Our History

In 1951 Jesus Alderete Sr. launched J.C.A. Labor Contracting, and later renamed Premium Packing, Inc. in 1978. Alderete had been in agricultural business in the western states of California, Arizona, Oregon and Idaho since the 1950’s and had considerable experience in managing labor. Having earlier managed his family’s dairy in Mexico. Alderete was known as an honest man and very well liked, which is one of the reasons he always had abundant amount of people who wanted to work with him. He would travel to Oregon to pick sugar beets, Idaho to pick potatoes, Arizona to pick melons and California to pick Artichokes. He traveled this route for many years, however, with the demands of the business and raising a family, he decided to settle his roots in the Salinas Valley of California. Soon he began harvesting artichokes, broccoli, lettuce, and a variety of other vegetables.  As the business and his family started to grow the workload was too much for one person and the eldest of Jesus Sr. sons, Jesus Jr., entered the business in 1978.  With the help of his son they began traveling again and harvesting throughout California and Arizona.  Since then the business has increased from having about 300 employees to having an average of 3,000 yearly employees.  The business is still family owned and run on the same principles that Jesus Sr. instilled in the company.  Carrying on the legacy of Jesus Sr. from the 1950’s is still alive as the third generation of the Alderete Family are also involved in the business.  Sabrina Alderete, daughter of Jesus Jr., is the office controller; and Jesus’s two sons, Ronnie and Jesse III, handle all day-to-day harvesting operations.