2014 News & Press Releases

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CASTROVILLE, Calif. – (Dec. 30, 2014) – As a result of the recent widespread frosts in California, highly flavorful artichokes known as Frost Kissed™ artichokes are now in stores for a short time.

“The impact of frost on artichokes is similar to how human skin reacts to sunburn,” said Joe Feldman, vice president of sales and marketing.  “Frost causes the outer layer of the artichokes to blister, eventually turns the outside layer of the artichoke brown, and then it flakes and peels.”

Once cooked, the brown outer layer is gone resulting in the dark green artichoke people are familiar with.

“Frosting is strictly a cosmetic condition,” Feldman said.  “While the brownish color may not look pretty, Frost Kissed™ artichokes actually taste wonderful.  The cold weather concentrates the natural artichoke flavors into a more intense, nutty flavor.”

Because Frost Kissed™ artichokes look different than green artichokes, Ocean Mist Farms is implementing an education program to teach shoppers about how good they taste.

The company has information on its website with pictures and recipes and is sending that information to all members of its Artichoke Club.

Ocean Mist is also sending display cards to the retail customers who are stocking Frost Kissed™ artichokes in their stores the next few weeks.

“A Frost Kissed™ artichoke is a very unique item that we don’t have every season,” Feldman said. “Because they are so seasonal, we have to teach shoppers to look for them and be sure to buy them during the short time they are in the stores.”

Artichokes become Frost Kissed™ when the temperature drops below 32 degrees.  Without further cold temperatures artichoke plants take two to four weeks to start producing frost free artichokes again depending on the severity of the cold and the continued duration.

Frost Kissed__Ocean Mist Farms[1]

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – Dec. 16, 2014 – Ocean Mist Farms hires Diana McClean as the new director of marketing.

She will be based in the company’s headquarters in Castroville and report to Joe Feldman, vice president of sales and marketing.

McClean is a produce industry veteran with more than 15 years experience, most recently at Tanimura & Antle where her duties included developing and launching new products, consumer research, package development, managing vendor relationships and directing social media.

“Diana joins us with experience driving marketing strategy and execution,” said Joe Feldman.  “She has a sophisticated understanding of marketing disciplines and we are excited for her to join our organization.”

McClean holds a degree in business administration from CaliforniaPolytechnicStateUniversity in San Luis Obispo. She lives in Salinas with her husband and two children.

DianaMcCleanHS

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – Dec. 12, 2014 – The holiday season is here and California fresh vegetable grower Ocean Mist Farms is ready to meet shopper demand.

 The company is a leading grower of celery as well as a variety of other key vegetables served during the holidays including artichokes, Brussels sprouts, several types of lettuce, green onions and fennel.

Ocean Mist is working with its retail partners to meet consumer demand for celery and other popular vegetable ingredients. For example, Brussels sprouts, a super food and staple on most holiday menus, are available now.

This is the first holiday season that Ocean Mist is offering its full Season & Steam Brussels sprouts product line. Headlined by the popular Quick Cook (halved) Sprouts™, SuperShreds Superfood™ and Microwavable Whole Brussels Sprouts packages, these convenient items can be found in grocery stores across the country as they continue to gain market share since making their debut last January.

Ocean Mist Farms’ beloved mascot, Arti the Artichoke and US Congressman Sam Farr helped send off the cyclists of the inaugural Tour De Fresh bike event this morning in Carmel, Calif.

Riders from the fresh produce industry are raising money for school salad bars by cycling over 250 miles to the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit in Anaheim over the next three days.

Ocean Mist Farms has two riders : John Pattullo and Paul Scheid (in photos)

Location of Photos attached: Carmel, CA

Time: 9am at Send off

Tour de Fresh is the first collaborative fresh produce industry event that brings the most significant produce brands and influencers together for a four-day cycling event that raises funds that will benefit the Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign.  For more information about the inaugural event, please visit: www.tourdefresh.com/ride-info.php.

John Pattullo_Arti the Artichoke_&Paul Scheid of Ocean Mist FarmsTour De Fresh John Pattullo of OMF Representive Sam Farr_Arti the Artichoke_Paul Scheid of OMF

Tour De Fresh Riders with Sam Farr & Ocean Mist Farms Arti the Artichoke

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – Oct. 7, 2014 – Ocean Mist Farms will complete a year-long celebration of its 90-year legacy of growing artichokes and premium fresh vegetables in Castroville, Calif. with several activities as part of PMA in Anaheim.

Joe Feldman, vice president of sales and marketing, said, “Our annual participation in Fresh Summit is something we plan for year-round as it is a unique opportunity to interact with our customers.”

Arti the Artichoke, the company’s award-winning mascot will help open PMA weekend with an appearance at the finish line of the Tour de Fresh inaugural bike fundraising on Thursday, Oct. 16 at noon; details available on Arti's Facebook page.

Also during the Expo, Ocean Mist Farms will debut four items: Lacinato kale, sweet baby broccoli, Heirloom artichokes and Kalettes™; and showcase the feature done on the company and its relationships with Chef Tony Baker in the October issue of Food and Wine magazine on newsstands now.

“You can imagine how excited we were when the Food & Wine magazine team contacted us to do a story about artichokes, sponsored by the California Grown program,” said Kori Tuggle, director of marketing and business development. “They wanted to share the story of our relationship with Chef Tony Baker of Montrio Bistro restaurant located 10 miles from our ranches. This was an incredible opportunity for us to educate their readers about Ocean Mist Farms’ Heirloom artichokes.”

The story also includes a feature on an Ocean Mist Farms grower/owner, Troy Boutonnet, and a short video that shows the shared passion Boutonnet and Baker have for working with fresh artichokes.

The fourth generation grower-owned company was founded by Italian Immigrants in 1924.  They began their business by growing artichokes and Brussels sprouts along the Pacific Ocean’s Monterey Bay. Today Ocean Mist Farms produces more than 30 different fresh vegetables in various locations throughout California, Arizona and Mexico.  On April 10, 2013, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed artichokes as the official state vegetable of California.

Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichokes Ocean Mist Farms Kalettes Ocean Mist Farms Sweet Baby Broccoli

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – Oct. 1, 2014 – Ocean Mist Farms was honored by the WateReuse Association and Research Foundation for its unique and successful water reuse partnerships at the 2014 One Water Innovations Gala on Sunday, Sept. 28 in New Orleans.

“The WateReuse Association and Research Foundation works to promote water sustainability through research and education”, said Mike McCullough, the recycled water program assistant with the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency.

Dale Huss, Ocean Mist Farms’ vice president of artichoke production, accepted the award on behalf of the company.  Huss is chairman of the Water Quality and Operations Committee of the Monterey County Water Recycling Projects and vice chair of the Water Quality and Project Operations Committee of the Watsonville Water Recycling Project.

In his various roles, Huss ensures that Ocean Mist Farms takes numerous precautions throughout production to reduce and conserve water.

“The proximity of our ranches to the ocean in California’s Monterey Bay makes water conservation a critical component of Ocean Mist Farms’ field management,” Huss said. “Sea water intrusion is minimized through the most efficient use of water resources, making Ocean Mist Farms one of the leaders in water conservation for farming practices in the produce industry.”

OCEAN MIST FARMS HONORED FOR INNOVATION IN WATER REUSE Sept 2014

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – Aug. 25, 2014 – Artichokes, the official vegetable of Monterey County and the state of California will be celebrated at the 78th Annual Monterey County Fair from Aug. 27-Sept. 1.

Ocean Mist Farms will help celebrate the fair by sending Arti the Artichoke to the fair on Friday, Aug. 29 to meet fans from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., in the Ag Building and then throughout the fairgrounds.  Interested visitors can visit Arti's Facebook for more details about his appearances.

At the fair, Ocean Mist Farms will be serving fried artichokes and artichoke sourdough bisque while entering Ocean Mist’s product line of fresh vegetables, including artichokes, for judging against other locally grown produce. It is an annual tradition for the Ocean Mist Farms harvest managers, crew supervisors and quality assurance team to demonstrate their expertise at putting together special fair packs for the vegetable commodity judging competition.

As part of its fair participation, Ocean Mist Farms donates product to the Country Store located in the Ag Building each day of the fair; all Country Store sales proceeds benefit the Monterey County Fair exhibit program and Ag department.

“We are excited to bring the majority of our local grown vegetables to this year’s Monterey County Fair,” Said Hilda Medina, Marketing Event Specialist and Report Analysis. “It’s a great way to demonstrate the quality and commitment we have as a local grower.”

Photo 54

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – August 22, 2014 – More than 45 staff in five departments participated in a custom training session led by the United States Department of Agriculture at Ocean Mist Farms’ headquarters in Castroville, Calif., recently.

Ocean Mist Farms Quality Assurance Manager Arlin Valenzuela invited the USDA to train staff on how the regulatory agency inspects and grades product at both shipping and receiving points.  Several of the more than 30 commodities that Ocean Mist Farms grows were reviewed in depth as part of the training.

“The session was highly beneficial and allowed our team to better understand our specifications compared to the USDA’s and any variations between the two,” Valenzuela said.  “It supports our culture of quality and our strategic initiative to consistently innovate our product quality assurance specifications and procedures.”

The company included staff from field harvesting, quality assurance, food safety, sales and senior management to ensure that Ocean Mist Farms employees have the opportunity to enhance consistency and reliability of product inspections, benchmarked to USDA specifications at all levels companywide.

Valenzuela said the USDA rarely executes a custom training session at a company’s headquarters.  The two USDA officials who conducted the training were Mike Morelli, senior training specialist, and Dave Horner, standardizations and master trainer.

Dave Horner of USDA training Ocean Mist Farms QA and Harvesting team employeesMike Morelli of USDA training session with Ocean Mist Farms Sales Team

SANTA MARIA, CALIF. — AUGUST 20, 2014 — Tozer Seeds announced that it has entered into marketing agreements with six companies to grow and market Kalettes, the kale and brussels sprouts hybrid. The companies who have entered into a marketing agreement with Tozer for Kalettes are 4Earth Farms, Classic Salads, Mann Packing, Ocean Mist Farms, Southern Specialties and WP Rawl.  As part of the agreement, seeds will be sold by Johnny’s Select Seeds to small farmers and home growers.

Tozer Seeds made the decision to enter a marketing agreement with these companies to market under the Kalettes brand to create a consistent name and brand identity, which would allow consumers to easily recognize this new vegetable.  Tozer and these companies have committed to supporting the Kalettes brand though public relations efforts, consumer and trade advertising and providing recipes, cooking tips and other forms of content to consumers through the website, www.Kalettes.com, and their social media channels.

Additionally, companies who are growing as part of the Kalettes brand are subject to strict product specifications and quality controls. Product specifications include sizing, color and condition which will ensure consistent, top quality product for customers.

“The collective goal is to successfully launch Kalettes in the retail and food service channels in the U.S. and Canada and build a strong awareness among consumers.  By working together, the joint marketing efforts of Tozer and these companies will be able to reach the consumer more effectively,” stated Kraig Kuykendall, sales manager of Tozer Seeds America. “We have been very pleased with the incredible response to Kalettes and predict it will be very successful.”

Kalettes are the product of more than a decade of research by Tozer Seeds, the largest family-owned vegetable breeding company in England.  The kale and brussels sprout hybrid offers a fresh fusion of sweet and nutty, combining the best traits of each of its parent vegetables.  Kalettes are not genetically modified and were developed by cross-pollinating brussels sprouts with kale through traditional methods.

Kalettes are now available in very limited quantities and distribution will continue to increase throughout the fall and winter as production increases.  Kalettes will be available to both retailers and food service distributors directly through the companies. For contact information please visit www.kalettes.com/trade-information.

For more information on Kalettes, including recipes, visit www.kalettes.com, and for updates on availability like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

kalettes

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – July 2, 2014 – Ocean Mist Farms’ mascot, Arti the Artichoke, won the Fan Favorite Contest against other Salinas Valley company mascots in a social media contest conducted by the California Rodeo Salinas.

The contest, held on the California Rodeo Salinas Facebook page  invited fans to vote for their favorite produce mascot by leaving comments in the photo album online.  The contest ran from June 16-30.

Arti won by earning 56 percent of the total votes and was declared the winner on July 1 with a special trophy presentation at the company’s headquarters in Castroville, Calif.

“We are thrilled to see Arti voted as the fan’s favorite; we know his fans are passionate about the California State vegetable he represents in his friendly way,” said Kori Tuggle, director of marketing and business development. “This is a great way to extend our company’s 90th anniversary celebration as we consider Arti part of the Ocean Mist family.”

Tuggle credits Ocean Mist Farms’ employees, Artichoke Club members and Arti’s Facebook page fans for voting for Arti throughout the contest.

Arti will make his next appearance, July 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the California Rodeo Salinas.

Arti the Artichoke

Arti with OMF Employees

Arti with Ocean Mist Farms fellow Employees

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – June 2, 2014 – Ocean Mist Farms celebrated a 90-year legacy of growing artichokes and premium fresh vegetables at the 55th Annual Castroville Artichoke Food and Wine Festival.

The fourth generation grower-owned company was founded by Italian Immigrants in 1924.  They began their business by growing artichokes and Brussels sprouts along the Pacific Ocean’s Monterey Bay in Castroville, Calif.  Today Ocean Mist Farms produces more than 30 different fresh vegetables in various locations throughout California, Arizona and Mexico. On April 10, 2013, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed artichokes as the official state vegetable.

On Saturday, May 31, Ocean Mist Farms was honored for the impact it has made in the community since 1924 at a presentation that was part of the Castroville Artichoke Food and Wine Festival’s official program.  On the Monterey County Fairground main stage, Monterey County Supervisor Lou Calcagno, State Senator Bill Monning and Amy Uber, Senior Agricultural Economist from the California Department of Food and Agriculture paid tribute to the company and presented Ocean Mist Farm’s CEO Ed Boutonnet and grower/owner Hugo Tottino with proclamations and commemorative plaques.

“The families and employees of Ocean Mist Farms have been the backbone of our community and festival for decades,” said Lou Calcagno, Monterey County Supervisor. “We are so happy to have had their support over the years and the festival is the perfect place to celebrate their 90 years of business in Castroville.”

In addition to the festival celebration, the company accomplished numerous projects this year to mark its anniversary including the redesign of the company’s two websites, oceanmist.com and artichokeclub.com, and the creation of a new site allaboutartichokes.com; rebranding its original root stock variety that dates back to 1924 as an Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichoke.  Ocean Mist Farms also produced a new video that shares the history of its 90 years in business.

Chief Executive Officer Ed Boutonnet said, “We are proud to reach this milestone together. Investing in quality people and farm land is the foundation of our success and longevity for generations of Ocean Mist growers.”

Artichoke fest-440

OMF Employee Group Photo

 

 

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – April 28, 2014 – This spring, Ocean Mist Farms is celebrating its 90th anniversary in business by giving away field fresh artichokes for 90 days.

Starting March 1, the beginning of Heirloom artichoke season, the company is giving away artichokes until the 2014 Castroville Artichoke Festival May 31-June 1 in Monterey, Calif.

Here’s how the giveaway works:  Ocean Mist Farms connects with consumers via its social media channels and its almost 40,000 Artichoke Club members.  Artichoke consumers and fans are notified to enter to win daily via text, Twitter or Facebook posts and artichoke club newsletters. Throughout artichoke peak season, the giveaway has increased the company’s direct artichoke consumer engagement and dialogue activity level.

“We wanted a unique way to celebrate our 90th anniversary with our artichoke fans this season and the one thing our artichoke club members respond to most is the opportunity to win free artichokes,” said Kori Tuggle, director of marketing and business development.  “The direct consumer promotion has been very successful in building awareness around the Heirloom artichoke season and gleaning consumer insight and feedback on where they buy their fresh artichokes across the country.”

Anyone can enter, but to win entrants must be members of Ocean Mist Farms’ Artichoke Club.

90 Day Giveaway_Facebook post samples_Ocean Mist Farms

90 Day Giveaway_On Twitter_OceanMistFarms

TheArtichokeClub_from Ocean Mist Farms

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – April 22, 2014 – This spring Ocean Mist Farms added a new commodity to the more than 30 fresh vegetables the company grows and sells: Sweet baby broccoli.

Starting this week, the company is offering a year-round program of this unique commodity in an 18-count pack: Iced or iceless format.

A cross between broccoli and Chinese kale, sweet baby broccoli has a sweeter flavor than ordinary broccoli.  It features long, thin stalks and small floret clusters that often contain edible yellow flowers.  The Ocean Mist Farms hang tag includes “quick cook” recipes to educate shoppers on how easy and versatile it is to cook with sweet baby broccoli.

Ocean Mist Farms added sweet baby broccoli to its product line in order to meet growing consumer demand for the vegetable, said Joe Feldman, vice president sales and marketing.

According to Nielsen Perishables Group sales data, the sweet baby broccoli category grew 12.7% in dollar sales and 12.6% in volume sales year-over-year, with dollar sales topping $9.5 million (latest 52 weeks ending 2/22/14, total U.S.) The top-selling item was the unbranded bulk baby broccoli, PLU 3277, where dollar sales were up 9.4% and volume sales were up 9.2% year-over-year, with dollar sales more than $3.8 million.

“This is a logical addition to our product line,” Feldman said.

Ocean Mist Farms SweetBabyBroccoli_Low Res

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – March 31, 2014 – Ocean Mist Farms rebuilt www.oceanmist.com  from the ground up in order to improve the online experience for all site visitors.

The improvements include an entire redesign of navigation and content that will promote the usage and retail sales of all Ocean Mist Farms’ products, said Kori Tuggle, director of marketing and business development

The new site is now in a fully responsive format that makes it user friendly for any device: desktop or mobile.

DeskTop Screenshot of New Oceanmist Website

“Whether the consumer is at home or in-store, recipes and product knowledge are now easier to find,” Tuggle said. “For our trade customers and consumers of our 30 fresh vegetables, we remodeled Oceanmist.com to make it easier to find the vegetable topic and be the online resource they look for.”

Beyond staple vegetables such as Iceberg lettuce and broccoli, Oceanmist.com is a largely visited online resource for specialty item content such as artichokes, Fava beans, cardone and Brussels sprouts.  Content includes helpful facts such as how and where the product is growing, and videos showing how the fresh vegetables are grown and harvested.

Specifically for artichoke consumers, the company moved and remodeled the Internet’s largest collection of artichoke content web pages into a separate URL: www.allaboutartichokes.com.  This will help the artichoke consumer find exactly content they are looking for in one location.  This website includes short, “how-to” videos for every artichoke cooking format as well as simple basics such as “how to remove the fuzzy artichoke center.”

For its exclusive audience of almost 40,000 Artichoke Club members, Ocean Mist Farms created a separate domain and site: www.artichokeclub.com  to help engage and grow membership.

“The goal of our website rebuilds was to modernize the backend and frontend content to make it more consumer friendly while improving the user experience,” Tuggle said. “Not very many people have seen how Brussels sprouts grow or are harvested. Our updated site will make it easy to find and watch this video directly on any device.

“It is a priority for us to keep our online presence and content up to date with emerging trends.  As technology improves and the use of mobile devices increases at an exponential rate, the way a web site is built is just as important as the content.  If not maintained, content will not reach our target audience.”

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – February 25, 2014 – March is the beginning of peak artichoke season and Ocean Mist Farms is supporting sales and celebrating the company’s 90th anniversary with multiple activities designed to generate sales and consumer awareness for fresh artichokes.

The family farmers of Ocean Mist Farms, the largest grower of artichokes in North America, have been growing Heirloom artichokes for 90 years. The HH Heirloom artichoke variety is a perennial plant that grows from original root stock that dates back to the start of Ocean Mist Farms in 1924.

The formal classification of an Heirloom fresh fruit or vegetable is any distinct variety that grows and has been in trade for more than 50 years using the same lineage.

Like a family recipe, this unique variety of artichoke grows only from the same root stock that has been passed down to each generation of Ocean Mist family farmers for more than 90 years — never from seed. Artichokes are such a strong part of California history that they were recently named the Official State Vegetable of California.

“Ocean Mist Farms’ Heirloom variety has also been the variety chefs preferred for years,” said Kori Tuggle, director of marketing and business development. “Most chefs refer to this variety as the ‘red label’ referring to the red font color of our carton for the last several decades.”

Peak volume of the Castroville Heirloom crop is March through May, Tuggle said, and all the Heirloom artichokes out of Castroville will be branded with a red PLU/UPC sticker to help consumers find the Ocean Mist Farms’ Heirloom variety.

ocean mist farms heirloom artichoke PLU Variety Sticker

Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichoke PLU Variety Sticker

“During the peak three months, we are focused on a multi-faceted promotional strategy with elements that include retail display contests, radio ads in Northern California, social media contests featuring the hash tag #heirloomartichoke that drive consumers to purchase, custom in-store point of sale, display bins and petal inserts. We will also activate geo-marketing with our emailed Arti-Alerts to promote with our artichoke club members when retailers have Heirloom artichokes on sale-specific to where shoppers live,” Tuggle said.

Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichoke Petal Insert

Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichoke Petal Insert

In addition, Chef Curtis Stone of Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters, came to Castroville yesterday for a field tour of the new Heirloom artichoke crop. Chef Stone brought his entire team from his new restaurant Maude to help prepare for their March menu that will feature artichokes in all nine courses of the fixed menu and will feature his visit on his popular blog.

Chef Curtis Stone harvesting Ocean Mist Farms heirloom Artichokes in Castroville Feb 2014

Feb. 24th-Chef Curtis Stone Harvesting Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichokes in Castroville

Chef Curtis Stone with Hugo Tottino Feb 2014

Feb. 24th-Chef Curtis Stone with Hugo Tottino

Team from Maude trying hand at harvesting Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichokes in Castroville

Feb. 24th-Team Maude Trying a Hand at Harvesting Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichokes in Castroville

Ocean Mist Farms is also leveraging its Artichoke Club of 40,000 members to communicate information about retail promotions during peak season. The company sends a weekly “Arti Alert” email to club members with retail ads specific to the region they live in to help them find where they can buy Ocean Mist Heirloom Artichokes on sale. The same message is also shared via Ocean Mist Farms’ 11,600 Facebook fans and other social media channels.

The highlight of peak season will be the Annual Castroville Artichoke Festival held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds on May 31 and June 1 where Ocean Mist Farms will be honored for its service and support of the Castroville community since 1924. The festival features Arti the Artichoke, Agro Art, chef demos, artichoke field tours, wine tasting and assorted activities for artichoke lovers of all ages.

For more information about the company and its products, visit www.oceanmist.com.

 

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – Feb. 14, 2014 – Albert Pieri, a second generation family owner at Ocean Mist Farms, recently received the UnitedAg Lifetime Achievement Award. Pieri worked at Ocean Mist Farms starting in the 1940s, for nearly 50 years.

Albert Pieri_Jan 30 2014 at United Ag Ceremony

From the earliest days at California Artichoke and Vegetable Growers to the formation of Ocean Mist Farms, the largest artichoke operation in the United States, the Pieri family has devoted nine decades to agriculture in California with Albert Pieri playing a large part in the family’s leadership efforts.

“Throughout his many years in the agriculture industry, (Big Al) has been a truck loader, bookkeeper, sales manager, real estate negotiator, chairman of several different agricultural boards—including our own UnitedAg Board of Directors—and much more, said Bobbie Taylor, senior vice president, UnitedAg. “And through it all he has shown his commitment to quality in his products, quality in his service and quality in our industry’s progressive growth. Always touching the lives around him, his hard working values and keen wit have cultivated strong -- long term relationships throughout the agricultural industry.”

Intro to Awarding with Pat, Al, Bobbie, & Richard - 3

UnitedAg was founded in 1980 with a mission to unite agribusiness and is a leading voice for the industry in Arizona and California by providing economic solutions and benefits to members throughout the agricultural industry. UnitedAg is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with six regional offices throughout the state.

UnitedAg’s Legacy program was started in 2011 with the retiring of its founder William Goodrich. In December 2012 one of its founding members and longtime California produce leader Don Regan suddenly passed away and he was recognized posthumous with a special program and award – these two events created the Lifetime Achievement Award that is awarded annually.

Jeff Percy_Albert Pieri_Joe Pezzini_Art Barrientos of Ocean Mist Farms  Jan 30 2014

Al Seated with Bobbie giving acolades 2

For more information about UnitedAg visit (www.unitedag.org, for more information about Ocean Mist Farms visit www.oceanmist.com.)

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – Feb. 4, 2014 -- Ocean Mist Farms received the Large Business of the Year Award from the North Monterey County Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 1; Dale Huss accepted the award for Ocean Mist Farms.

OMF-Recives_Award_Dale_Huss

“Since 1924, Ocean Mist Farms, originally California Artichoke and Vegetable Growers Corp, has pioneered the commercial planting and shipping of artichokes in Castroville, and today it is recognized as the largest artichoke operation in the United States,” said Denice Barker Amerison, executive director Artichoke Festivals, Inc., and North Monterey County Chamber Of Commerce. “In 2014 Ocean Mist Farms celebrates 90 years of quality, commitment and service to the consumer and first class community involvement.  It is because of this commitment that Ocean Mist Farms is recipient of the Large Business of the Year Award.”

CASTROVILLE, Calif. – Jan. 28, 2014 – Ocean Mist Farms will celebrate a 90-year legacy of growing artichokes and premium fresh vegetables with activities planned throughout the year ahead.

Castroville 1926

The fourth-generation grower-owned business was founded by Italian Immigrants in 1924 that started the business by growing artichokes and Brussels sprouts along the Pacific Ocean’s Monterey Bay in Castroville, Calif.  Today the company farms in multiple locations throughout California, Arizona and Baja Mexico and its famous artichokes have been proclaimed the official state vegetable of California.

Castroville_Artichoke Harvesters from 1930s

“Our land may be the foundation of Ocean Mist Farms, but it really is the people who build our legacy,” Mark Reasons, facilities manager and member board of directors.

Some of the activities Ocean Mist Farms has planned this year to celebrate its anniversary include the redesign of the company website and the creation of a new Artichoke Club website (artichokeclub.com); branding its original root stock variety that dates back to 1924 as an Ocean Mist Farms Heirloom Artichoke and sharing a new video that tells the company’s 90 year legacy story.

The highlight of the anniversary festivities will be at the annual Castroville Artichoke Festival – this year held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds May 31 and June 1 – where Ocean Mist Farms will be honored for being a part of the community since 1924.

Original Ocean Mist Farms Produce Crate labels

Chief Operating Officer Joe Pezzini said, “We are proud to reach this milestone together. Investing in quality people and farm land is the foundation of success and longevity for generations of Ocean Mist growers.”