Tomato packing house supervisor Ida Castillo has always been so good at her job, Richard says, that it was almost hard to promote her.

“She’s one of those workers who you think you can’t afford to take out of her present position,” he says, “because she’s so good. But in our company we try to make sure we give people opportunities as they arise, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel in the short run.”

Ida came to the company 13 years ago, when she was hired as a banana packer at what was then Kea‘au Bananas.

“Ida was always the fastest and most efficient banana packer, and it always seemed effortless to her,” says Richard. “When we started raising hydroponic tomatoes we asked if she would consider packing tomatoes, and she immediately became the most efficient tomato packer.”

Now, he says, she’s doing a great job as the tomato packing house supervisor, her position since the beginning of the year. “Ida has the little things under control and that takes care of the big things,” he says. “She is a quiet person but she is efficient and she definitely gets the job done very well. I’m extremely proud of her.”

Outside of work, there’s her family. She is married with three children. Her sons are 24 and 19, both in the army. Her daughter, 22, recently gave Ida and her husband their first grandchild, Shayla, who is 18 months old. “That’s the first (grandchild), and we love her so much.”

She laughs when she admits she likes to watch her soap operas. “The Young and the Restless, and some Filipino soap operas,” she says. “I go to church when I’m not working. I love to go shopping.”

And how does she feel about tomatoes after years of packing 15 pounds of them into 60 boxes a day?

“I love to pack tomatoes,” she says. “I just love holding them, and the color. And I still like eating them. These are good tomatoes.”

She says she likes her job. “I always loved to work agriculture. Before I worked bananas, I worked papayas, flowers. I love it.

“Plus the management, they’re good,” she says. “They treat us like family, not a worker. They’re nice people.”

The 45-year-old says she hopes to work there for awhile. “Until I retire,” she says. “Then they going kick me out.” — posted by Leslie Lang