A peek behind the curtain at LGMA

Sustainability has been a long-simmering trend that has now hit the front burner. The Packer, for example, has published a number of articles and held workshops to help define and shape the discussion of “what is sustainability?”

In many ways sustainability is really just about people peeking behind the curtain to learn how our food is grown. Consumers increasingly want to know what chemicals are used, how workers are treated, and, ultimately, to be assured their food is fresh, nutritious and safe. 

The desire to know what’s behind the products we buy has sparked an era of public scrutiny into companies around the globe. Americans are more skeptical and distrustful than ever and, thus, they seek to align with companies and products that reflect their values. According to marketing experts, the desire to know more about what’s behind the products we buy has increased during the pandemic. 

Yet, at the same time, millions of us were forced to forsake our favorite brands in the face of panic buying. (Think toilet paper!) Make no mistake, consumers are returning to their wary ways and want to know more about the products, people and companies they support with their dollars. 

I’ve written in this column before about purpose and ensuring that our organizations, our employees and all stakeholders understand “why” we exist. British-American author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek wrote a book called “First Ask Why” and has an 18-minute YouTube video that may save you reading the book. What Sinek rightfully advocates is that we absolutely must define the purpose of our organizations. 

As he says, all our employees know what they do, some may know how they do it, but how many know why they do their jobs?  And the why is not about profit, it’s about purpose and why the organization exists. Our values guide us in good times and bad, and a clearly defined organizational purpose will articulate the benefits of our organizations to our employees, customers and society as a whole. 

At the LGMA we’ve examined our role in society and the benefits we deliver. What we do is develop stringent food safety standards and ensure they’re followed on leafy greens farms. How we do it is by serving as a catalyst and a conduit to improved safety practices that are guided by evolving science. Then we train growers to implement these practices. Why we exist is pretty simple — to make leafy greens safer.

When I first came to the LGMA, I asked our staff to develop a short statement to describe the organization.  What we came up with is a new tagline that reads as follows; The LGMA brings farmers together to make lettuce and leafy greens safer. Importantly, this description of the LGMA includes our “why.”

The LGMA is so fortunate to have staff, committee members, committee chairs and a board of advisors who are clearly focused on our purpose. They understand it and embrace it. That’s a legacy I inherited when I came to LGMA and which I’ll continue to nurture. 

I’m firmly convinced that as pandemic-created product shortages subside, people will be looking even more closely at why a company exists and why they should support its goods and services. This is a story we must all be prepared to tell.  

Tim York is CEO of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. Read more of his columns here.