founded 1944 headquarters watsonville california usa key people miles reiter ceo products strawberries raspberries blackberries blueberries and other berries . slogan only the finest berries website www.driscolls.com driscoll s is a privately held company that sells fresh strawberries and other berries . its headquarters is in watsonville california usa and it has been family owned for over 100 years the reiter and driscoll families begin growing strawberries in california in the late 1800s . as of 2016 update more than 40 000 people globally are involved in developing growing and harvesting both conventionally grown and organic strawberries raspberries blackberries and blueberries for the company . 1 2 contents 1 history 1.1 labor issues 2 products 3 references 4 further reading 5 external links history edit the company was founded in 1904 when joseph ed reiter and r.o. driscoll began producing sweet briar strawberries 3 in california s pajaro valley . following world war ii driscoll s recruited japanese american former prisoners upon their release from the internment camps to become sharecroppers for the company . 4 in 2008 driscoll s was one of the first two california growers to legally ship strawberries to the people s republic of china under a program negotiated by then governor arnold schwarzenegger . 5 in 2008 the company was also named business of the year by the pajaro valley chamber of commerce and agriculture . 6 as of 2014 driscoll s supports the indigenous interpreting program at natividad medical center salinas california which provides medical interpreters for speakers of indigenous languages such as zapotec mixteco and triqui . 7 in 2015 driscoll s announced its involvement in connect the drops a campaign that combines the voices of diverse companies into a single call to action demanding bolder water management policies and solutions for california . 8 labor issues edit driscoll s has been the subject of numerous strikes and boycotts in recent years over labor practices at its supplying farms . in march 2016 workers held a binational demonstration at the us mexico border complaining that their treatment and pay has not improved despite promises made after strikes and boycotts in 2015 and what they claim are grave human rights abuses violations supported by large fruit suppliers such as driscoll s and sakuma one of driscoll s suppliers . 9 from 2013 to 2015 sakuma fought and eventually lost a court action requiring it to give its workers paid rest breaks as required by washington law . 10 workers at the wahington sakuma farms continued calling for a boycott until september 2016 when an agreement for elections and negotiations was finally reached . 11 however the boycott of driscoll s continues over labor practices in baja california where workers are seeking a wage of thirteen dollars a day 12 the call for a boycott has not been affected by driscoll s announced adoption in 2015 of global worker welfare standards for their independent growers and public committment to farmworker improvements with third party audits and assessments . the worker welfare standards are based on the international labor organization ilo conventions global social compliance program gscp standards business social compliance initiative bsci standards and a collaborative review of agriculture specific standards from several non governmental organizations . 13 14 in 2016 driscoll s announced a pilot program with fair trade usa to initially bring to market fair trade certified organic strawberries and organic raspberries that are grown in baja mexico . products edit driscoll s contracts with various growers to produce strawberries blackberries blueberries and raspberries both red and yellow . the berries available in either organic or non organic varieties are packed in the field as they are harvested . the company has fields in california florida mexico 15 and australia . 16 the company s organic berries are certified organic by the usda . 17 driscoll s follows good agricultural practices for food safety which are enforced at all contracting growers farms cooling and distribution facilities such as their santa maria california distribution facility . they also have a distribution facility in dover florida . 18 driscoll s recently announced an advancement in organic berries which furthers their market leadership in continuously improving organic production practices . currently driscoll s maintains the only organic strawberry nursery certified by ccof the nation s oldest and largest third party certifying agency . there are no other known commercial organic strawberry start nurseries certified under the usda national organic program . 19 references edit driscoll s aims to hook the berry buying shopper . new york times . september 6 2016 . about driscoll s . retrieved 3 january 2014 . smith dottie march 3 2011 . travelin in time those sweet sweetbriar strawberries of long ago . redding record searchlight . retrieved february 4 2013 . driscoll s growers gave former interned japanese americans a start . nikkei west . 2011 . retrieved february 4 2014 . california strawberries clear olympic hurdle . north county times . august 6 2008 . pajaro valley chamber names man and woman of the year . santa cruz sentinel . december 5 2008 . indigenous interpreting . indigenous interpreting . retrieved 2014 04 06 . potter lisa marie march 6 2015 . driscoll s leading charge for change in water policies . the salinas californian . snopes.com http www.snopes.com 2016 03 21 strawberries binational demonstration border . retrieved september 7 2016 . missing or empty title help johnson gene july 16 2015 . high court farmworkers entitled to break pay . seattle times . retrieved september 7 2016 . seattle globalist . http www.seattleglobalist.com 2016 09 06 sakuma brothers workers schedule union vote puts hold on berry boycott 55594 . retrieved september 7 2016 . missing or empty title help marosi richard april 10 2015 . mexican farmworkers target driscoll s a firm with labor friendly image . los angeles times . retrieved september 7 2016 . driscoll s applies fresh approach to ag labor relations . fresh fruit portal . february 3 2016 . driscoll s underscores commitment to worker welfare . fresh plaza . february 2016 . strawberry fields forever acres of sweeet nostalgia at driscoll berry factory . lodi news sentinel . july 5 2008 . coast lines march 27 2013 pv water agency seeks new director . santa cruz sentinel . march 26 2013 . learn more about our organic berries . driscolls.com . retrieved february 4 2014 . food safety . driscolls.com . retrieved february 4 2014 . beach coral november 6 2015 . driscoll s transitions to organic berry plants . the packer . skokie illinois . retrieved 1 february 2016 . further reading edit how driscoll s is hacking the strawberry of the future . the company is determined to breed the perfect strawberry . . driscoll s to expand organic berry nursery model throughout the americas . driscoll s exec picked to lead produce industry social responsibility group . forbes agtech summit has arrived driscoll s ceo kevin murphy talks hopes and innovations . driscoll s raises the bar on food safety & security . driscoll s safety training for field workers pdf . driscoll s clamshell traceability program . berry giant driscoll s joins effort to conserve water in california s central coast . driscoll s transitions to organic berry plants . external links edit official website v t e strawberry species f. daltoniana f. iinumae f. nilgerrensis f. nipponica f. nubicola f. pentaphylla f. vesca f. viridis f. yezoensis f. moupinensis f. orientalis f. moschata f. chiloensis f. iturupensis f. virginiana f. cascadensis hybrids f. ananassa f. bringhurstii f. vescana intergeneric hybrids fragaria comarum hybrids strawberry cultivars pineberry strasberry list of strawberry cultivars breeders george m. darrow driscoll s california strawberry commission breeding of strawberries culinary list of strawberry dishes fraise tagada strawberry cake strawberry ice cream strawberry milk strawberry pie strawberry rhubarb pie little scarlet preserve pest and diseases lepidoptera list of diseases see also list of strawberry topics strawberry festival retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title driscoll % 27s & oldid 742150424 categories agriculture companies of the united statescompanies based in santa cruz county californiafood manufacturers of the united stateswatsonville californiastrawberrieshidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlsarticles containing potentially dated statements from 2016all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia 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