Mike Forbes recently joined American Pistachio Growers as president and CEO, bringing extensive experience in food, consumer products and wellness.
Forbes says he is excited to lead the organization, which represents more than 800 growers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Prior to APG, Forbes held leadership roles at Jim Beam, Procter & Gamble and General Mills before shifting his focus to food and wellness. He spent nearly a decade at California Olive Ranch, where he helped grow the business to more than $100 million in annual revenue and advanced to executive vice president of the consumer business.
Forbes calls his role at American Pistachio Growers “a dream job.”
Capitalizing on Health and Wellness Trends
As CEO of Alter Eco, a leading organic chocolate company, Forbes helped guide a turnaround centered on regenerative agriculture. He has also held executive leadership roles at Safely, MaryRuth Organics and The Vitamin Shoppe, where he helped drive growth, expand retail partnerships and strengthen consumer and digital businesses.
Forbes says his experience in both CPG and crop-focused companies will support APG’s emphasis on health and wellness. He notes that today’s consumers increasingly turn to TikTok and other social media platforms for health and wellness guidance.
“One of the things that’s really innate about pistachios is that we are a really healthy whole food, filled with fiber — three times the fiber of cashews — and a lot of protein,” he says. “The more we get the word out to nutrition influencers, wellness influencers and those social channels, the better off we’re going to be.”
Fiber and protein continue to be key nutrition trends that pistachios are uniquely positioned to capitalize on. Clean eating is another major focal point for American Pistachio Growers.
“We can just point out how simple and pure this food is,” he says. “Everybody gets and understands that the pistachio and its nutritional profile is great. And you can get it in a bunch of different forms.”
Forbes notes this includes whole kernels as well as emerging products like pistachio butter, which continues to gain market momentum.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for us just to point out that this is a simple food,” he says. “It is a clean whole food — and look at the nutritional profile.”
Digital Marketing, Culinary Partnerships and Expanding Global Markets
Forbes says his digital experience will help APG track purchases, clicks and interactions to guide its marketing spending better and respond to changing shopper habits. As consumers become more sophisticated about food, many want to recreate gourmet dishes at home, making chefs and culinary influencers important partners.
“We’re actually investing a lot in our marketing efforts, especially overseas, developing those relationships with culinary influencers, with chefs,” he says. “You never know what the next Dubai chocolate is going to be, but there will be one, and our job is to seed a few of those ideas.”
Forbes highlights the quality of U.S.-grown pistachios compared with those grown elsewhere.
“You can really see and taste the difference and the quality in an American-grown pistachio,” he says, noting that California supplies about 70% of the world’s pistachios.
That quality is a natural fit for export markets, which Forbes and the APG team hope to expand. One opportunity is Japan, where Forbes says his previous roles showed him that high-quality, intentionally grown crops and foods resonate with consumers.
“I think we can do that with pistachios, and I think they’ll really appreciate the story that we can talk about all the care that goes into that product,” he says.
India is another export market where American pistachios would have a natural fit, Forbes says. APG has partnered with cricket stars to tout pistachios as a performance food with a strong nutritional profile.
“In India, we look at that food profile, the fit with the athlete and just where pistachios sit relative to all the other nuts they eat and what the potential is,” he says. “We’re really, really excited about our growth there, and it’s been a really exciting launch in the last year.”
Sustainable Farming for Future Growth
Forbes says pistachio growers face several challenges, including rising fuel and input costs alongside long-term water availability concerns.
This year, growers are also facing a difficult season after significant heat during pollination contributed to a lighter harvest. Forbes says APG will focus on moving forward and identifying practices that may have helped some orchards fare better than others.
Forbes says another key focus will be weaving sustainability into the story of pistachio growing. He points to a $7 million grant the organization received to promote these efforts.
“We like to keep our sustainability story simple, and we actually want to make sure we’re doing things that are helping the planet and also helping the grower,” he says.
This includes precision fertilization, irrigation, soil amendments and more. Early research is promising, Forbes says.
“What I think is great about APG is we’re good at both sides of the equation. We actually have really, really great marketing overseas that helps open markets and help move product — and the more product moves, prices tend to go up, which is good for growers,” he says. “We’re actually also really, really good at the input side: getting out with our growers, working hand in hand to understand which of these ideas can help keep yields stable or improve but also help in resource conservation and therefore dollar conservation to them as well.”
