Grimmway Produce Group™ and Ken Silveira make a compelling match. When the industry veteran stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer in March of 2026, he found an operation hungry for growth—an impressive feat for a company that’s already grown in its lifetime from a few hundred acres to a vertically integrated giant with over 100,000.
With an impressive resume of his own, Ken has strategies to expand the company, ones that help retailers and foodservice operators drive the future of the categories stewarded by Grimmway Produce Group.
Ken Silveira, Chief Executive Officer, Grimmway Produce Group™: Nearly four decades in, what I keep coming back to is how much this industry rewards the long view. I started out at Tanimura & Antle, where I spent close to 20 years and eventually served as President and Chief Operating Officer. That’s where I learned that great produce companies are built on great teams and relationships, not transactions. From there, I had the chance to help grow Mastronardi Produce® West in controlled environment agriculture, lead The VPS Companies in frozen, and most recently serve as President of Bengard Ranch across a 20,000-acre vertically integrated footprint.
Each step taught me a different piece of the industry, whether fresh, value-added, indoor, conventional, or organic, and that range is what I’m bringing to Grimmway Produce Group.
KS: Honestly, it was the combination of legacy and runway. Grimmway has the kind of foundation you can’t manufacture, with generations of farming expertise, a culture rooted in stewardship, and a portfolio of brands that already lead in their categories. But what made it the right move for me was the opportunity ahead: taking that scale and reliability and accelerating it with innovation that drives real category growth. Getting to do that alongside Jeff Huckaby in his new role as Chief Agricultural Officer, with his deep field knowledge anchoring the work, made the decision an easy one.
KS: In the short term, I’m focused on listening; getting out to our growing regions, facilities, and customers to understand the business firsthand; and building on the strong foundation Jeff Huckaby and the team have built. Near-term, the priority is building on the momentum already underway across our family of companies—Grimmway Farms, Cal-Organic Farms, Tasteful Selections, RPE, and San Miguel Produce—so partners experience a more complete, scaled solution from a single portfolio.
The recent expansion into Morris, Minnesota, is a good example of how that plays out in practice, diversifying our growing regions, strengthening year-round carrot supply, and giving customers even more reliability. Looking five to 10 years out, the ambition is bigger: to lead by shifting from product selling to category solutions, using our assortment, insights, and multi-region supply to help retailers grow their carrot, potato, and organic vegetable businesses, not just move cases.
"Grimmway [Produce Group™] has the kind of foundation you can’t manufacture, with generations of farming expertise, a culture rooted in stewardship, and a portfolio of brands that already lead in their categories."
Ken Silveira, Chief Executive Officer, Grimmway Produce Group™
KS: Very few companies in fresh produce can offer what this portfolio does together. With more than 100,000 acres across our operations, 55,000 of them organic, and the combined reach of Grimmway Farms, Cal-Organic Farms, Tasteful Selections, RPE, and San Miguel Produce, we bring conventional and organic, multiple commodities, and a multi-region supply base under one roof. That scale translates into reliability our partners can plan around.
What sets us apart isn’t just the size, though. We’re using that operational strength as a platform for innovation in varieties, packaging, and category strategy. The goal is to be the partner our customers turn to not just to fill a shelf or a menu, but to grow the category, and that’s a position only Grimmway Produce Group can credibly hold.
KS: Leadership in this business is about clarity, trust, and relationships. People in the field, in the plant, and at the customer’s table all need to understand where we’re headed and why it matters, and they need to know their leader is in it with them, not above it. The relationships you build along the way, with your team, your growers, and your partners, are what carry an organization through every cycle this industry throws at it.
I try to listen first, make decisions that are honest about trade-offs, and surround myself with people who are smarter than I am in their lane. When you get that right, an organization stops operating as a collection of business units and starts moving as one, which is exactly the unified strength a portfolio like ours can offer partners.
With the operational strengths of Grimmway Produce Group in good hands, the company’s legacy will only continue to extend that runway. 
