294: "One in Four Bites"...Inside California’s Food and Manufacturing Heartland (LIVE from the Central Valley)

When most people think about California business, Silicon Valley and Hollywood come to mind. But travel the I-5 corridor and you’ll find one of the most productive manufacturing regions in the world, where trains, semiconductors, cell therapies, tomatoes, and wine are all made within a few hours’ drive. For this live episode, we pulled up a chair at M2 Wines in Lodi, CA, to explore manufacturing in California’s breadbasket in three parts.

We start in the Sacramento Valley, home to more than 4,000 manufacturers and some industries you might not expect. Joining us are Kevin McGrew of Siemens Mobility, who is also President of the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Alliance; Amy Schulz of Sierra College; Warren Kenzie of Orca Bio; and Scott Olson of Robert Bosch Semiconductor.

Next, we head south into the Central Valley, where the focus shifts to food and beverage manufacturing at massive scale. We talk with John Schneider, Senior VP at Stanislaus Food Products and President of the Board of the Manufacturers Council of the Central Valley; Darin Miller, Executive VP of The Wine Group; and Karen Warner, Founder and CEO of BEAM Circular.

We close with a quick conversation with Lex Carlsson of Capitol Impact about how California is moving fast on innovation and why it remains the No. 1 state for manufacturing in the U.S.