I’ve been photographing and writing about food for just about 20 years now, the majority of that time in the produce industry. It’s beyond trendy these days to pull out your iPhone and take a shot of your plate when you’re out to dinner, but back when I started as a local restaurant reviewer, it was seen as a bit outrageous, if not downright rude.  I’d pack my Canon in a large purse (remember, no sleek iPhones then) and try to get my shot quickly before people noticed and started asking questions or giving me dirty looks. Now when I dine out, I usually have to wait for everyone at the table to get their shot before I can dig in. 

My point is that a lot has changed in the world of food marketing. Years ago, a positive review in your local paper or if you were really lucky, The New York Times meant you were golden…but now with Yelp, Twitter, Facebook, and food bloggers trending across the globe, many restaurant customers may not even notice the professionally written newspaper or magazine reviews. 

To make it in the more democratic food world of today, businesses have to stand out for one thing and one thing only: quality. The customer has gained much more control (rightly so) of what goes on the plate, so foodservice operations must pay close attention to what they are saying and how they can deliver. Gone (or almost gone) are the days of having a glossy, expensive advertising campaign yet terrible, thoughtless food. Now if you try to serve inferior products, the whole internet is going to know it in about ten seconds. The world has gotten so much smaller that we can communicate our likes and dislikes with just the click of a button—a here-to-stay trend that will ultimately help shape the menus of tomorrow.

Thankfully, those of us in this industry are way ahead of the game. Fresh produce? Healthy fruits and vegetables packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and a whole host of other goodies that doctors are just beginning to discover—these factors made my job easy from the start. Ever try to photograph a steak? Or a whole turkey? How about a pork loin? Dark brown, light brown, and beige...these products can really try a photographer’s soul. But bright orange carrots, deep red tomatoes, the purples and blues of berries, and the deep green of spinach…their beauty is pure and has no need of journalistic manipulation. 

Quick—what’s the biggest trend of 2013? If you guessed vegetables as the center of the plate, you are right. The world has grown wiser—but sadly, fatter, so diners are demanding higher quality, fewer calories, and less processed/more natural products on their plates. And for that, fresh produce is the answer. When I write about fresh produce, I don’t have to use tricky words to steer around potentially bad aspects like other industries because there simply aren’t any in produce. What’s bad about fresh fruits and vegetables? Nothing—they’re good for you, gorgeous, and delicious—and Markon sells the best of the best. My bet is that menu items featuring Markon First Crop and Ready-Set-Serve products will generate more interest for Instagram photos, Facebook shares, Tweets, and Yelp reviews—and for restaurant operators, this is the best kind of authentic, word-of-mouth advertising you can get. 

In November of 2003, I stood on the receiving dock at Maines Paper & Food Service as a truckload of Markon Ready-Set-Serve produce was unloaded.  At 25 years old, I was unknowingly about to get a new education.  

I grew up in the produce business.  My earliest memories are having pictures of me taken in front of my Dad’s huge apple displays, re-stacking bushels of peaches in my uncle’s warehouse, and being scolded for dropping a box of zucchini instead of gently placing it down.  Even my great-grandfather’s emigration papers from Sicily listed his occupation as “fruit peddler".  I knew produce…or so I thought!

This was different though.  I sat and watched as white box after white box of chopped romaine, broccoli florets, baby peeled carrots—even washed & trimmed, iceless green onions came off of the truck.  I had some experience with processed produce, but I certainly wouldn’t call it “value-added”.  This product was fresh, well packaged, and just looked good.  I had to find out more about this Markon.

As the day went on, several more trucks came in full of white Markon First Crop boxes.  Green leaf, iceberg, oranges, potatoes, onions, and the nicest boxes of celery I had ever seen.  This was cool, but why hadn’t I ever heard of Markon, when I was familiar with Dole, Church, Sunkist, and the other top growers?

As the new Produce Specialist at Maines, I was about to learn all about Markon, including their strict specifications  for quality, yield, consistency, and food safety, and what it took to be an approved grower-shipper of the Markon brand.  I won cutting after cutting against competitors with the weight of my lettuce, consistency of potatoes, and shelf-life of spring mix.

I had become a believer, but not fully.

Then I visited Markon for the first time.  Riding around in Markon’s Lead Inspector John Galvez’s white Toyota truck, I saw firsthand what went into selecting growers, fields, and even rows inside the fields for Markon brand.  I was impressed by the mutual respect between Markon inspectors and harvesting crews.  And spending some time in the Markon office, I felt their passion for delivering the highest quality produce to us, their members.

That week in the Salinas Valley broadened my perspective of the produce industry.  I had spent many years in fields, coolers, and warehouses, but I hadn’t seen anything like America’s Salad Bowl—and nobody understood it and managed it better than Markon.  Indeed, seeing was believing.

Sharing vital information through pictures has long been an important part of being a Markon Inspector. As someone who enjoys taking photographs, I’m always interested in learning about new equipment or technology that can help capture a better shot whether it be for business or recreation purposes. That’s why I was blown away when I first started hearing about a new kind of camera that has the ability to create living, interactive photos, and the potential applications for such a camera within our field.

If you haven’t heard much about Lytro cameras yet, chances are you soon will. They are a definite game-changer in the photography world because they are the first of their kind to feature something called light-field technology in a compact, consumer camera. So what’s the big deal about it? Well, one of the main attractions is that it allows the user to focus any picture after the fact. Yes, you read that correctly: after the photograph has been taken. It also features perspective shift which can create an almost 3D feel.

Imagine never having to worry about focusing on a particular subject in your viewfinder because you can fine-tune it after taking the picture. I can certainly think of some useful ways to use a camera like that in our daily quality inspections. For example, when evaluating Ready-Set-Serve salad items, we might need to show the overall quality of the product, as well as any defects that were found, and also the trace back information on the carton for reference. But it’s hard to capture all of that information in one shot, let alone in focus, so multiple shots are typically needed. With a Lytro camera, we could theoretically take one picture and with a simple point and click of a mouse, viewers can pull the focus to any point in the background or foreground of the photo.

Apart from the practical applications, it’s the endless creative possibilities that have me taking a closer look at whether or not this camera could become another useful tool in the Markon arsenal—not only for reporting on quality, but also for marketing and social media purposes. 

To learn more, visit the Lytro website and view some of the demonstration pictures and videos. You might also start thinking about how a Lytro camera could be beneficial in your line of work, but at the very least, I’ll bet you’ll say to yourself, “Wow, that’s pretty cool.”

A quote from teachings of Lao-Tzu in the Tao Te Ching states:

The Master doesn’t talk, he acts.

When his work is done, 

The people say, 

“Amazing; we did it, all by ourselves!”

I was recently fortunate to be able to travel abroad with the California Agricultural Leadership Program (CALP) for an international seminar in India and Nepal. During the two-week seminar we studied business, cultural, political, and socioeconomic issues as they relate to leadership and agriculture. The people of these regions are well-versed in these topics—with a population of over 1.2 billion people, they have to be! Water, plumbing, sewage, and food distribution are only a few of the challenges this area faces, for example, there are over 600 million people in the country without direct access to a toilet. In fact, there are more cell phones than toilets in India. It’s estimated that 40 children die per hour due lack of access to and cleanliness of water. And although electricity is 100% subsidized, in many areas there is no regular trash collection. This means throughout the country, trash is thrown onto the ground or collected into big piles where pigs, dogs, cows, goats, and humans rummage for food or fodder. 

But don’t let these issues fool you—there is a sense of contentment, joy, hope, love for life, and exuberance held by these people.  Indians respect each other for who they are and what they stand for. Beliefs are displayed and celebrated rather than only discussed behind closed doors. The Indian term “jugaar” applies to most situations here; it literally means “to make due.” I am inspired by the people of India who exemplify this “get it done” philosophy.  Similar to the Markon staff, Indians are problem solvers of a different level.  

During the course of the journey we experienced both politics and culture. We were blessed with the opportunity to travel with a prior graduate of the CALP program, Karamdeep Singh Baines.  'Karm’ is a fourth generation tree fruit, almond, and prune farmer in the Central Valley of California and part of a prominent political and religious family exemplifying the Sikh religion. We essentially had a backstage pass to meet with political leaders and learn about the Sikh religion in a way that can only be done through firsthand experiences and candid conversations.  Our group received a blessing at the Golden Temple in Amritsar by the high priest of the Sikh religion (the equivalent to the Catholic Vatican and Pope). We were honored to be welcomed in such a way and happy to don turbans while we toured the temple and community kitchen (that voluntarily feeds over 70,000 people daily). Sitting on the ground, breaking bread with other worshipers, and even helping prepare some of the authentic Indian fare was a cultural experience I will never forget. 

Being that CALP is a leadership development program, there were many leadership lessons learned along the way. One that sticks out prominently is our experience at the Punjab Agricultural University. Our delegation of 23 fellows engaged in dialogue and Q&A with several of the university’s Deans of the Colleges of Agriculture.  We represented California agriculture and the United States in an impressive way, pooling our knowledge together to explain topics that ranged from growing and cultivation practices to post-harvest handling and distribution.  It was through this experience that I cemented my confidence in my individual and our collective knowledge of the produce industry. Much of the discussion involved increasing value along the supply chain and the concept of contracts. I was able to provide insight and understanding into how these systems work in the US. Our performance definitely had an impact on the university, for we were featured in one of the state’s newspapers, Punjab News.

As mentioned in previous Seedlings posts, people matter at Markon. This ideal was reinforced by my gracious Markon family over the two weeks I was away. I was concerned about my wife and children during my extended travels, so I asked a few people at Markon to help out with pre-made dinners. My co-workers at Markon jumped at the opportunity. I’m grateful to announce that dinners were dropped off at our house almost every day along with emotional and moral support.  My family is deeply indebted to the Markon staff for such generous contributions.  I’m also so appreciative of the support from the Purchasing and Customer Support teams at Markon for rising to the occasion and assuming the extra workload during my absence.  I’m only one link in the chain, but when someone is missing from our team, we all feel it. I pledge to remember this amazing experience and bring my new perspective to the team to make us all more effective.