Tom and Steve Church to Receive E.E. “Gene” Harden Lifetime Achievement Award

SALINAS, Calif. — Tom and Steve Church, co-founders of Church Brothers Farms, will receive the E.E. “Gene” Harden Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California (GSA) at its Fall Recognition Event on Friday, October 9. The award recognizes individuals whose contributions have created a lasting legacy for Central Coast agriculture. The brothers will be introduced by longtime partner David Gill, co-founder of True Leaf Farms and last year’s Harden Award recipient.

At the brothers’ request, all proceeds from the afternoon’s live auction will benefit the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex, a gathering place for families across Salinas. The donation reflects Church Brothers’ longstanding support for youth and the local community.

“When Steve and I started out in the lettuce fields, the people around us were the ones who taught us what this business is about,” said Tom Church. “Being recognized by the Grower-Shipper Association means a lot because it comes from those same people and that same community. I’ve been lucky to do this with my brother for more than 40 years, and there’s nobody I’d rather have shared the desk with.”

The honor carries a family connection to the GSA itself. The brothers’ father, Salinas attorney Sidney Church, represented many of the Valley’s early grower-shippers and wrote the association’s original bylaws.

Tom and Steve started working in the Salinas lettuce fields as teenagers in the 1960s, alongside Bracero crews. There, they learned the value of hard work and respect for the land and the people who tend it.

After college — Tom at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Steve at Arizona State University — Tom joined his uncle’s Bruce Church Company, while Steve joined Growers Exchange. In 1981, Tom launched Fresh Western, one of the industry’s first one-stop-shop operations combining commodity vegetables and value-added products. Steve joined him in 1985, and the brothers built the company until its sale in 1993, which led to the creation of River Ranch Fresh Foods.

In 1999, the brothers started over. With one computer and two desks facing each other in an office rented from their sister, they founded Church Brothers and set out to build the one-stop shop Tom had envisioned years earlier.

Partnerships with David Gill and Neil Milburn led to the creation of True Leaf Farms. The combined company grew into a vertically integrated grower, harvester, processor and shipper, with operations across California, Arizona and Mexico and a portfolio of more than 600 fresh vegetable items.

“Tom was always the one with the vision, and I was the one making sure the details held together. It’s worked pretty well for us,” said Steve Church. “To be recognized alongside the people who’ve received this award before us — people we’ve known and competed with and learned from our whole lives — is a real honor.”

Throughout their careers, the brothers helped advance the industry. Tom brought the first form-fill-seal machine to Salinas, co-developed the injection ice system and Fresh Hold technology, and was a charter owner of Primus. Steve served as chairman of both the GSA and the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement and served on the boards of Western Growers and United Ag.

In 2016, the brothers were jointly named The Packer’s Produce Marketer of the Year.

Today, the next generation leads the company, with Brian Church as CEO, Jeff Church as COO, Chuck Church as chief performance officer, and Megan Chedwick as vice president of food safety and quality assurance. Church Brothers Farms remains family-owned and operated.

About Church Brothers Farms

Church Brothers Farms is a leading grower, processor and shipper of fresh produce, with operations throughout California, Arizona and Mexico. The company supplies a full line of fresh vegetables, salads and value-added products to retail, foodservice and wholesale customers across North America.

Headquartered in Salinas, California, Church Brothers Farms is committed to delivering quality, innovation and service from seed to shelf.