Local Farming Company Recognized for Workplace Wellness
OXNARD — Laguna Farms, berry grower in Ventura County and affiliate of Reiter Affiliated Companies, will receive the ‘Health Champion’ award on March 7, 2017 at the Board of Supervisors meeting for their commitment to workplace wellness.
Annually, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors presents awards to six local organizations on behalf of the Board of Supervisors, the Community Commission for Ventura County and the Partnership for a Healthy Ventura County. The 2017 ‘Health Champion’ award recipients are recognized for their efforts toward achieving the vision of the Partnership: “that Ventura County be recognized as the healthiest county in California.”
Laguna Farms is being recognized for their commitment to the wellbeing of employees through the implementation of Sembrando Salud, an obesity and diabetes prevention program that helps create healthy ranch communities throughout California.
“Programs like Sembrando Salud are beneficial, feeling good makes a difference in your life and a person often radiates that positive feeling not only at work but in their personal life too,” said Jose Martinez, owner of Laguna Farms. “Thank you to everyone that motivates our farm workers as well as the full Sembrando Salud team and thank you for the dedication given to these programs, they are for the wellbeing of everyone but especially for those who put what they learn into practice.”
Established in 2009 by Reiter Affiliated Companies, Sembrando Salud includes an educational curriculum taught over the course of 10 weeks. Farmworkers participate in health literacy based on a simple five-step healthy framework, which promotes drinking more water, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits, exercising at least 30 minutes a day, measuring food portions as well as the waist line and involving families and friends in practicing healthy habits.
About Reiter Affiliated Companies: Reiter Affiliated Companies (RAC) is the largest fresh multi-berry producer in the world, growing Driscoll’s proprietary varieties of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries year round in the United States, Baja California, Central Mexico, Portugal, Morocco and Peru.
The Reiter family began farming in the San Francisco Bay Peninsula and by the turn of the century had migrated south into Watsonville and the Santa Clara Valley. By the late 1970’s, operations expanded
into Southern California where the headquarters is today. The company values of Honesty, Fairness and Respect line the corridors of every office, guiding and leading business principles and decisions. Those decisions have resulted in the organization’s position as an industry leader, adopting health and wellness programs, opening primary health clinics and partnering with local organizations to improve the quality of life for the farmworker community.