Crown Jewels taps veteran grower to expand production base
Crown Jewels taps veteran grower to expand production base
FRESNO, CA -- Crown Jewels Marketing & Distribution, here, has hired Lance Shebelut, a partner in Madera, CA-based Dell Shebelut Farms, to head grower relations and help expand the company's production base.
"Lance is a great asset to the company," John Hein, vice president of sales and marketing and a partner in the company, said in announcing the new hire.
"Prior to my arrival as a member of Crown Jewels," said Mr. Hein, who joined the company in January, "their goal was to find an individual [to handle grower relations] that had all of the attributes that Lance has. He is a grower with experience in many commodities. He is well educated. He has a compatible philosophy. He is the whole package."
Shebelut Farms currently grows a variety of permanent crops, mainly apples, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, Asian pears and almonds. Shortly after Mr. Hein joined Crown Jewels, he and the other partners in the company met with Mr. Shebelut and his father, Monte Shebelut, to talk to them about marketing their Asian pears and some of their other commodities that had previously been sold by other marketing companies.
"We were going to start the search" for a grower relations director, said Mr. Hein. But after the meeting with Mr. Shebelut, "it was a unanimous decision that this is our guy." So he was invited to return for another meeting and was offered the position.
Mr. Shebelut, who also has experience farming other permanent crops such as oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, avocados, kiwifruit, pomegranates, persimmons, table grapes and raisin grapes, told The Produce News that the offer from Crown Jewels came at a good time for him. His family's farming operation had at one time comprised about 1,400 acres, but in recent years it has been downsized to about 500 acres, enabling him to "finally venture out and do some other things," he said.
"One of the things I have really missed in farming our own place is just interaction with other people. You find yourself out there [on the farm] from 4:30 in the morning until 8:00 at night. I am excited about the opportunity to meet with growers."
Mr. Shebelut attended both Stanford University and California State University-Fresno. "I was an all-American baseball player at Fresno State, and I signed with [the] Detroit [Tigers] out of college," he said.
He played for two seasons with the Tigers and then came back to the family farm, investing his baseball earnings in 160 acres of orchards, primarily Fuji and Gala apples. He has been farming full time for the last 16 years or so.
That experience will help in his role as a "conduit" between the sales team and the growers, helping the company and the growers to make better decisions in the field, said Mr. Hein.
Mr. Shebelut said that his decision to join Crown Jewels was largely influenced by "the people that are here. I think that is what sold it for me. You have four top-notch lead sales guys," he said, referring to Rob Mathias, the company's president, and his partners, Steve Poindexter, Atomic Torosian and Mr. Hein. "It's like having four Barry Bondses all on one team."
Part of Mr. Shebelut's responsibilities will be to develop additional fruit acreage to meet Crown Jewels' growing needs. But both he and Mr. Hein were emphatic that they were not looking for more packages just for the sake of more packages.
"We have certain needs," said Mr. Shebelut. "We want to grow the company, but we want to grow it in the right way." The goal is to fill the company's specific needs "without overdoing it, so we can do a proper job for the grower." The way to do that is to have the right product and the right amount of packages to meet customers' needs, he said.
Mr. Shebelut will be working mainly with "our existing growers," said Mr. Hein. Where the company has need for additional volume of specific commodities and varieties, the plan is to encourage existing growers to plant more trees or vineyards to meet those needs, he said.
"If in the process of doing that we come across a grower that Lance feels has some really strong attributes that they can bring to our program, then we will do that as well," said Mr. Hein.
"Lance is a great asset to the company," John Hein, vice president of sales and marketing and a partner in the company, said in announcing the new hire.
"Prior to my arrival as a member of Crown Jewels," said Mr. Hein, who joined the company in January, "their goal was to find an individual [to handle grower relations] that had all of the attributes that Lance has. He is a grower with experience in many commodities. He is well educated. He has a compatible philosophy. He is the whole package."
Shebelut Farms currently grows a variety of permanent crops, mainly apples, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, Asian pears and almonds. Shortly after Mr. Hein joined Crown Jewels, he and the other partners in the company met with Mr. Shebelut and his father, Monte Shebelut, to talk to them about marketing their Asian pears and some of their other commodities that had previously been sold by other marketing companies.
"We were going to start the search" for a grower relations director, said Mr. Hein. But after the meeting with Mr. Shebelut, "it was a unanimous decision that this is our guy." So he was invited to return for another meeting and was offered the position.
Mr. Shebelut, who also has experience farming other permanent crops such as oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, avocados, kiwifruit, pomegranates, persimmons, table grapes and raisin grapes, told The Produce News that the offer from Crown Jewels came at a good time for him. His family's farming operation had at one time comprised about 1,400 acres, but in recent years it has been downsized to about 500 acres, enabling him to "finally venture out and do some other things," he said.
"One of the things I have really missed in farming our own place is just interaction with other people. You find yourself out there [on the farm] from 4:30 in the morning until 8:00 at night. I am excited about the opportunity to meet with growers."
Mr. Shebelut attended both Stanford University and California State University-Fresno. "I was an all-American baseball player at Fresno State, and I signed with [the] Detroit [Tigers] out of college," he said.
He played for two seasons with the Tigers and then came back to the family farm, investing his baseball earnings in 160 acres of orchards, primarily Fuji and Gala apples. He has been farming full time for the last 16 years or so.
That experience will help in his role as a "conduit" between the sales team and the growers, helping the company and the growers to make better decisions in the field, said Mr. Hein.
Mr. Shebelut said that his decision to join Crown Jewels was largely influenced by "the people that are here. I think that is what sold it for me. You have four top-notch lead sales guys," he said, referring to Rob Mathias, the company's president, and his partners, Steve Poindexter, Atomic Torosian and Mr. Hein. "It's like having four Barry Bondses all on one team."
Part of Mr. Shebelut's responsibilities will be to develop additional fruit acreage to meet Crown Jewels' growing needs. But both he and Mr. Hein were emphatic that they were not looking for more packages just for the sake of more packages.
"We have certain needs," said Mr. Shebelut. "We want to grow the company, but we want to grow it in the right way." The goal is to fill the company's specific needs "without overdoing it, so we can do a proper job for the grower." The way to do that is to have the right product and the right amount of packages to meet customers' needs, he said.
Mr. Shebelut will be working mainly with "our existing growers," said Mr. Hein. Where the company has need for additional volume of specific commodities and varieties, the plan is to encourage existing growers to plant more trees or vineyards to meet those needs, he said.
"If in the process of doing that we come across a grower that Lance feels has some really strong attributes that they can bring to our program, then we will do that as well," said Mr. Hein.
