In this episode, I sit down with Chris Valadez, President of the Grower Shippers Association, to explore the challenges and strategies shaping the agriculture industry. We dive into how aligning our strengths with our core values can make a big difference, the importance of telling stories that actually connect with people, and the vital role agriculture plays in our everyday lives. Chris offers valuable insights into how the industry can better connect with the public by sharing stories that resonate with their concerns. He notably emphasizes that effective communication in the agriculture industry requires not just telling the story but understanding which aspects will resonate with the public, aligning responses with their concerns, and fostering connections by addressing criticisms thoughtfully rather than defensively. We also reflect on the challenges the agriculture industry faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris discusses the chaotic response to COVID, particularly in agriculture, highlighting the immense pressure on the industry to continue food production while managing health risks, and I share how even with good intentions to lower costs and offer free services, we felt the financial impact. Despite these challenges, Chris’ leadership within the agriculture industry served as an example of the value of human connection. Together, Chris and I delve into the resilience of the industry during the pandemic, the importance of human connection in our work, and explore recent food safety initiatives that are paving the way for the future of agriculture. Join us for this insightful conversation on leadership, communication, and the evolving landscape of food production.
In this episode, I sit down with Chris Valadez, President of the Grower Shippers Association, to explore the challenges and strategies shaping the agriculture industry. We dive into how aligning our strengths with our core values can make a big difference, the importance of telling stories that actually connect with people, and the vital role agriculture plays in our everyday lives. Chris offers valuable insights into how the industry can better connect with the public by sharing stories that resonate with their concerns. He notably emphasizes that effective communication in the agriculture industry requires not just telling the story but understanding which aspects will resonate with the public, aligning responses with their concerns, and fostering connections by addressing criticisms thoughtfully rather than defensively.
We also reflect on the challenges the agriculture industry faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris discusses the chaotic response to COVID, particularly in agriculture, highlighting the immense pressure on the industry to continue food production while managing health risks, and I share how even with good intentions to lower costs and offer free services, we felt the financial impact. Despite these challenges, Chris’ leadership within the agriculture industry served as an example of the value of human connection.
Together, Chris and I delve into the resilience of the industry during the pandemic, the importance of human connection in our work, and explore recent food safety initiatives that are paving the way for the future of agriculture. Join us for this insightful conversation on leadership, communication, and the evolving landscape of food production.
Chris Valadez - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-valadez-2b85a9234
Grower-Shipper Association - https://www.growershipper.com/
This episode is sponsored by UnitedAg, one of the largest association health plans to offer healthcare to the agriculture industry of California and Arizona.
Kirti Mutatkar, President and CEO of UnitedAg.
Reach me at kmutatkar@unitedag.org, www.linkedin.com/in/kirtimutatkar
UnitedAg website - www.unitedag.org
Episode Contributors - Chris Valadez, Kirti Mutatkar, Dave Visaya, Rhianna Macias
The episode is also sponsored by Brent Eastman Insurance Services Inc. - https://brenteastman.com
Blue Shield of California - https://www.blueshieldca.com
Elite Medical - https://www.elitecorpmed.com
Gallagher - https://www.ajg.com/
SAIN Medical https://sainmedical.com/
MDI Network - https://www.mdinetworx.com/about-us
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:00:05] Okay. So Chris, this is really exciting. We've been wanting to have this conversation for a long time. And finally it's happening today.
Chris Valadez: [00:00:12] Awesome. Now I'm looking forward to it.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:00:14] So Chris, you are the president of Grower Shippers Association. As leaders in agriculture, and what we do, what I'm really interested in is what makes us who we are. Why are we interested in what we do? So what's your story?
Chris Valadez: [00:00:29] Great. Deep question. I think for me, and kind of where my path appeared to have intersected with both the interest and maybe the need from the Grower Shipper Association was really an opportunity to address challenges in a way where, you know, as an organization and myself as an individual, you're really looking first internally to, you know, what? What are your capabilities? What are your strengths? Also, what are your weaknesses, right. What are your deficiencies and how are you able whether myself as a, you know, a manager and executive of this association and myself, just as a personal philosophy in leadership, how do you, you know, utilize to the greatest extent possible, anything and everything within your wheelhouse to try to create a solution or make progress in addressing a challenge or creating an opportunity right that ultimately leads in progress, whatever your task or goal is? And throughout my career, and I think fortunately, my career more acutely here, that overlays with the Grower-shipper Association tenure. I was fortunate, quite honestly, in being able to identify and be accepted by leaders within the produce industry, within this Central Coast segment of the produce sector that I think were more than open to trying kind of this, I think, introspective look into, you know, what it is about. You know who we are, how we're positioned again, what's our leverage? What are our principles, and how are we going to utilize, first and foremost, our strengths and our ability to critique and assess what it is that we can do about addressing a problem as it relates to, again, our wheelhouse, you know, to what extent can we do something to make progress and where we're deficient and where we still decide that, you know, we have enough interest, we may or may not have enough resources, but we definitely think we can develop the critical mass, whether it's resources, interests or other energy, to make progress, you know, is now the right time to do it? Do we have the right people that have come together not only through myself as staff and my staff, but really those that help lead this organization first and foremost through its board of directors, that kind of just have come onto the same page, I think, at the right moment in time.
Chris Valadez: [00:02:53] And I think that's kind of what we're currently working with and through right now is really writing through this moment in time, in an era where, you know, the challenges are ever present. They don't go, they don't go away. You try not to make any right. You try to respond, you try to be proactive. But at the end of the day, we think it's understanding yourself well enough to know how are you able to best position your strengths while overcoming your weaknesses to make progress for the greater good, whatever that is, as aligned to your mission? And here at Grower-shipper, you know, our mission is, you know, we do our best to advance solutions or make progress. That first and foremost benefit impacts the families in this region.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:03:40] I like the way what you said, right? First, understanding ourselves and then finding is our value system aligned to what we're trying to do in finding the solutions? Right. And seems like that's your personal leadership style, and you've applied that very well to what you do. So understanding who we are as an agricultural industry. Who do you think if a non ag person is listening to this and wants to learn about agriculture or understand ag and who we are, who do we think in your perspective, who are we?
Chris Valadez: [00:04:16] You know, at the end of the day, we're you know, we are a major cog in this collective human will that ensures, at the end of the day, the survivability and the sustainability of of our species and our communities. And, you know, we can get more granular than that or more broad than that, but we produce food, right? And what's amazing is, you know, we're in a segment of this production kind of effort globally that produces, you know, amongst the most, you know, nutritious food that planet Earth enables us to produce. And we're talking about food that at its basic level, this is fresh produce by and large that I'm talking about, that that is amongst the most healthy food on planet Earth that we're able to produce. And so the ability to connect on lots of different things, whether you can make that connection to just how important food is and not just overlook it as something that you put in your mouth and you move, that's a source of energy. Yeah, that's true, but we're looking at the quality of the source of energy. You know, we're looking at the types of foods. We're looking at the types of the people, the demographics, the background, the diversity of who's producing this food. You're looking at the multiple locations from where the food is produced. I think there is something within the realm of agriculture that fits some connection point with everybody. It's just probably our job, myself, as you know, a person within the industry, but others collectively to continue to improve upon how we're trying to make that connection to people within our community and beyond. But the connections exist.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:05:57] That is very well said. And so we in agriculture, we sustain you sustain human life, right? When you start connecting those dots, and especially for people today looking for those connections, the people in agriculture, what's happening within agriculture and how the food is produced, right. All that is truly aligned to who we are as human beings. We are all part of this whole connection.
Chris Valadez: [00:06:25] We are. I also think, you know, once upon a time, right when when most of us were more directly connected to food production because of the then dominance of an agrarian society. And that's not reality in 2024, we're a different society today as services economy. We're so far removed in some ways, directly speaking from at least being conscious about our connection to the production of food and agriculture in general. You think, okay, yes. As a society, you know, the few now are responsible and bear this this heavy cost and this heavy responsibility for being the producers of food in a way that enables us to sustain and thrive and not be on the farm, so to speak, and not be so mindful in a way, even though we would take that for granted of all the intricacies and the efforts and the challenges and the sheer difficulty and joy, but difficulty that goes into the production of of wholesome, nutritious food, like, that's also a gift, right? And I think, though, if you take that further, not just connecting on a person level, but if you think of the trade off, right, and there's a trade off to that, and some of those trade offs in the policy arena may be, well, a disconnection, a lack of understanding, standing, you know, maybe a narrowing of focus onto, you know, what are the impacts as a result of the activity that goes into this kind of production continuum, A to Z and less so about okay, we have to also understand we're truly, truly fortunate by the fact that we have a limited set of actors and families and others that continue to choose to invest in farming operations.
Chris Valadez: [00:08:13] Right? As a business, we haven't yet achieved, I think our zenith or our peak at being able to capitalize on how do you use the fact that the benefit created by the few for, you know, the enjoyment really of the many? How do you capitalize on that? Right, because there is something that you need to capitalize on when you're thinking of whether it's a connection to the general public or you're trying to use that information and you know the basis behind that as fact in the policy, the various policy communities.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:08:48] I'm excited that I'm part of this industry. And to have leaders like you in the industry who kind of connect all those dots and see how the alignment really works. So as you're looking through this, what do you think are some of the weaknesses that we have within us?
Chris Valadez: [00:09:05] That's a great question. I think communication is a two way street, right? So let's break it down to maybe its first principles or basic concepts. Communication is a two way street, I don't know, over the years and I'm being honest, I really don't know. Which means that's a problem. How committed have we been as an industry capital-i not just, you know, worship or association in this one region, but just industry at large within the United States at figuring out, you know, how can we effectively communicate, you know, what it is we're doing and how it is that we can do a better job maybe connecting to the community in that what we do, how that benefits you. So I'll give you an example, right. You know, a few years ago we ran a poll within our region of, you know, the general citizenry. And I think we picked it, picked up parts of the Bay area just based on where we're located. And as I recall, again, it's a few years ago, you know, we were looking again, trying to just ask people like, hey, like, not just what you think of us, like, what are your top issues, right? Like, you know, housing and homelessness. Homelessness and cost of living. And then you try to interweave into this question set through a polling exercise, thoughts about agriculture and food production. And and you find right. There's, you know, a lot of sensitivity. Right. There's a lot of intensity around responses of top issues of the day doesn't always include, you know, where your food is produced and how your food is produced and who's your food is produced. But there's also a connection to understanding that the production of food is really, really valuable, you know? So I feel, you know, there's a deficiency on our side where commonly I have heard from well-intended perspectives like, oh, you just need to tell your story, just need to tell your story.
Chris Valadez: [00:10:48] Ag needs to tell its story. And I yeah, I think there's truth to that. But what story are you going to tell? How are you going to tell it, and how are you going to tell it in a way that connects to people, kind of meet people where they're at on topics or issues, or what your relationship to topics or issues that they care about. So oftentimes I think the response from agriculture as it relates to how do you how do you help people become more interested? How do you help the general public become more interested? It's it's well, tell your story. Ag needs to do a better job telling its story. I agree with that. Right. But I think it's also as important before you decide to tell your story, to identify what about your story? Do you think it's most likely to capture the attention and interest and maybe be most relational to the interest of the general public. And what's your connection to that? Right. And I think and I think that's harder to do. I really is maybe there's some simple answers out there, but I don't think it's as easy as just kind of regurgitating facts about agriculture. And I think for us there's just, you know, the sky's the limit on being able to do a lot more of that and do it in a way where you're connecting to people in a way that matters and is attention generating.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:12:05] That is so true. And as I was thinking about this, even listening, right. So when you see people say things about the industry when it comes to labor or pesticide usage or whatever they say, right, you put on put on a defensive. So your answers are coming in from a defensive state of mind rather than understanding why somebody is asking those questions. So you're saying first understand and then you can align right the whole like the way you started this conversation. Understand first where the other person is also coming from. What is making that person ask these questions or make these accusations and then align them to what the way we do it. So once you feel that connection, it's going to be very different.
Chris Valadez: [00:12:55] Yes. And you can't please everybody. You just can't like people have different opinions. And I think that's okay. Some opinions, some comments, some perspectives that may cause defensiveness on the part of the responders, you know, side in that responders agriculture in this case, like they may be an agitator. Right. Like their goal may have been, hey, we're employing the use of resources provided to us based on a perspective that's just fundamentally not going to be aligned with where you're standing and what your perspective is. Right? I can I can give you an example. It might be, you know, it might be something on the human condition or worker wages. And it could be, for example, hey, you know, it's really expensive to live in this environment. It's your problem, employer, because, you know, you've chosen to not pay a wage at a certain level that would enable somebody in their perspective, again, to live more comfortably. And that's the perspective they're coming from. And there may be a response that says, well, hey, look, as a business operating in a capitalistic society, like there's no argument against not being open to paying, you know, a higher wage that might enable somebody to live more comfortably again, subjectively, according to one's determination of what that is. Right. That's arguable. But hey, look, we're also like we operate within market reality. And market reality dictates that for my energy and effort and my inputs and the costs thereof, this is what I need at a minimum as a return in order to continue doing what I'm doing, which is continuing to remain in production, which also provides an economic basis for others to enjoy the fruits of the economic labor and in form of income, as an example, which establishes a wage again according to market realities.
Chris Valadez: [00:14:47] And so, you know, you can hypothetically say, right, and it's a silly argument, but you can hypothetically say, well, if an all in cost to produce an agricultural good or a carton of an agricultural good is $15, I'm making it this up from a hypothetical argument. And, you know, someone could ride the wave of $100 market per carton, which doesn't happen. But let's say that did then. Yeah, there is an argument that support that others in the marketplace might adjust their wages upward because they want to be more competitive. They may want to capitalize on that higher market by producing more units at that $100 per price. And so labor is shifting. Therefore others have to adjust and wages go up to chase what the market is dictating. So it's not as if, hey, I'm just Joe Employer and I'm arbitrarily choosing to to set something one because it's affordability, but two because I'm being punitive and, you know, a quote unquote subjective sense. But you can stand on your principle because you can back it up with sound rationale. And I think some people lose sight of that as well. They get scared, right? They get scared. They're like, oh, someone's not going to like me or I'm not. I'm going to look bad. And that's not always the case.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:15:59] Right. And if you think about this, Chris, even from a health insurance standpoint. Right. So since we provide health insurance to the ag industry, even in the health insurance, when we're doing renewals and setting prices. So we are right now super transparent. So as an employer, if you want to, I can show you where your claims cost come in, where United X margins should be. Right. It's even if like they're telling hey Chris, this is what I need to sustain the business United AG, so it's sustainable and keeps giving the health care that we provide. And this is where the renewal lands. So this is where the pricing lands and people some people get it, some people don't. I mean it's like saying, okay, you need to work off of zero margins and just give it back. That's not sustainable, because then that's going to be the whole concept of feeding and sustaining the human life will go away, because then we will cease to exist in a way. Because how how do you make it work, right? It's like you can connect it back to any industry or anything that you we talk about.
Chris Valadez: [00:17:04] That's an interesting example because I would also ask, okay, let's say if if one was able to operate at like break even or zero okay. So what's the trade off. Right. You'd have to look at okay. For those expenditures that United AG would be unable to control. And they only grow at some point that zero is going to have to break. And so I'm not saying this is the United States, but if you're looking at, you know, a year over year, 5% increase and I'm not pro or against that, you know, that might be one thing, but it could also be different from saying, as the customer, I'm adjusting to what would be less than a double digit increase versus a trade off, where operating at zero might only work insofar as you would determine year eight. You might have to jump up to 25%. I'm not saying that's right, but you know what I mean. Then it's like, hey, as a business, yep. I've become accustomed to rates and certain adjustments within this like percentage range of what I felt was affordable. And now you're hitting me with this. Yep. Gross double digit increase that it's hard for me to plan for. Like, yeah, that's not sustainable either.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:18:16] That is not sustainable. One of the challenges that I've taken on, which is, I think, a hard challenge to take on at United AG, is I call it as a three legged stool problem. So one aspect of it is from an united act to make it financially sustainable. Right? That's one leg of the stool. The second is from an employer standpoint, how do you even out these renewals and the pricing. Because what you just said, right. You can be five and then 20 and then two and whatever. And the third leg is how do you provide the employees with the care that they deserve? If you and I were the users of health care, how would you like to be treated? Right. So there's a cost associated with that, right? If you if you want your member services to be on talk to somebody in Salinas for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever that looks like, right. If somebody is diagnosed with cancer, you want that somebody to hold their hand and walk them through it. All of that takes time and resources, and it's like even looking at it from a cost standpoint that impacts the cost, right? You can provide the basic stuff and provide whatever at a less cost. Is that really the energy like you were talking about earlier? Is that the energy you want to bring in? Right. I mean, even from looking at the California grown produce versus somewhere else where some, some things might be cheaper than the California ground. But what is that? I mean, that's a that's a quality of food and all the stuff that you talk about. The same with what we do at United AG.
Chris Valadez: [00:19:45] So again, you're in the business of providing invaluable services to the agricultural community. And you are ag you are a part of AG, but I don't envy you. I can only imagine. Right. The pressures put upon, you know, companies such as United AG to be able to figure out how do you address how do you absorb. Yeah. What are the trade offs? Right. How do you make the decisions about, you know, to what extent you're able to offer competitive and quote unquote affordable plans, right, to your businesses and thus to their employees in a way that makes sense within this system. And I feel like that's where, you know, again, as a business consumer. Yeah. That's hard. Like that's insanely hard.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:20:32] And during Covid. So this is what happened to us, right. Covid hit and we did not know what that was all about right. So mental health went up. We decided to offer mental health free of cost to everyone and did not know what's happening out there in the world, right? So we said, let's give back. Let's give back. Let's make sure the renewals are very affordable. Let's make sure the pricing is affordable because our ag industry is suffering right now. Let's give back. And then two years after that, we saw that hit the financials of United AG. And suddenly we saw impact come in because we were giving and saying, okay, let's support, let's support, let's support. And you impact the financials. And now we are back up to a very strong financial position. But it's the balance. And then you see the floods happening in Salinas, and a renewal comes up and you see the name and you know that this person has been impacted. And deep down, you're concerned about them because you're connected to them as members. So you're balancing that every day. I feel like my job is every day, day in, day out doing that, but that's what. But it all goes back to what you said, Chris, which was very I loved it. It was beautiful. It's all about us as human beings, right? In the end, and what we do and what we support and who we are. I think that's the reason I chose to do what I do. And I know you choose to do this, and especially I was so proud of you as one of the leaders in the ag industry during Covid. It was really looking at it from where I was at United AG, and to see what you were doing in the community and how you're supporting the industry, I was I felt it was jolly warm to feel that we have leaders like you in agriculture. And any lessons learned from that? Any stories? Because I know you have quite a few.
Chris Valadez: [00:22:25] There's. Yeah, there's there's a lot, you know, first and foremost. Right. You know, all the efforts through the grower-shipper during, you know, the, the chaos that was, you know, this more intense Covid 19 period. It's a reflection of of the companies we serve. Right. We were, you know, fortunate, I think, to be in the position to come up with some ideas and initiatives in a way to execute on services that ultimately they were willing to support their team members, their member employees, through, you know, where member employees had interest in more information and or access to service. So at the end of the day, you know, we're only as successful. We're only as creative or effective as, you know, our member employees, you know, actually are they do the hard work. So happy to serve them. But in terms of lessons, that's just I use the word chaos and there's craziness because it was such a such an insane moment in time. When I reflect onto your coming through 2020, now you're moving into 2021, right? And then I'm getting to that vaccine store. But throughout 2020 pre vaccine, you know and you're looking at isolation. You're looking at you know distancing. You're looking at all these supposed mitigations of the day. And you're looking at the intense pressure. That's why I think people in AG understands it. I don't know if people really outside of AG truly understand, may never appreciate, but can at least acknowledge just how hard it was for those in production, agriculture, particularly highly labor intensive production, agriculture, what they had to work through in order to continue doing what they do, which is like producing food for human sustenance at the end of the day.
Chris Valadez: [00:24:16] And I happen to be in a region where you look at 20th March, the onset of the, you know, the government orders, the shutdown orders, you know, that occurred really at the moment in time that this production region kind of starts to get going. And so it was supremely disruptive to this industry on the front end because it's like, okay, well what's going on? Right. We're now designated essential. There's confusion about, you know, can I go to work. Can I not? You know, what does this disease mean? You know, how lethal is it? You know what what what should I do? What should I do? What are the risk factors? And, oh, by the way, to me, what didn't help is. And again, it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. Yeah. Yeah. But what didn't help is, oh, we're going to come out and we're going to try to identify for community benefit and public benefit like infection rates, and then go one step further and isolate theoretically infection rates by occupation like one.
Chris Valadez: [00:25:22] The data is garbage. You don't have nearly enough data to have representative samples to be able to do that effectively. That's just fact, because one not everyone was getting you didn't even have testing, you know, on the street in a robust way at that moment. So that happened and that happened in this community. And it did so in a way where, you know, when I onboarded here, you know, one of the lessons folks would share with me is, oh, Lettuce Curtain. You know, there's a lettuce curtain. There's such thing. I'm like, ah, I don't know what that means. Right. Thank you for the story. I believe it, but but, you know, I felt it and I seen it and and it was my job to kind of stand up to it and call BS, honestly, call BS on just the the intensity of the accusations from others within this community or community adjacent within this state that, hey, you're doing something wrong in the industry. You're at fault. You're the reason why. And it was like, are we insane? Like, this was a global pandemic that does not discriminate by industry, let alone anyone's demographics. Yet we feel like we need to have something or someone to be the fall guy, or the butt of the joke, or the pin cushion, the thing to blame.
Chris Valadez: [00:26:35] And we're gonna at a convenience because it's big and big here, proportionally speaking, we're going to focus on agriculture. And so like that started to fuel whether we realized it or not, this fire of, okay, we're going to reject that based on what we felt was fact and strong rationale, based on the known and reasonableness about the unknown. Again, going back 2020, you know, years away now, right? Like a world away. Yeah, yeah. But when 2021, we evolved into 2021 and vaccines came onto the scene. And again, we had this tiering system and pre-existing conditions, which I think in some ways that made sense. But then they threw in occupations to that which, again, you're now talking about like occupational safety and health rules and other demands onto companies within this sector that had a disproportionate set of pressure onto them to keep everything going as is to the extent that they can, while keeping enough workforce safe and healthy while doing so. Right. And that that was just, you know, a nearly impossible challenge that was made worse because of, in part political but in part policy expectations in the public health realm of what the industry could or couldn't really do, which which again, Monday morning quarterbacking, completely ridiculous in so many ways. But you had an industry that was vulnerable and that was at risk.
Chris Valadez: [00:28:08] Therefore, it reacted very aggressively in employing services and making services available. Again, if the employee was interested. It's personal choice. It's a healthcare service. If you want access to a test or you want access to a vaccine, or you want access to a checkup, you want access to something in the healthcare service through Covid, like, we will make it happen for you in a way where really the world is saying your industry is at fault, you're at fault. You should be getting this. It was all about shoulda, coulda, woulda. But then this industry kind of called called bluff on that right, called its bluff and did it and produced it and made a difference as a result of it. And so I think, you know, there's some defiance in there. But at the end of the day, it's not about being defiant or Counterpunching. It was really about continuing to build upon this foundation, which has been here for, you know, well over 100 years of doing anything and anything we can that's possible to build upon a foundation of success despite the challenge. And in that case, the priority acutely became kind of the sustainability of the workforce in critical moments in time, as you're just trying to produce fresh food and and by and large, they succeeded.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:29:35] Yeah. And you, from a personal standpoint, from you made a difference because you as being in your position and what you did to support and all these efforts, uh, kudos to you. That was that was really cool to see during Covid years. So today, what are some of the things that you are looking at? What are some of the, uh, what are some of the issues that you are thinking about?
Chris Valadez: [00:30:02] Yeah. No thank you. Again, we evolve, right? We have to evolve every season, every year. There's always challenges. In some ways you're being reactive. In many ways you're trying to be proactive. So as a as a more small business, you know, as a small independent, regionally based and regionally focused trade organization, I think again, I go back to that introduction of strengths and weaknesses and wheelhouse and opportunities. You know, what are the challenges that we think we can embrace in a way where we can help make progress or make progress towards. Right. And so for us, a few of our initiatives this season have been food safety focused, not because, you know, there are dire food safety issues that are, you know, underway as we speak there. There are not. I'm fortunate to work in an industry that, you know, is very proactive and very aggressive in the employment of different strategies and tools to reduce microbial risk as it relates to the safety profile of their food. However, we also know there are risk factors and one of the deficiencies in our opinion that we saw from within this region is there's a lot of great research that happens, and there's an amazing infrastructure in place through our universities, through center for Produce Safety, through an array of institution, governmental, quasi governmental organizations that are focused on critically key food safety questions that affect these and other commodities. Right. But I'm looking at this region. But one thing that I felt and we felt that grower shipper did not exist, is like that resident Food Safety Network and Applied Research Wherewithal, where it's anchored here and it's happening here.
Chris Valadez: [00:31:45] Now, that's not to say research doesn't happen, you know, through various outlets in partnership with commercial farming operations where they may get access to acreage. And they're doing a study on something and there's a learning and then that shared that does happen. But how do we amplify, maybe intensify and then socialize, which I think is really, really important. A lot of the learnings that are being developed, right, privately or private, publicly, how do we do that? How do we more effectively kind of create that outlet? And one of the things we we were fortunate in being able to do is develop through a relationship, an agreement with the University of California AG and Natural Resources. So for the first time, they will fund and create two new extension based specialists in food safety that will be housed here in Salinas, which makes all the sense in the world. But what made it happen wasn't just this interest of, hey, wouldn't it be great to have extension specialists that are working with farms that are helping collect information farms are generating, that are working privately with farms on developing information, maybe building it up in the aggregate and sharing this information so that, you know, we're constantly moving forward on best practices and in a way, continuously improving. Yeah, that's a goal. But it also could not have been possible if you didn't have the infrastructure.
Chris Valadez: [00:33:09] I'll use that word in place to be able to kind of build upon prior successes and then move forward to create maybe new opportunities for success. So the way we were able to help kind of move this endeavor forward at Grower-shipper is likewise creating a partnership and an agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture upon their opening of a new crop improvement center, their technical services kind of scientific center that's brand new here in the Salinas market. And we worked with them to make an agreement on housing the UC scientists there at the USDA facility under a new agreement to enjoy that facility and that infrastructure that brought forward microbiological lab space and office space so that now we have, you know, we have the wherewithal, we have, quote unquote, the bells and whistles within, which enables the University of California to not only set up positions, recruit highly qualified individuals, and then bring them in to start working with the brand new toys that they're going to have to have in order to ensure they can, you know, they can start doing the job and build up a new applied research program in partnership with the industry. Because of our relationship on creating the positions with UCLA and our and our relationship with USDA and making this facility and specifically the microbiological space available that you see for this work. It's been really this survey of there's always going to be issues, right? There's always going to be legislative issues.
Chris Valadez: [00:34:50] There's always going to be things that are really, really important. You're going to react to, and sometimes we're in a great position to do it. And where we are, we will. Sometimes we'll work with our partners in a coalition setting to try to go address a challenge or a problem, but that's reactive. I think the other side of Grower-shipper is really, you know, what are some of the infrastructure needs that we have as an industry to help us continue to grow, to get stronger, not only today, but as we look, you know, over the next five, ten, 25 plus years, like, what do we have, you know, how well are we executing there? You know, are we in position and aligned to make that growth or do we have some deficiencies. What are those deficiencies? And do we think we can be part of maybe the the solution set that puts that puzzle piece together so that that picture becomes clearer. And at the end of the day, we're helping the industry deliver to itself more certainty and thus being more helpful as a trade association to our member businesses and their decision making on what they're doing moving forward on these critically key issues, one of which being food safety and food safety management into the future. So that's an example of, you know, what's been a big initiative for us over the last few months or so.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:36:08] This is a really cool approach of kind of looking at proactively looking at what else can you do? I mean, this is this is a big win. This is awesome. Congratulations. I'm excited for you. So anything else, Chris? Anything I missed.
Chris Valadez: [00:36:23] The other thing I would add, and it's not just a grower shipper story. It's a it's a story that all of us and every one of your listeners can relate to. And I think it's a story of service and quality, service and attitude and, you know, trying to do the best job that you can with the clearest mind possible so that you can be a great listener. Hopefully you can understand where someone's coming from, let alone, you know, acknowledge what a complaint, a challenge or an opportunity is as conveyed by others through their perspective. Maybe you can work together, and ultimately you can use kind of the spirit of service to make lasting impacts moving forward. And I think, you know, we've tried to do that in very significant but limited ways here through the Grower-shipper Association. But I'll also acknowledge not only, as I guess, both the customer, but through personal experience. I'll give you kudos through United AG under your leadership and kind of the style and the system that's permeated through you and the executive team and your board at United AG, like the type of service and quality of service that I've experienced personally, and members of my team have experienced and utilizing United AG services such as the Health and Wellness Clinics has been it's really been second to none.
Chris Valadez: [00:37:37] Um, you know, we've had some encounters medically in a way that required, you know, some immediate attention and not as if, you know, you're going to get, you know, the catscan through the Health and Wellness Center. But to get the type of attention, to get you that base care and that quick attention that gets you that referral where needed to a secondary specialty service and the way it happens and how quickly it happens and how attentive the system is through United AG. It's it's like nothing I've ever experienced being a consumer and a patient of health care services throughout, you know, my, my professional career here and prior to here. And I think you guys have hit onto something and I know we deeply appreciate it and those who use it within this community. So it's really an opportunity to also say thank you sometimes. And and I want to do that right now. It's been really impactful for us here.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:38:28] Thank you, Chris, as you said at the beginning. Right. It's um, I truly believe always putting the human first. And you gave me some food for thought, to think things differently. And for me, that's a bigger win. This was an inspiring conversation and I learned a lot from you and just the way you think. So thank you for being that leader.
Chris Valadez: [00:38:50] Oh, I appreciate the kind words. Thank you. Um, yeah. And I look forward to, you know, future podcasts and learning more from others. I've heard a few of them in the past, and it's always it's always amazing to hear. Not that you think you know everybody and kind of their perspective, but people that I do know that you've you've had on your podcast before just to hear things that I've learned about them. Right. Just on what makes them tick, their philosophy and some of their experience and personal story. It's it's a cool outlet that you guys have created to help get some of that information out. And and you guys are appreciated for that. So thank you. Yeah.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:39:23] Okay. Bye bye.
Chris Valadez: [00:39:25] Take care. Bye bye.