News and Stories

Markon inspectors began observing a random, but serious defect in several Salinas Valley Iceberg lettuce fields from our mid-week field inspections (see attached photos). We brought samples to a local plant pathologist and farm advisor laboratory for analysis. They shared there have been a few other inquiries from growers about this same issue, and have determined the concern to be a physiological defect caused by the particularly volatile weather experienced over the last two months in the Salinas growing region.

We have instructed all harvesting crews packing Markon product to trim heads down (removing more wrapper leaves and cap leaves) in order to have the best chance of detecting damaged heads and avoid packing them. Due to removing extra wrapper and cap leaves, expect to see a paler color and lighter case weights as a result.

Fall is historically a challenging time to grow high quality product due to the extreme weather swings the Central Coast of California can experience. The graphs below illustrate several extreme anomalies this fall in particular, and some lettuce varieties are clearly not reacting well to these challenges.

Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.

John Galvez

Quality Assurance

markon.com

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