California LGMA celebrates 17 years, elects new advisory board leadership

The California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement has been bringing farmers together to make lettuce and leafy greens safer for 17 years. At a meeting on Thursday, March 30, the California LGMA appointed its new advisory board, which will serve for the next two years, and elected new board leadership.

The newly elected board leadership includes Jan Berk of San Miguel Produce as chair; Matt Amaral of D’Arrigo Bros. of California as vice chair and Chris Drew of Ocean Mist farms as secretary-treasurer.

California LGMA also recently launched LGMA Connect — an online resource library for leafy greens growers, shippers and harvesters.

“Most recently this part of our website served as a resource for materials to help the industry respond to recent flooding issues,” said April Ward, communications for California LGMA. “Coming later in 2023, LGMA will be sharing more training resources for the industry at www.lgmaconnect.com.”

In other news, California LGMA hired Jennifer Scherpinski as project coordinator — a newly created role, which supports various LGMA programs and activities, including administration, communications and technical work.

“Jenn comes to the organization with over 15 years of experience in event and meeting planning, as well as a bachelor’s of arts degree from San Jose State University in communication studies,” Ward said.

There are currently 83 leafy green handlers who are members of the California LGMA food-safety program. The full list is available to view at www.lgma.ca.gov/certified-members.

Photo: Chris Drew of Ocean Mist Farms, secretary-treasurer; Jan Berk of San Miguel Produce, chair; and Matt Amaral, D’Arrigo Bros. of CA, vice chair.