[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9773]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING TOM NUNES, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JIMMY PANETTA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 22, 2017

  Mr. PANETTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Tom Nunes, Sr., 
this year's recipient of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central 
California's E.E. ``Gene'' Harden Award for Lifetime Achievement in 
Central Coast Agriculture. Tom has devoted his entire career to farming 
the fertile ground of the Salinas Valley, contributing to the economic 
lifeblood of this region known . as the ``Salad Bowl of the World.'' 
Tom was born and raised in the heart of the Valley by a farming family 
in Chualar, CA. After graduating from Salinas High School, Tom attended 
Saint Mary's College on a football scholarship and later transferred to 
Stanford University, where he graduated with a degree in Economics.
  After college, Tom immediately went to work in the Salinas Valley 
agricultural industry. He started a farming venture with his father 
where he worked for several years before partners approached him with 
the idea to start a grower-shipper company in the mid-1950's, they 
named this venture Growers Exchange Inc. In 1966, Tom and his brother 
Bob decided to start their own venture, and founded Nunes Bros. of 
California Inc., a grower-shipper of iceberg lettuce. This venture 
achieved enormous success, and the Nunes brothers ultimately sold their 
company to United Brands/Chiquita. The brothers were also one of six 
western vegetable grower-shippers that formed Inter-Harvest, the 
largest vegetable grower-shipper organization in the country at the 
time. Tom and Bob Nunes briefly ran Inter-Harvest before retiring in 
1970. In the fall of 1976, Tom and Bob carne out of retirement to 
launch The Nunes Company, Inc., whose core values of honesty, 
integrity, trust, and attention to detail have fostered a culture that 
continues to this day.
  Through his long and distinguished career, Tom has spanned the 
transition of harvests in the Salinas Valley from sugar beets and white 
beans to the modern specialty crop era. He has been an instrumental 
figure in the conversion how we farm, harvest, cool and market our 
fresh produce in the Salinas Valley that feeds people all across this 
country, and around the world. What started as 400 acres of iceberg 
lettuce on the central coast of California in the 1950's has grown into 
more than 22,000 acres of vegetable crops spanning five states.
  Aside from his business success, Tom is also an invaluable member of 
our community. Tom has served as the President and Chairman of the 
Board for the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, worked 
with the Western Growers Board, was a charter member of the Palma High 
School Foundation, served on the Palma High School Board, and the 
National Steinbeck Center inducted him into the Valley of the World 
Hall of Fame. His friends and family know him as a passionate, powerful 
and intelligent man. In true farmer fashion, he is a man of action and 
few words. The Nunes Company has created opportunity for hundreds of 
residents, and three generations of the Nunes family continue to 
operate the company to this day. The strong work ethic that Tom has 
passed down to future generations is evident in the tradition of 
innovation and pride in stewardship of the land that his successors 
carry out at every level of this business to this day. I am proud to 
add my name to this chorus of thanks and congratulations to Mr. Tom 
Nunes, Sr. for his enormous contributions to our community, and our 
country.

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