The Saturday after Christmas, another team member hit a huge milestone; Rick Zapata has now been working full-time with Pine Island Cranberry for forty years! During his time here, Rick has done a little bit of everything, and he’s always done it well.

“He was here for seasonal work at first,” says GM Fred Torres, who is also Rick’s brother-in-law. “I saw him when we were both down in Puerto Rico; I stayed longer than I was supposed to, and when I came back, Rick was here full-time and he’s been here ever since!” CEO Bill Haines has also worked with Rick since they were both teenagers: “Our first job together was spraying for dodder. He’s always been a bright guy; he’s very smart, very dedicated, and he always tries to do the job right, no matter what it is.” Both Bill and Fred also had high praise for his work during blueberry season back when Pine Island harvested those, as well. “He was our key guy in the field, in terms of managing the folks doing the harvesting,” Bill says.

“When you give him a job, he’s going to figure out the best way to do it,” Fred says. An excellent operator, Rick knows how to run every piece of equipment on the place, and what he doesn’t know, he’ll learn. “He’s always thinking,” Bill says. “And he’s never afraid to ask ‘why?'” When you challenge Rick, he will rise to the challenge. He also won’t shy away from new technology: when we started to run the new Gates Harrow, Rick quickly became the primary driver and was excited to wear the GoPro to show how the machine worked:

“He’s a pretty quiet guy, Rick is,” Fred says. “But he’s proud of his work; he’s proud of the farm and loves what he does. He’ll go home and tell his wife everything that goes on, how new equipment works, all of it.” And that goes both ways: “He’s a great employee, and we’re proud to have him,” Bill says. “I can’t believe it’s been forty years.”

Thanks, Rick, for everything you have done and for everything you continue to do. We say it a lot around here, but Rick genuinely embodies our core values of doing whatever it takes to help make this place better every day, and we’re glad he’s here!