Fresh Cut Magazine

Checking Down Card Check

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a controversial card check bill last month that would have allowed union representatives access to any manufacturing facility and would have eliminated secret ballots on union authorization votes. This was the fourth time Schwarzenegger has vetoed this sort of legislative proposal. Although card check legislation has been held off for another year in California, the U.S. Congress is moving forward with a nationwide plan, HR 800, called the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to passing HR 800 in September, while speaking at Labor Day rallies. Proponents of the bill claim businesses intimidate and threaten employees to discourage unionization, and HR 800 would level the playing field. But opponents of the pro-labor bill believe it is government intrusion into private businesses. They claim a unionized workforce would drive up costs and…  » Read more

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Vegetable, fruit waste can produce electricity

Think about all the fruit and vegetable waste left behind during harvest, lying unused and unwanted in farm fields and processing plants. Not only does it literally go to waste, it often takes time and labor to get rid of it. But what if all that unused produce could be turned into energy? A grower or processor could take care of its waste problems and pay its energy bills at the same time. Two West Coast vegetable processors are doing just that. The Oregon and California companies both recently opened power plants fueled by waste produce. Stahlbush Island Farms Bill and Karla Chambers, owners of Stahlbush Island Farms, a grower and processor in Corvallis, Ore., spent $10 million and 14 months building a biogas plant that turns fruit and vegetable byproducts into thermal and electrical energy. The new plant officially joined the power grid in June and could save the…  » Read more

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Processor focuses on customer service to grow fresh-cut sales

California’s Monterey County is known for its contribution to the American food supply. With much of its farm acreage devoted to spinach, iceberg and other leafy greens, the Salinas Valley and surrounding area supply a large percentage of the leafy greens eaten by U.S. consumers. And tucked among those fields of leafy greens and all the other crops are processing plants that have helped to grow the fresh-cut industry to what it is today – a nearly $20 billion portion of the produce industry. And one of those processors sits on a piece of land between the Pacific Ocean and California Highway 1, tucked among strawberry fields just a stone’s throw from the rocky beaches of the ocean. That plant is owned by Watsonville Produce Co. of Moss Landing, Calif. It’s a state-of-the-art facility built in 2000 with four lines – three that handle spinach and…  » Read more

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