Tom Nassif, president and CEO of the Western Growers Association, goes a step further and calls the drought “the number-one issue” for California, placing it above labor in terms of importance. “Without water, we’re not going to need much labor,” he says.
Nassif believes a lack of understanding may prevent the right solutions from being pursued at a government level. “Most of us are worried that El Niño and excess rainfall will be considered a solution, rather than as short-term help.” The first step is prioritizing the crisis—realistically. “Food and water supply should be considered national security imperatives,” he asserts, revisiting one of California’s more controversial environmental edicts. “One of the biggest stumbling blocks is that when we do have sufficient or excess water, there’s no way of recapturing it because of the Endangered Species Act. We’re working at both the federal level and state level to come up with fixes.”
Looking to technology, Western Growers has taken a bold step for 2016 by founding the Center for Innovation and Technology, which will not only finance and facilitate new projects but work on adapting technology from other countries to meet needs in the United States. First and foremost is using technology to modernize water recycling methods and irrigation. A prime example is drip irrigation: “Drone photos have shown us the entire field doesn’t need to be irrigated, only parts,” Nassif explains, as remote sensors can point out ‘hot spots’ where care and water are necessary.
Although desalination has been considered too expensive, Nassif sees hope on this front. “Every day, we’re reducing the cost of desalination plants. It has to happen at a more rapid pace though, because of the length of time for construction.”
As the new Center for Innovation works to harness technology, Nassif looks to Mother Nature. “Our hope is that the rainfall ends up being beneficial and not just destructive; that we get rainfall in central California and in the Sierra Nevadas where we need ‘cool rain’—snow pack on the mountain, rather than ‘warm rain’ that ends up flooding the land and being washed out to sea.”
TRACEABILITY, FOOD SAFETY & INEVITABILITY
While traceability and the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) are on everyone’s mind, both continue to move forward very slowly. Washington-state based Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management at the United Fresh Produce Association, calls progress on traceability “a little disappointing.”
While Vaché says the industry has made great progress on the supply side, it’s not enough. “When you have a recall, it’s just so simple to go back to the grower-shipper and say ‘you must be the problem’—but this is not necessarily the case.”
