News and Stories

Markon Cooperative and its foodservice members – Ben E. Keith Foods, Gordon Food Service, Gordon Food Service Canada, Maines Paper & Food Service, Nicholas & Company, Reinhart Foodservice, and Shamrock Foods Company – are the most recent Salinas Valley-based agriculture company to join the Labor of Love program. Labor of Love provides an opportunity to thank those for their service to the agriculture industry. It started as a grassroots effort by the Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association (YFVA), a Yuma group made up of growers, shippers and agriculture subsidiary professionals. Labor of Love came to the Salinas Valley with the 2016 growing season.

The morning of Thursday, Sept 8, 2016, Markon, along with Labor of Love, surprised a romaine harvesting crew packing the Markon First Crop label with breakfast on the farm as well as gift cards to Walmart, water bottles, and Markon hats and jackets. 

“At Markon, one core value is that people matter – and we know how critical to our success the people that harvest and pack our products are,” said Tim York, Markon’s president. “Through our partnership with Labor of Love, we are able to acknowledge and thank the dedicated people who work in the fields every day to ensure we are able to offer the best produce to our foodservice customers.”