There’s a lot of uncertainty around northern California agriculture this summer. But we know one thing for certain: We take operational safety and regulatory compliance very seriously for, among others, one huge reason. As Vice President for Regulatory Affairs — a job in which I help lead company-wide safety efforts — I want what we all want: That every Grow West team member goes home every day in the same condition as when he or she arrived for work that morning.

That’s what drives our safety culture at Grow West. For the 40+ years I’ve been working in ag retail, I’ve watched regulations change and grow. Keeping up with those changes hasn’t always been easy over the years; that was especially true before ResponsibleAg came along to help provide Grow West and other ag service providers the knowledge and tools we all employ to keep our employees, customers and communities safe every day.

While they sometimes seem burdensome, we know at the end of the day, safety rules and regulations serve important roles. Our dedication to staying ahead of those regulations is for another good reason: Prioritizing safety and compliance is just one way we are looking out for our customers, employees, the environment and our communities.

That’s the Grow West safety culture in a nutshell, and our deep involvement in ResponsibleAg — an industry-led initiative promoting best management practices and regulatory compliance among the nation’s ag retailers — is part of how we maintain that culture. We’ve built upon ResponsibleAg participation, specifically its audit program (about which you’ll learn more later in this issue of Growing Together) to create a culture of continuous improvement and self-regulation that makes our facilities some of the safest ag service locations in the country. Even though we have our own ResponsibleAg-certified auditors on the Grow West team, we’re not stopping there. We know maintaining safe facilities is an ongoing effort.

ResponsibleAg audits go beyond just regulatory compliance and focus on best management practices that help keep our facilities safe. They help us ensure the health and safety of our employees, customers and community members. It’s just one thing we’re doing to enable everyone to not just survive but thrive both now and for generations to come.

In this issue, we’re going to talk about a few other ways we’re doing that, like equipping growers to get through a tough economic cycle so they’re positioned well when markets improve. We’ll also talk about Grow West’s support of California Ag in the Classroom in advancing ag literacy among the state’s teachers and students so they become supporters of agriculture through information they can apply to their classwork today. They’re all actions we can take to ensure what’s good today is even better tomorrow.

Thank you for being a Grow West partner, and we look forward to continuing to keep our operations safe for our employees, customers, communities and everyone in northern California.

Best,
Robbie Malm David Ito
Grow West Vice President for Regulatory Affairs