Bishop, Trent

Biography

Trent Bishop was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in McAllen, Texas. Surrounded by the large produce industry of deep South Texas, Trent`s interest in the industry was sparked from a young age. Growing up, Trent was a three-sport athlete and competed in UIL One Act Play. Following his high school graduation in 1989, he began his college career at University of Texas – Pan American. Bishop transferred to Texas A&M in the Fall of `91 and joined the 12th Man Kickoff Team for the `91-`92 season. While at A&M, he interned with I. Kunik Co., Zeneca, and Cable Time Advertising, as he navigated through college and his potential career options. After graduating with his degree in Agricultural Economics in 1994, Trent started his career in the produce industry with Golden Valley Distributors in McAllen, Texas.

In 1996, through connections from his internship a few years prior, Trent went to work for Zeneca. When Golden Valley Distributors was bought out by Food Source in 1999, he was recruited back to the company in McAllen, where he helped grow sales from $2 million to $35 million. He opened his own citrus business, Lonestar Procurement Company, in 2004 while also working as the Sales Manager at Healds Valley Farms. In February of 2006, along with a fellow business partner, Trent opened Lonestar Citrus; and, for the next 12 years, as Vice President of Sales, he ran a highly-successful citrus business until he sold the business in 2019.

In 2020, Trent took on the role of Vice President of Global Business Development for Sun Pacific, where he managed the importation of fresh citrus fruit from Chile, Peru, South Africa, Argentina, and Uruguay. At Sun Pacific, Bishop built and maintained relationships with growers and exporters, and helped grow various fruit business margins by more than 30%. He also established a lemon program from the ground up and began to manage the domestic lemon pricing.

Trent was presented with the opportunity to be the VP of Sales and Marketing for Sunkist Growers in 2021, which included managing five directors, sixteen key account managers, and fourteen sales coordinators. He also managed the company-wide sales department, restructured in 2021, and negotiated seasonal retail and food service contract pricing with household account names, such as Walmart, Costco, H.E.B., and Whole Foods. In 2023, Trent became President of Zano Fresh LLC, a lime and lemon producer with over 30,000 acres of production in Mexico.

A pillar of his community, Trent has served, and continues to serve, on countless advisory boards, and has been recognized as a leader in the Fruit and Vegetable industry. In 1999, he graduated from the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association Leadership Program. From 2010-2012, he served as Chair of the Board for the Texas Produce Association and he was an industry member of the Texas A&M University-McAllen advisory board that guided the initial academic programs offered at the McAllen campus. He also served on an advisory board to the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley helping guide development of the curriculum to increase its relevance to the needs of stakeholders in the Rio Grande Valley.

In 2024, Trent was appointed to the inaugural Weston Agrifood Sales Program advisory board in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University to guide the program in better serving the stakeholders of the program.

Together with his wife, Adriana, they have a beautiful, blended family of six kids. Trent loves being A Dad to five girls and a son; and their oldest daughter, Hannah Bishop =20, is a proud Fighting Texas Aggie. Trent and Adriana live in Montgomery, Texas, and they enjoy being outside and active together and with their kids. Trent jumps at any chance to fish.

Click Below for Video Interview: