gROWING WITH JJ
who is jj?
Meet JJ. He is our Production Manager and Grower Relations broccoli go-to for the Salinas Valley region. When we have broccoli questions or need broccoli answers, JJ is our main guy.
JJ grew up in Greenfield, California – a small town in the Salinas Valley. He started working in agriculture at a young age with his father and found that he enjoyed it. JJ has worked through most stages of farming, starting with irrigation and hoeing weeds. He built a 30 year career in the farming industry before joining Pacific in 2013 as our Field Supervisor managing planting schedules, walking the fields, and communicating with our sales office. From there, he has taken on the role of our Production Manager and Grower Relations for the Salinas Valley, Salad Bowl of the World.
What does jj do at Pacific?
On a regular day, you can find JJ walking through fields of broccoli, monitoring the various growing stages. Being out in the fields is imperative to JJ’s role at Pacific. It allows him to see if harvest will come early or a little later due to weather conditions, and check on quality and pest issues, such as aphid pressure when temperatures start rising. He then communicates this information with our Harvest Managers, PCA’s, commodity managers, and sales team. The information JJ shares with the commodity manager allows them to plan what is available to offer to our customers. During the winter months, our broccoli regions shift from the Salinas Valley in California to Maricopa County in Arizona. Although he is based in California, JJ spends those months traveling between regions to oversee fields in the desert, and back to California to get ready for the summer season.
Why is jj so special to us?
JJ enjoys working with Pacific because “the company’s values align with [his] own, and [he] loves the teamwork here.” He also feels that working here “is like being with family” – and JJ is a special family member to us, too. The next time you grab Pacific or Pure Pacific Organic broccoli, know that someone as dedicated and knowledgeable as JJ took part in getting it to you.
