Social Responsibility

Education

We have made a commitment to invest in education. We’ve donated over one million dollars to found the Reedley College Center for Performing Arts. We support school gardens around California, and offer lesson plans to local schools in farming and healthy food choices. Our intern program is competitive, and offers valuable hands-on experience to college students. We support PMA’s Center for Growing Talent and the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation, both programs to help develop leadership within the fresh produce and agriculture industries. Each year, we offer several scholarships to Reedley College students, with priority given to our employees and their family members.

Food Safety

HMC Farms considers the safety and quality of our products to be of the highest priority, and we take that responsibility very seriously. We keep your food safe because it is the right thing to do.
As part of the HMC Farms commitment to using sustainable farming practices we use pheromones instead of pesticides whenever there is an alternative available. Since our crops are grown in California, we adhere to one of the most stringent state regulations on pesticide use and application.
Our ranches and harvest crews undergo annual 3rd party Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) audits. The packing houses, cold storage facilities, and processing plant undergo annual 3rd party PrimusGFS food safety audits.

LEADERSHIP

Harold’s expertise has led to industry leadership roles. He’s a member of multiple boards, including: CA Fresh Fruit Assoc., Western Growers, UC Davis Foundation, and Center for Produce Safety. His accolades include: Farmer of the year, Agriculturalist of the Year, and the Business-Education Partnership Award. HMC Farms also received the 2014 Ag Business Award from Baker Peterson Franklin.

NOURISHMENT

Ensuring that people have access to healthy food is a priority for us. HMC has donated more than 10 million pounds of fruit to the California Association of Food Banks through an ongoing relationship with the Farm to Family program. Chelsea McClarty-Ketelsen is on the board of the Community for Healthy Kids, which is working on a Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative.

Renewable Energy

The amount of sun in the Central Valley isn’t just good for fruit. HMC is one of the largest adopters of solar power in the industry, with enough solar panels to generate more than 3 megawatts of renewable solar energy.

SOIL

We protect our land through a multi-faceted approach, including integrated pest management and lab analyses of soil & tissue samples to ensure we are maintaining healthy soil for our trees and vines. Nutrients that are routinely put back into the ground are calcium, nitrogen, zinc, iron, magnesium and boron.

WATER

We continue to adapt to new ways of efficiently using water, conserving this precious resource as much as possible. Our irrigation techniques have shifted from flood to drip, and we are currently focused on precision watering.