CleverRoot

f a l l 2 0 1 7 | 5 by Jesse Hom-Dawson / photos by John Curley B ordering U.S. Hwy. 101 through California's Salinas Valley in Mon- terey County are acres and acres of green produce arranged in tidy rows; they extend to the Gabilan Range framing the valley on the east, and stop at the Santa Lucia Range to the west. Drivers don't stop often and barely glance at either side as they speed toward their destination in Northern or Southern California. But despite its repetitive exterior, that 90-mile stretch of the Salinas Valley plays an indis- pensable role in our nation's produce supply. According to the Monterey County Farm Bureau, 61 percent of the nation's leaf lettuce is grown within Salinas' almost 370,000 production acres, along with 57 percent of our celery and 48 percent of our broccoli. I recently took a trip there to learn a little more about Mann Packing Co., one of the biggest grower/shippers in "America's Salad Bowl." Mann's origins are reminiscent of a Steinbeck novel. H.W. Mann began working in the Salinas fields for 40 cents an hour in the late 1930s, and in 1976, Bill Ramsey and Don Nucci became partners in the business with Mann. Today, Mann's spans three generations of the Nucci and Ramsey families; it has 700 employees, and the majority of the business is women- owned and -operated. Its produce, meanwhile, can be purchased across the country in nearly every major grocery store. As the fog still blankets the valley floor, Mann's CEO Lorri Koster and I drive out into the fields to meet up with Mike Costa, the primary grower. His family history is similar to that of the Mann family: His father started growing beets during the late 1950s, and now Costa, his siblings and his children farm the same land his father did. The relationship between Mann's and the Costa family stretches back to the 1970s, when the Costas grew broccoli for them before switching to leaf lettuce in 1982. Other major changes have been implemented in the years since. "We're getting more and more into Organic as demand is going up. It used to be a niche, but now Organic produce is mainstream, so we're trying to keep up with demand since the transition to Certified Organic crops takes around three years," Costa says. "We grow 40–50 varieties of lettuce through- out the year, and we have rotational crops of sugar snap peas, broccoli, broccolini® and cauliflower. We're constantly working with breeders and seed companies to try new varieties as well. If you're standing still, you're going backwards." Costa's farm has expanded beyond the valley, with production moving to the Arizona and California deserts when it's too cold to grow certain crops in Salinas. The marine layer from the Pacific Ocean that covers the valley allows its growing season to be longer than most, typically lasting from March to November. Mann's is currently pursuing more culinary-focused business practices by working with chefs to create recipes with their products—like a pesto using their custom salad blend, or pickling their snap peas. They've also intro- duced their own panel of Central Coast and Bay Area chefs to provide feed- back and insight on Mann's new products and culinary trends. "We want to know how people are using our products, and we want to create new and innovative ways to use our produce and constantly evolve," Koster says. Lorri Koster is the CEO of Mann Packing, and is part of the third generation of the Nucci family to work in the Salinas produce industry. "We're constantly working with breeders and seed companies to try new varieties as well. If you're standing still, you're going backwards."

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