YUMA, AZ & IMPERIAL VALLEY, CA - With an emphasis on food safety, the California and Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA) is continuously setting out to elevate the standards of leafy greens production for the benefit of the buyer, the supplier, and the consumer. This past January, the LGMA hosted a group of food safety professionals from various produce buying organizations for a tour of the Yuma, Arizona, and Imperial Valley, California, growing regions.

“The goal of the tour was to help produce buying organizations understand why they should make LGMA their standard for leafy greens,” Tim York, Chief Executive Officer of CA LGMA, tells me as we recap the recent event. “One of the largest benefits of this event is the open dialogue it fosters between suppliers and buyers.”

The tour attracted 25 produce buyers from companies like Associated Wholesale Grocers, Bashas’, Bloomin Brands, Denny’s, H-E-B, Markon Cooperative, McDonald's, Metropolitan Market, Raley’s, Schnuck Markets, Sprouts Farmers Market, Target, Walmart, Wegmans, Whole Foods Market, and Yum! Brands.

“On this tour, we provided an overview of the LGMA’s food safety standards with a focus on traceability, as well as the compliance, verification, and certification aspects of the program,” adds Tim. “We demonstrated these concepts through in-field demonstrations and access to subject-matter experts such as Dr. Trevor Suslow (U.C. Davis), Dr. Channah Rock (University of Arizona), and Bonnie Fernandez (Center for Produce Safety).”

Although the LGMA has hosted tours before, Tim lets me know that this was the organization’s largest event to date, and a survey of those who participated showed the event to be extremely valuable.

LGMA is already gearing up to host the event again in January 2024, and those who are interested in attending should contact the LGMA. Private tours for individual companies can also be facilitated.

For more event recaps and industry insights, keep clicking on ANUK.

California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement