This case involves a dispute between a large scale fruit grower and beekeeping company, and a processing company that was contracted to execute harvesting operations. During the first harvest that the processing company executed for the grower, an abnormally large portion of the grower’s trees were damaged and killed, impacting the grower’s ability to produce fruit at profitable levels in future seasons. Initially, the use of RoundUp Mosanto at a nearby agriculture plot was believed to be the cause of the damage, but further investigation ruled out the possibility. It was alleged that the processing company, which used a widely accepted harvesting technique that involved shaking the trees, was negligent in that they shook the trees too hard. As a result, and abnormally high number of trees were damaged during the harvest, and the beekeeping portion of the company’s business was impacted by the reduction of trees requiring fertilization.
Questions to the Agriculture expert and their responses
Please explain your expertise pertaining to the harvesting fruit.
I grew up on a family-owned diversified farming operation that featured fruit production. I was involved in every aspect of production, especially irrigation management and harvest operations for many years. I still own an orchard that I farm regularly. I chose to focus my education on agricultural production with a particular emphasis on crop production, irrigation and drainage management, and nutrient interactions in agricultural systems - I hold a BS, MS, and PhD in those areas. I have been consulting in the agricultural arena in California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, Oregon, and other western US states for nearly 20 years. I’ve also worked in the West Bank, Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey. Much of this involved tree production in various forms.
About the expert
This expert is one of two owners and a Principal Scientist at Land IQ. Land IQ specializes in providing solutions to challenging agricultural and environmental problems throughout the world. Their areas of expertise include soil science, water quality and demand evaluation and management, agricultural systems, salinity and nutrient management, ecosystem restoration, statistics, remote sensing, geospatial analysis, land stabilization, and regulatory policy. Since earning his PhD in Soil Science, this expert has 18 years of experience in agricultural consulting in the United States. Before co-founding Land IQ, this expert spent 5 years with NewFields Agricultural and Envivronmental Resources and over 11 years with CH2MHILL.
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About the author
Joseph O'Neill
Joe has extensive experience in online journalism and technical writing across a range of legal topics, including personal injury, meidcal malpractice, mass torts, consumer litigation, commercial litigation, and more. Joe spent close to six years working at Expert Institute, finishing up his role here as Director of Marketing. He has considerable knowledge across an array of legal topics pertaining to expert witnesses. Currently, Joe servces as Owner and Demand Generation Consultant at LightSail Consulting.
