SAN JOSE, Calif. – Zest Labs, a subsidiary of Ecoark Holdings, Inc. (“Ecoark”) (OTCQX: EARK), today announced the launch of its Produce Advisory Board, which will enable the company to further align products and services with industry needs. The advisory board will reflect the produce grower community’s perspective and insight, which are invaluable to Zest Labs, helping it better prioritize and coordinate Zest Fresh products, roadmaps and directions. Its founding members include Craig Miller, president of Western Precooling Systems, and Gary Pasquinelli, president of Pasquinelli Produce Company.
“We believe our Produce Advisory Board will provide great insight and perspective into the grower community,” said Peter Mehring, CEO of Zest Labs. “Their input will enable us to validate and refine our solutions to truly address the most pressing industry problems and take advantage of the opportunities available in the community, along with helping our main focus of tackling the nation’s growing food waste epidemic.”
Craig Miller is president of Western Precooling Systems, the partner of choice for over 70 years for growers and shippers to get fresh, healthy produce from the field to their customers. The company is at the forefront of precooling processes and systems, leading the industry and supporting its customers in providing the best produce possible throughout the world. At over 100 sites throughout the West's primary growing regions, Western Precooling and its associated companies deliver the experience, services, equipment and peace of mind that growers and shippers need.
As president of Pasquinelli Produce Company, Gary Pasquinelli is a second generation farmer of fresh vegetables and melons in Yuma, Arizona. Pasquinelli Produce has been a grower-shipper for more than 50 years, harvesting 9,000 acres of winter vegetables, including iceberg, red leaf, green leaf, butter and romaine lettuces, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, fennel and spinach. The company has grown vegetables for Dole Fresh Vegetables, Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Inc. and Steinbeck Country Marketing since 1993. It also grows winter vegetables for Ippolito and Growers Veg. Express. In addition, the company grows, harvests and markets its own line of seedless watermelons.
“It doesn’t matter which side of the supply chain you’re on, food waste is a major issue that our industry is struggling with, and it’s impacting the bottom line for growers and retailers, as well as the end product our customers are receiving,” said Pasquinelli. “Being able to work with a company that can offer the data and solutions to prevent this issue and understand the obstacles we’re facing is necessary in order to solve this problem.”
The Produce Advisory Board will be formally introduced at Zest Labs’ Open House event on Wednesday, September 27 in San Jose, Calif. The event is open to the public and will be webcast live. Interested attendees can find more information about the event and register to attend on the Ecoark website at https://www.ecoarkusa.com/zest-labs-open-house/.
About Zest Labs
Zest Labs, a subsidiary of Ecoark Holdings, Inc., provides a growing suite of freshness management solutions that substantially improve quality consistency and drive sustainability for a wide range of clients. Zest Labs provides solutions to modernize the existing food distribution and delivery system by significantly increasing efficiency through continuous condition monitoring and real-time prescriptive analytics.
To learn more about Zest Labs, please click here. To watch a video about Zest Fresh, please click here.
About Ecoark Holdings Inc.
Founded in 2011, Ecoark Holdings, Inc. is a diversified holding company focused on delivering long-term shareholder value. The company currently has five subsidiaries: Zest Labs, 440Labs, Pioneer Products, Sable Polymer Solutions and Magnolia Solar. For more information, please visit http://www.ecoarkusa.com/, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements concerning the business and possible or assumed future results of operations of Zest Labs; and statements concerning the ability of Zest Labs’ technology to improve delivered quality consistency, significantly reduce perishable food waste, drive sustainability, and increase efficiency in the industry. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements for many reasons including: access to growth capital on favorable terms; adverse economic changes affecting markets we serve; competition in our markets and industry segments; our timing and the profitability of entering new markets; greater than expected costs, customer acceptance of our products or difficulties related to our integration of the businesses we may acquire; and other risks and uncertainties as may be detailed from time to time in our public announcements and SEC filings. Although we believe the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, they relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made, and our future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements may not meet these expectations. We do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this document to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law.
Source: Zest Labs
