Culture, Featured, People

A Statement from El Grupo Crespo

June 11, 2020

“We stand for equality, justice and respect for all beings”

En Español
It’s difficult for me to joyously post, teach about mangoes and continue to educate (or propagandize might be a better word) when the world seems to be at such a distinct moment in time, on the brink of a major shift in collective thinking.

While I think Crespo does this (propagandize) with a level of authenticity that’s rare in this business, sharing our point-of-view on the world of mangoes, organics, Mexican farmers, and farming communities… we are but one voice in a sea of many like us. Yes, we consider ourselves experts on these subjects and, from the perspective of the farmer and farming community and through the lens of Mexican culture, we are an under-represented in our industry as a whole.

 

As the voice and marketer of the Crespo brand, I often speak for the brand and, thus, the whole family, so I say we here.

We would be remiss if we went about our business like nothing has happened in the past several weeks.

We unequivocally condemn police brutality, and we support the route to justice and the momentous movement toward equality that we see being demanded throughout the USA and across the globe.

As an agricultural company we know all too well how life continues despite the cruelest of circumstances. Crops show us this season after season after season. So here we are in the midst of the heaviest part of our mango season. A season so far that has been good but overwhelmingly difficult to maneuver through, exhausting. Especially as COVID-19 continues to plague and affect every major US & Canadian city where we sell our goods.

COVID-19 is also presently sweeping through the state of Arizona at an alarming rate, affecting many of our operations in Nogales. Things at the border are difficult, to say the least, and this is after tensions in general have run high there and after most activities were put to a halt there.

We brace for COVID-19’s effects in El Rosario, as well, where we are currently packing in Empaque Don Jorge with a tremendous amount of new stress, due to the several new orders of human safety protocols. Things are slow, costly and feel heavy. And yet a wall of mangoes still comes from the orchards, regardless of our or the markets’ readiness.

The fruit grows and continues to grow. It needs to be picked, packed and shipped despite all of the global uprisings and the pandemic the hovering over us physically and over all of our shareholders in cities like NYC, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Oakland and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Portland, Seattle, Miami and more. All of these shareholders are counting on us to come through, despite the unknowns we all face. We have an extremely large body of employees (family & community members) who count on us for their livelihoods.

Despite everything we still have a job to do. We have a responsibility to do the job and do it well, and so we must and simultaneously rise up in support of equality and the protesting of systemic racism.

Our work is important. It’s more than just growing and selling mangoes and educating consumers on how to choose, cut and use them. Our work is essentially connecting the dots of between agriculture, food and people, through the lens of the Mexican farmer and the taste of a mango.

As our founder Roberto Crespo Fitch, the driving force of Crespo’s mission,  demonstrated with his actions and nonactions;  we are simultaneously and indefinitely listening, learning and growing.

 

 

 

 

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