WAPA Hosts Assemblyman Josh Hoover

This week, the Western Agricultural Processors Association hosted Assemblyman Josh Hoover (7th Assemlby District) at ShoEi Foods in Olivehurst.  The site visit was part of a larger tour that included visits to Grow West, and ag products and service retailer in Yuba City, and a rice farm, Van Dyke Farms in Wheatland.   While visiting the walnut processing operation Operations Manager Dwight Davis and Plant Manager Richard Alcantar explained the walnut processing operation while also discussing challenges with electric infrastructure, and other regulatory issues.  Participating in the site visit was Association President/CEO Roger Isom, Assistant Vice President Priscilla Rodriguez, and Director of Technical Services Christopher McGlothlin.  Partnering organizations included the California Rice Commission and the Western Plant Health Association. 

Josh Hoover 1 Josh Hoover 2

Association President/CEO Isom Addresses UC Merced Air Quality Conference

Presenting this past week at the Air Quality and Health Conference, sponsored by the Health Sciences Research Institute and the Department of Public Health at the University of California Merced, Association President/CEO Roger Isom stated “We all need to work together to help support programs like FARMER to keep financial incentives coming to the Valley”.  The two-day conference was held at UC Merced on October 17 and 18, 2024, and according to the Institute was intended to bring together the many people working on air quality across the San Joaquin Valley and California to share current research, discuss new research directions, and discuss what policies, actions, and education are needed to improve air quality and public health.  Attendees included community members and organizations, university and government scientists, policymakers and regulators, and senior leadership from local and state health and environmental agencies.  As expected, environmental justice advocates took the opportunity to attack and criticize the ag industry and lamented that agriculture should be “forced to accept a mandatory replacement tractor rule,” as voiced by one activist.  Isom responded “agriculture is different from other industries in the fact we have no way to pass along the cost due to the world marketplace.  Buyers will simply buy from another country that can supply the product at a cheaper price”.  To which the crowd stated, “we want to see your profits!”  Also maligned was the Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) by activists demanding more action against pesticide applications.  Activists criticized CDPR for not having enough air monitoring stations, misstating facts and poisoning farmworkers.  For a conference designed to bring people together it only served to further the divide.

WAPA Talks Food Safety to APG LeadOn Leadership Program

Association President/CEO Roger A. Isom and Assistant Vice President Priscilla Rodriguez spoke to the American Pistachio Growers LeadOn Leadership Group this week.  Isom and Rodriguez provided a tag team presentation on Food Safety including an overview of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and the specific rules that impact the tree nut industry including the Produce Safety Rule, the Preventive Controls Rules for Human Food and Animal Food, Sanitary Transportation, and Intentional Adulteration.  The APG LeadOn Leadership Program is designed to educate and motivate diverse industry members into becoming future leaders of the U.S. pistachio industry and American Pistachio Growers.  It is a year-long program designed to provide a unique experience, consisting of leadership training and industry education seminars led by APG and industry leaders, hands-on educational opportunities that build upon the knowledge base provided by seminar presenters, field experience and a firsthand view of how the Committees/Board work, in order to prepare participants for Committee/Board selection.

APG LeadOn

Association Hosts Assemblywoman Lori Wilson at Walnut Huller and Pistachio Processor

This week, Assemblywoman Lori Wilson (11th Assembly District) visited Summerfield Farms Walnut Huller in Hanford, and Horizon Nut’s pistachio processor in Tulare. At the walnut huller, owner David Stanfield walked Ms. Wilson through the entire process discussing how the plant operates and some of the regulatory challenges they face.    While touring the pistachio processor WAPA 1st Vice Chair Kirk Squire and Raw Production Manager Eloy Viveros toured Ms. Wilson through all of the various processing operations while highlighting challenges in labor, energy and air quality affecting their operation.  The tour was part of a day long tour which also included visits to an agave and pistachio farm, and a cotton gin.   Accompanying the Assemblywoman on the tour was Association President/CEO Roger A. Isom and Director of Technical Services Christopher McGlothlin

WAPA Wilson Tour 1   WAPA Wilson Tour 2

WAPA Board Member Nominations Open

It’s time for Director Elections for the WAPA Board of Directors.  First up are nominations of those who are interested in serving on the Board of Directors.  Nomination Forms including Candidate Statement Forms are being mailed out this week and are due Wednesday, November 27th, 2023.  There are 5 sitting directors’ terms expiring this year.  Current directors whose regular 3-year terms are expiring this year are: Don Barton, Mark Kazarian, Michael Kelley, Kim Keyawa-Musselman, and Jonathan Hoff.  There are currently these five (5) positions up for election out of a total of sixteen (16) board positions.  These Director positions are important, and the Association is seeking only those candidates truly committed to serving the Association.  Please take time to nominate and make sure that the candidate or candidates of your choice agree to their nomination by filing the Candidate’s Statement Form required to get on the ballot for the upcoming election.  Thanks for your cooperation and participation in the process.

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Governor Signs Ag Overtime Bill

Ignoring the pleas of real farmworkers and the agricultural industry, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed AB 1066, the ag overtime legislation. This means that California will have the most stringent trigger of any state in the country for overtime for farmworkers, with 45 states having no overtime protection at all. The Governor signed this bill, supposedly to bring “equality to all workers”, yet taxi cab drivers, commercial fishermen, car salesmen, student nurses, computer programmers, and carnival workers all work without any overtime provisions whatsoever. The Governor signed this ag overtime bill in the same year that minimum wage legislation was also passed that will take California to the highest minimum wage as well as legislation forcing California to adopt additional greenhouse gas regulations for businesses in California. California is the only state in the country subject to such regulations. Today’s signing occurred despite numerous requests by the agricultural industry to meet with the Governor to discuss our concerns. The message is clear. California simply doesn’t care. These provisions will be phased in over the next few years ending with the overtime provisions to be triggered at 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week.

In the Beginning As folks transitioned out of cotton and into tree nuts, the industry recognized the need to have active and effective representation at the local, state and national levels. Having enjoyed such effective representation over the years from the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations, these folks yearned for the same representation in the tree nut processing industry. Issues such as air quality, food safety, labor, taxes, employee safety, and environmental concerns are at the forefront, and there is a significant need for an aggressive and dynamic Association to lead the industry into the next decade and beyond. In recognition of this, the Western Agricultural Processors Association was created in 2009. The Western Agricultural Processors Association (WAPA) shares staff and office space with the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations taking advantage of a unique and opportunistic situation. WAPA is a voluntary dues organization with four shared staff and one dedicated staff person. Regulatory, legislative and legal issues fall under the purview of this new organization for the tree nut processing industry, which includes almonds, pecans, pistachios and walnuts. From air quality permits to conditional use permits, from regulatory hearings on greenhouse gases to federal legislation on food safety, and from OSHA violations to assisting members on hazardous materials business plans, no issue is too small or too large for WAPA. WAPA has assembled one of the best and most capable staffs in the industry, and the results are already starting to show Membership The Western Agricultural Processors Association represents facilities involved in the processing of almonds, pecans, pistachios and walnuts.Membership in the Association is classified as Regular memberships are limited to almond hullers or processors, pecan and pistachio processors, and walnut dehydrators and processors. Associate memberships are limited to any individual or business entity which is not engaged in agricultural processing, but which provides products or services directly related to the agricultural processing industry. WAPA Associate members include, but are not limited to, commodity brokers, accounting firms, and insurance brokers. Organization The Western Agricultural Processors Association is governed by a Board of Directors, elected by its membership.The Board consists of up to 15 members from throughout the state, and throughout the industry.The Board meets on a quarterly basis and conducts an Annual Meeting in the spring of each year.WAPA, in conjunction with the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations, conducts a special training school for its members focused on safety.In combination with the school, the Association holds a Labor Management Seminar for all of the managers. Consulting Services In researching and considering the concept of forming a new organization, the Boards of Directors for the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations instructed staff to perform some of the work on a consulting basis first. The point was to determine the workload from consulting and to determine if there was sufficient interest. In November of 2007, the Association began conducting services under consulting contracts for such services as air quality permits and safety plans.The effort has been so successful that demand has progressed outside the tree nut industry into other agricultural processing facilities, including vegetable dehydration facilities, tomato processing facilities, and wheat mills, as well as cotton gins in Arizona.It was determined by the new Board of Directors of WAPA, that WAPA would maintain the consulting services to provide offsetting income to help with the expenses of getting the new organization up and running.Today, WAPA provides for a long list of satisfied clients in the agricultural processing industry, by providing critical services such as air quality, safety, food safety, and environmental issues (Hazardous Materials Business Plan, Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plans, etc.).