female opinions on the migration rate of E. coli 0157:H7, but we do know that if this board ever has to defend its work, it would behoove us to have a board member that the mothers of America will identify with.