[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 136 (Friday, September 14, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING TANIMURA & ANTLE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 14, 2007

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor two great American 
families and the company that they have created. That company, Tanimura 
& Antle, turns 25 years old this fall. In that time, T&A has grown into 
the Nation's largest privately held lettuce company, shipping over 
150,000 cartons of fresh produce daily. While you may have never heard 
the name, I can guarantee that every member of this House has eaten 
something grown and shipped by T&A. I know I speak for the whole House 
in expressing our congratulations to the company's employees and 
partners for their past and continued success.
  Of course the story of any company is the story of the people behind 
it. And in the case of Tanimura & Antle that story is of the two 
families who have given their names, not to mention their expertise, 
creativity, passion, dedication, and time to build the company that we 
know today.
  The Tanimuras first immigrated to California's Central Coast in the 
late 19th century and settled in San Juan Bautista. By the 1920s the 
second generation of Tanimuras had started farming lettuce in the 
Salinas Valley and began raising a large third generation family of 12 
children. During WWII, the U.S. government interred the family in 
Arizona while one of the sons, Charlie Tanimura, served in the U.S. 
Army in Europe. Following the war and their release from internment, 
several of the Tanimura brothers reestablished themselves in the 
Salinas Valley lettuce business and began selling crops to local 
lettuce brokers. One of those brokers, Bud Antle, so trusted the 
quality of the Tanimuras' product that he entered into an exclusive 
contract with them. Older brother George Tanimura and Bud Antle became 
trusted friends, and that legacy has passed on through the generations.
  Bud Antle followed his father Lester into the lettuce business in the 
1930s. They started their own packing and shipping operation in the 
early 1940s. Based on their relationships with growers such as the 
Tanimura's, the Antle's operation grew throughout the 1940s. In the 
1950s, Bud Antle led the produce industry to shift from railcars to 
refrigerated trucks to ship produce to market. That meant lettuce and 
other crops arrived fresher and lasted longer, helping to further 
expand consumption. In the 1970s, Bud's son Bob took over the 
enterprise.
  During the 1970s, the personal and professional relationships between 
the Tanimura's and the Antles grew. Finally, in 1982, seven Tanimuras--
brothers George, Bobby, Charlie, Johnny and Tommy, and their nephews, 
Gary and Keith, partnered with Bob, and his sons Rick and Mike Antle to 
form T&A. This amounted to a perfect marriage between world-class 
farmers and world-class shippers. It is a marriage that over the last 
25 years, has enriched the Salinas Valley and California as a whole in 
so many ways, economically, culturally, socially. For example, the T&A 
company has been a leader in raising wage and working conditions for 
their workforce and setting the standard for the produce industry 
generally. The families themselves have become great patrons of one of 
California's newest universities, California State University Monterey 
Bay, that grew out of the closure of Fort Ord.
  Madam Speaker, the story of the Tanimuras and the Antles is a great 
American story. It is an example to us all that success comes from 
cooperation and in that teaches us, in the words of George Tanimura 
that ``many are stronger than one.''

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