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 Will Rousseau
2006 Western Growers Chairman
The Rousseau family has farmed in
Arizona for four generations, dating back to the late 1800’s. Bill Rousseau was primarily involved in the cattle business with a feed lot in
West Phoenix that he operated until 1982. His oldest son, Will, after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy from the
University of
Arizona in 1979, worked with Bill for three years while starting his own farming operation. By 1986, Will was farming 1700 acres of row crops before experimenting with 40 acres of carrots. That same year the youngest son, David, another
University of
Arizona grad (’83) returned after three years with the Farm Credit System to help form the Rousseau Farming Company partnership.
Today, the operation consists of over 10,000 acres, of which over 70 percent is vegetable production with the core crops being carrots, broccoli, onions, cantaloupe and watermelons. Rousseau Farming Company grows all these crops on a separate organic farm as well. The operation is vertically integrated with its own harvesting equipment, trucking, cooling, icing, processing and shipping facilities.
Will Rousseau was elected to the Western Growers Board of Directors in 1993 and has served continuously since. Will is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Western Growers Association and Past Chairman of the WGA Political Action Committee.
He is a member of the Arizona Citrus, Fruit and Vegetable Advisory Council and he has been appointed to the Governor’s Committee for
Agricultural Best Management Practices Air Quality Maricopa County, Arizona . He has held all offices, including President, of the Board of Directors for the former Vegetable Growers Association. He was a Director of United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association and a Board Member of the Arizona Cotton Growers Association, South Mountain Gin and the Maricopa County Farm Bureau. Will was honored by the Arizona Farm Bureau as their Farmer of the Year in 1995 and by the Arizona Association of Future Farmers of America as 1997 Agriculturist of the Year.
Will is a life member of the Xavier Dad Club and enjoyed coaching all his daughters' Little League softball teams. He also enjoys golf, fishing and hunting when he is not busy farming. He and his wife, Leslie, reside in
Phoenix and have three grown daughters Kristin, Lindsey and Jenna.
Chairman's Letter to the Membership
It is one of the greatest opportunities in my life to have been asked to serve as the Chairman of the Western Growers Board of Directors during our 80th anniversary year. Western Growers has provided me the venue to grow as an industry leader, as a head of my own business and as a person. Looking at the names of the people who have preceded me in our long history and seeing the people set to follow me in the role is both intimidating and exciting. I am honored to be allowed to participate at this level in such a fine organization.
Western Growers has always enjoyed a reputation for having a well-respected and highly effective staff and in my opinion our current group represents a high watermark for our organization. Inspired by the fresh approach and driving force of our President Tom Nassif our employees, both the seasoned veterans and the relative newcomers are accomplishing or exceeding their goals at such a rate to have raised the bar for the whole industry.
This staff will be working diligently and effectively on a number of fronts throughout 2006.
They will be vigorously defending our industry on a host of unfortunately familiar topics. In this message I’d like to focus on two issues through where I think we are presented with a unique intersection of national interest coupled with our organization being very well positioned to achieve historic gains on both issues.
Our first opportunity lies with our “Specialty Crop Competitiveness Act” bill. The last two years have seen the passage of this landmark initiative against overwhelming odds and then actually getting funds appropriated for the act as well. With the public’s heightened focus on nutrition and obesity-related issues the obvious health benefits of our products will allow us to drive the debate toward our ultimate goal, which is a Specialty Crop Title in the 2007 Farm Bill. Our approach is especially appealing in that we don’t seek any direct subsidies to growers, but rather seek support for promoting consumption and enhancing our production of fruits, vegetables and nuts. I believe we have a very good chance to fully achieve our goals, which is especially impressive given that just a few years ago we would have been laughed out of Washington for even suggesting this.
The second issue I’d like to focus on is Immigration Reform. We have seen unprecedented focus on this topic and the people of our country are clamoring for a solution now. Again I believe we are uniquely positioned through our reputation as an honest and frank source for information and candid dialogue during the public debate on this divisive topic, as well as our obvious expertise with all facets of the debates. These factors are why I am very optimistic about being successful in coming out of this process with a meaningful and realistic guest worker program, which would cement our access to a viable work force for years to come.
While these two issues represent breathtaking opportunities Western Growers will also be focused on local and state issues in both Arizona and California. I am confident we possess the resources and talent to guard our industry on all levels while pursuing these unique opportunities.
I hope you can tell I am excited about being in the forefront of our great organization with our ambitious yet obtainable agenda. Hopefully we will all come together at our annual meeting to celebrate our successes and set our strategy for even more accomplishments in the future. Appropriately enough for a group of ultimate risk takers this year’s meeting is at the beautiful Wynn resort in Las Vegas. We are looking forward to lots of fun and some business, so please join Leslie and me for a great time in Las Vegas!
Sincerely,
Will Rousseau
Western Growers Chairman
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