Delegates from Salinas’ new sister city tour the county and they can’t hide their awe or smiles.

As the van leaves Salinas and heads north, the Turks chat excitedly. It’s just after 8:30am Aug. 19, and the day ahead is filled with tours of ag operations, their area of expertise.

The Turks – Haluk Kutlay and Fahri Sivrioglu – are both city councilmen of Söke, which officially became a sister city to Salinas Aug. 18. Kutlay is an ag engineer, and Sivrioglu, the vice mayor, owns a factory that extracts essential oils from discarded fruit pits.

Also in the van is Turkish-born Meltan Dermanli, a curriculum support advisor at the Defense Language Institute, who is acting as the de facto translator for the two-man delegation. Riding shotgun is County Ag Commissioner Eric Lauritzen, who explains there will be no pictures allowed during certain parts of our upcoming tour at Monterey Mushrooms in Royal Oaks, and that hairnets and beardnets will be required.

“It’s sounds very high security,” Lauritzen says, “but they’re very nice.”

Kutlay, who is visiting America for his first time, translates for Sivrioglu, who’s almost completely bald: “He says he doesn’t have a hair problem.”

After the van rolls through the gates, the group – which also includes County Parks Director Mark Mariscal, former Monterey Councilmember Nancy Selfridge and Salinas Community Services Manager Sheila Molinari – is met by Matt Fuller, Monterey Mushrooms’ quality assurance manager.

On a high vantage point, Fuller sweeps his arm over the mushroom-growing “campus,” as he calls it. The site ships out about 120,000 pounds of mushrooms daily. It’s the biggest operation of its kind in North America, he says, producing about 10 percent of the mushrooms consumed in the U.S.

The Turks, and everyone else, are wowed as Fuller leads the way into the cave-like warehouses, where stacked trays sprout hundreds of white and brown button mushrooms. Some are left to grow longer to become portabellas. A good picker, Fuller says, can harvest 80 pounds an hour.

After seeing the washing and packing area – where some mushrooms are given a 5-second flash of fluorescent light to add vitamin D – the group thanks Fuller and piles back into the van. Next up: Driscoll’s in Watsonville.

David Medina, who manages quality and logistics for Driscoll’s, meets the group in a strawberry field. The berries are picked before they’re fully ripe, he explains, so they’ll hold up for shipping. Kutlay samples a few. He does not appear impressed with the sweetness. But he and Sivrioglu are impressed with Medina, because after a later tour of the sub-40 degree packing warehouse, Kutlay asks if he can keep his safety vest as a souvenir, and if Medina will sign it.

“Young Charles Bronson,” Kutlay says of Medina, who barely shares a likeness with the late actor. But no matter: After Medina signs it, the three pose arm in arm, all smiles.

The group is running late, Lauritzen says, and everyone hustles into the van. Next on the list is Pessagno Winery.

Winemaker Ray Franscioni, who recently bought Pessagno, greets the Turks with a firm handshake and a warm smile. While simultaneously tending to beef sausages grilling outside, Franscioni pours generously over the next hour, bringing several toasts punctuated by the Turkish expression for “cheers”: serefe!

When it’s past time to leave and the rest of the group – sans the Turks – is in the van, Lauritzen stands outside anxiously. After five minutes, he asks, “What are they doing in there?”

Seconds later, Kutlay and Sivrioglu emerge with plastic cups filled with red wine. It’s hard not to share their smiles.

The van makes its next stop at a leaf lettuce field in Gonzales owned by grower Mike Costa. Workers both surround and stand atop machines that trundle over the lettuce as the workers separate the heads into leaves.

Costa is adamant I don’t reveal details of the innovative operation. “There’s a lot of people trying to figure out how we do this,” he says.

Our final stop is at the Salinas greenhouses of Floricultura, where Dutch-born CEO Kees Schoone runs a highly mechanized operation that produces 5.5 million orchids annually with 35 employees.

“Where lettuce grows outdoors, you can grow orchids indoors,” he says.

Also joining us is Salinas City Councilman Steve McShane, the primary catalyst for the sister-city relationship. He says all the money spent on the process has come from private donations, like local Rotary Clubs. It’s a way for the two cities – both driven by ag economies – to learn from each other, he says.

As the day ends, I ask Kutlay what he thinks of the sister-city relationship so far. He offers a thumb up and says, “Together we are beautiful.”