A senior executive at Driscoll's is taking charge of a produce industry social responsibility alliance, placing the world's largest berry distributor at the center of an effort to improve working conditions for hundreds of thousands of farm laborers in Mexico.
Mario Steta, Driscoll's general manager of Mexico operations, has been elected president of the alliance, putting the Watsonville, Calif., company in position to guide an industry rocked by labor unrest and media scrutiny of abusive labor conditions at many export farms.
The group that Steta oversees — the International Produce Alliance to Promote a Socially Responsible Industry — represents growers and distributors in Mexico and the United States that account for 80% of produce exports to the U.S.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Los Angeles Times
