Keep the Best People To Help Grow Your Agribusiness

Renato Zardo, American Vegetable Grower’s 2025 Central Region winner for the Grower Achievement Award, said something that snagged my attention: “The culture of an organization is dictated by the worst behavior a manager is willing to tolerate.”

Some might hear that and think he’s hard to satisfy. I thought of someone with the same stance who built one of the most talented, passionate staff I’ve seen: Gavin Herbert, Jr., of Roger’s Gardens in Southern California.

Envious peers point to the garden store’s wealthy beach community of Corona del Mar and call it an unfair advantage. Herbert might say it’s an unfair disadvantage. For starters, Herbert rents his seven coastal acres and buildings. That ground has a Pacific view and premium pricing. Add in California’s notorious regulations and high labor costs, the fact a garden retailer thrives there is remarkable.

How does he do it? He bets on people. And standards.

His VP & General Manager, Ron Vanderhoff, is renowned for deep horticultural knowledge and team development. His long-time Creative Director, Eric Cortina, turns older, uninspiring structures into immersive retail. Shoppers focus on the experience, not the ceilings and walls. Through Roger’s, Cortina launched a successful ornament line that grew into other decorative pieces yet stayed with the company. After a long career, he retired in 2022. The equally talented Hedda Staines continues the legacy.

Is Herbert lucky with résumés? Not really. He once told me:

“I’ve fired more than 75% of the people I hired.”

It wasn’t bravado; it was clarity. You keep A-players by refusing to carry people who won’t carry the standard.

Which brings me back to Zardo. Like Herbert, he protects his team by acting on behaviors that corrode culture — chronic lateness, corner-cutting, cliques. When those go unchecked, good workers coast, great one’s seethe, and service slips. That’s how toxic workplaces start.

Strong leaders hire carefully, coach hard, and make timely decisions. They fix the sharpest pain first, so everyone feels the win. They put people where they can succeed, respect dignity when roles change, and remove what drags the team down.

Zardo lives like that. It’s why his crew followed him into a storm, literally and figuratively. Your best people notice what you tolerate. So do your customers. Protect the standard, and they’ll reward you for it.