Interview: Jon Esformes, CEO of Vitanova Fresh Produce.

 

  1. In general, how did you start in the business of agriculture?

Agriculture for me has always been a family business. I am the fourth generation, my family having started in 1920 as wholesalers. As Greek immigrants, the inception of our business flourished on the streets of New York.

 

  1. With Vitanova fresh produce how did you start?

We began farming operations in Guasave, Mexico in 1959, we started with cucumbers and then eventually implemented tomatoes. Throughout the decades of our production, we have had the privilege of working with a variety of different growers. Our farming operations in Mexico, from 1959 to early 1991, have been uninterrupted. These operations have spanned throughout Sinaloa and consisted of us mostly working with other growers on a variety of different products such as bell pepper, squash, and tomatoes. We left Mexico for about seven or nine years in the 1990’s. Vitanova Fresh was established in 2009, before reopening our office in Nogales.

 

  1. How many people work in Vitanova?

We can have as many as 2,000 people working between the farm and the packing house at the peak of the season.

 

  1. How did the relation with Eleven Rivers start?

The parent company of Vitanova Fresh, Pacific Tomato Growers, has been very active force in the United States and has executed operations in a multitude of areas such as food safety and social responsibility. As we looked for a program in Mexico, it was imperative that we find a program that we not only felt confident with, but that would also go beyond the minimum certification. Eleven Rivers was the only one that we felt strongly reflected our value of the importance of maintaining a continuous monitoring program in order to maintain the compliance of operations. Anyone could easily prepare for a singular test, what is important is the ability to execute this process on a daily basis. We saw that Eleven Rivers program supported the same message that we send out to all of our managers: our expectation is that everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing in all areas every single day.

 

  1. Can you tell me some examples of the benefits of this relationship?

As the owner, the main benefit is knowing that Eleven Rivers will conduct an audit on different parts of my business every week during the season. While I’m in the position to have people in my organization be accountable, it is always helpful to have an independent third party as another set of eyes. We do not expect perfection but we want that to be the ultimate goal, there is always room for improvement. For this reason, we have an open she policy with all the auditors and a lot of our growers so that we can talk about audits. We welcome them because if I go through an audit on Monday, my company is better on Tuesday because of it.

 

  1. What differences are the most remarkable in the services of Eleven Rivers; compared to other certifiers in the USA?

Quite frankly, we do not work with a lot of other certifiers. The primary reason is that we have specific auditors that focus on food safety, others that focus on social responsibility as well as the other various areas of the business. They specifically assigned to a certain area upon the customer’s request in order to focus on that one area. What I believe to be unique of Eleven Rivers is that it looks at my business as a whole provides a holistic approach instead of compartmentalizing each area. An aspect of food safety is having a safe and fair environment, for you cannot have real food safety without a social and responsible workplace. All departments are interdependent of each other, so in order to be successful in our business each one of the areas must thrive. This aspect is acknowledged and addressed directly by Eleven Rivers.

 

  1. Would you recommend Eleven Rivers to other growers?

I am a big advocate of Eleven Rivers. I find it interesting that Eleven Rivers is not that well known in the United States from the consumer side. We are currently in the process of introducing our customers to Eleven Rivers so that they understand what it represents. I would strongly urge other growers in Mexico to become a part of the Eleven Rivers program and use the tools that are available through the audit process in order to become better companies.

 

  1. Anything you want to add to the interview?

As a US company operating in Mexico, we are very grateful to the organization of Eleven Rivers. Their assistance has helped us better our company as well as aided us in becoming a better member of the agricultural community. We look forward to working together for many years.