Growers Express

Stan Pura was born and raised in Greenfield, California on the family farm. A third generation farmer, Stan's grandfather was a dairy farmer and his father a vegetable grower. By the time he was eight years old he knew he wanted to be a farmer. He lived on the ranch, working after school and on weekends throughout high school, and rented his first piece of ground from his grandmother when he was 22 years old to begin farming.

In 1986, Stan teamed with six other major growers in the Salinas Valley to form Growers Vegetable Express. Together the partners started one of the most innovative and respected fresh vegetables growing and farming operations in the North America.

Stan feels the competitiveness of the produce industry is what drives him. "In establishing Growers Express, we had to build our reputation from scratch. It was our new company vs. established ones, and we had to be better in order to succeed," he explained. "We have to perform every single day, producing quality vegetables."

Stan has five daughters and is optimistic that one of the youngest ones will end up with the "muddy boots" of a farmer. He and his wife Jamii enjoy work-related activities in their free time and living in a rural environment. They operate a cow-calf operation, and enjoy all types of sporting events and traveling.