CALIFORNIA & NORTH CAROLINA - As we quickly approach November and Thanksgiving ads, California’s Country Sweet Produce and Quail H. Farms report on track harvests for the season.

“Everything in our ballpark is right where it needs to be, the last crop finished right on time with the new crop on track, so there were no gaps in supply,” shares Country Sweet Produce Commodity Sales Manager, Cody Rose. Cody tells me that the weather for California has been fantastic, and that quality looks great. Currently, volume is on the rise with the state in the thick of harvest, looking to move into the storage phase of harvest in the next couple of weeks.

When I ask about demand, Cody explains, “As soon as the weather starts to cool down sweet potato consumption tends to go up. That being said, the category has changed; health benefits and promotions have boosted demand year-round.”

Some of the factors Cody names that have boosted demand are different packaging to highlight sweet potatoes on the shelf, individual microwavable sweet potato offerings, one-and-a-half pound and family-sized packs, and other methods that have taken down prep times to make the category more convenient for on-the-go consumers.

Larelle Miller of Quail H. Farms shares, “We are definitely seeing an increase in demand, just in the last several weeks we’ve had a significant increase in movement.” She added that everything is looking good in terms of quality to meet that demand. “We felt pretty good about the market going into the month of October, and currently we are at a level retailers can promote when switching to their fall set.”

Recently, the North Carolina Sweet Potato Council sent out an update after experiencing Hurricane Matthew, reporting that growers and shippers remained optimistic as everything was assessed. One reason for optimism was that the state’s famous Covington sweet potato has shown strong resilience to excessive water, including 2015’s Hurricane Joaquin.

As of October 12, NCSPC estimated that about half of the crop had been harvested and some harvesting has resumed. Joshua Wright of Ham Produce confirmed that the company was back in motion 48 hours after the storms, with as much as 65% already harvested.

“Any fields that did have water, which was minimal at best, didn’t have any sweet potatoes,” Josh shares, explaining that the company started harvesting at lower ground levels first and reporting that everything is fine.

In terms of awareness and increased consumption of sweet potatoes, Larelle thanks the councils for getting the message out there, and believes it’s time to get the retailers involved.  

"The U.S., CA, and NC sweet potato council's have done a great job of getting the message of versatility out through their websites and social media, as well as blogs, and health messages. It's not just sweet potato pie anymore,” she laughs, emphasizing that education and awareness are important. “As a shipper we don’t always have the eyes or ears of the consumer, but the retailers do.”

AndNowUKnow will continue to report on this and other current markets throughout the remainder of 2016 and beyond.

Country Sweet Produce Quail H. Farms Ham Produce

MONTEREY, CA – As California continues to grow as a vital center for fresh produce growth and innovation, the Grower-Shipper Association Foundation, in collaboration with CSU Monterey Bay College of Business and PG&E, is kicking off its annual Greater Vision 2016 educational event tomorrow, October 26th. This year’s topic…The Future of Labor: The Impact of Technology on Employment and Community Life in the Salinas Valley.

Brian Antle, Vice President of Harvest at Tanimura & Antle and a guest speaker at the event, joined me to discuss the impact of such a program and what the pressing issues of today mean for California.

“The vegetable industry is faced with a workforce that is aging out, with no one to fill their positions on the farm due to tighter restrictions on the border, access to higher education for the next generation, and few domestic workers willing to do the jobs,” Brian tells me. “This event provides an opportunity to bring together industry leaders and Salinas Valley knowledge and expertise, to address the hot topics and challenges of today.” 

The Greater Vision program, launched in 2006, is a free annual event that addresses the contemporary issues facing the agricultural industry and the community. Designed for students, professionals, and community members, this program is open to all those interested in the future of agriculture in California and the industry in which we all hope to thrive.

Brian shares some of the possible solutions that can address the growing labor problem, and how technology aligned with collaboration can truly help the cause.

“Automation and robotics will have to bridge the gap between lack of labor and increases in demand for fresh vegetables and fruit,” Brian says. “There have been massive gains made in the fields of automation but nothing has yet been created that can efficiently replicate the skilled labor being done by humans, and also do it in a variety of conditions they experience in the field including wind, rain, and mud.”

So, what are some of the main goals of the Greater Vision program?

• To foster an informed dialogue on the impact of the CIT, chemical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and IOT technology-based agricultural revolution on Salinas Valley employment and life
• Frame opportunities and challenges, and find solutions to the problems of economic, technological, social change
• To inform, educate, and raise visibility and impact of Salinas Valley agriculture industry with attendees across the region 
• To raise the visibility and impact of the GSAF and the CSUMB Agribusiness Program

Along with Brian, a host of industry leaders will also be addressing the crowd, from President of the Grower-Shipper Association Foundation Margaret D’Arrigo-Martin, and former California Secretary of Agriculture A.G. Kawamura, to Ray E. Corpuz, Jr., who has over 24 years as City Manager, currently for Salinas, and Julio Sanchez, GM of RAMCO Enterprises.

The day will kick off at 8 a.m. when an expo will bring the topics direct to attendees, along with a Welcome Address from Margaret D’Arrigo-Martin and a host of speakers and panels to bring insights to attendees throughout the day.

Clear your calendar for tomorrow if you can, and pen in this not-to-be-missed event!

Grower-Shipper Association Foundation

PACIFIC OCEAN – Newly branded the latest major hurricane of the current season, Hurricane Seymour continues to grow in the eastern Pacific. The storm system is now being recognized as a Category 3 hurricane, and quickly gaining further intensity. 

So, just where is Seymour headed? Officials have pinned the hurricane’s location at around 600 miles south-southwest of Baja California’s tip, and moving further from the coast as it progresses. As of its hurricane classification this morning, Seymour’s winds had increased to roughly 115 mph, with the hurricane moving west at 15 mph.

According to The Weather Channel, the National Hurricane Center stated that Seymour is expected to reach a Category 4 classification later today. The hurricane will weaken later this week after being exposed to increased wind and cooler water.

Although Seymour is not expected to make landfall or be a direct threat to the coast at this time, The Weather Network stated that the hurricane could feed into the current system affecting southern California later this week which is bringing much needed rainfall.

Authorities have also stated that just like with any tropical storm system, heavy rain, high surf, and coastal flooding may spread beyond the hurricane's projected impact zone. Weather.com stated that Seymour is now the 13th storm system of 2016 to reach hurricane classification in the Pacific Ocean.

As hurricane season continues to progress, AndNowUKnow will have the latest in subsequent storm information and impacts on the industry.

AUSTIN, TX - It isn’t Halloween yet, but there do seem to be some active ghosts in the cyber network. Whole Foods experienced technical issues at registers in several states, but looks to be quickly rectifying the situation.

“We’ve experienced an unforeseen login issue within our point of sale systems, and registers are resetting and coming back online,” Global Vice President of Communications Brooke Buchanan responded to the occurrence in a press release.

Fortunately the spotty cyber hiccups were not a complete blackout, according to news source NBC Bay Area, though shoppers were reporting via social media that register shutdowns were occurring at stores in several states. The report did not list which states were experiencing the outages.

Some responses to Whole Foods’ reaction were positive, with one consumer tweeting “Just got 24 donuts at Whole Foods and the register wasn't working so they gave them to me for free omg,” with very expressive and happy emojis.

Others that reported long waits were responded to promptly by the retailer’s social media channels, apologizing for any inconvenience and assuring that it was working to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

Twitter itself just recently fell victim to crashes when it was included in a DDoS attack last Friday, but the news source reported that, luckily, no such attack seems to have been attempted on Whole Foods operations.

AndNowUKnow will report any updates as they are made.

Whole Foods

SALINAS, CA - Members of the California leafy greens community will be honoring retiring Congressman Sam Farr of California’s 20th District at an October 28th breakfast event at the Corral de Tierra Country Club in Salinas. Both the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement  (LGMA) and the Grower-Shipper Association (GSA) of Central California are recognizing Farr’s longstanding support of national food safety laws and the leafy greens industry in general.

“Even before the LGMA existed, Congressman Farr was a great supporter of this effort to regain consumer confidence in the safety of leafy greens following tragic events of 2006,” explained Scott Horsfall, CEO of the LGMA. “Farr has helped us over the years by arranging visits from important regulatory officials and capitalizing on his position as a ranking member of the House of Ag Appropriations to raise public awareness of the LGMA as a model public-private partnership which has made a real impact in protecting public health.”

Serving in Congress for 23 years, Farr represents such California ag-focused cities as Santa Cruz, Gilroy, Hollister, King City, Monterey, and the Salinas Valley. Horsfall noted in a press release that Farr was instrumental in bringing to Salinas such officials as USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, and FDA Director of Foods Mike Taylor allowing them to see first-hand the commitment to producing safe leafy greens among farmers. 

LGMA will present the Congressman with its coveted Golden Checkmark Award—given to those who support government oversight of food safety in the produce industry. Past recipients of the award include Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura.

“Sam has been a huge supporter of the leafy greens community in Salinas,” added Jim Bogart, President of GSA. “He quickly offered his support to our farmers following the tragic E. coli outbreak associated with spinach in 2006 and recognized immediately the industry wanted to do everything possible to make sure it would never happen again.” GSA will be presenting a special resolution to Congressman Farr thanking him for his service.

LGMA’s event will take place at the Corral de Tierra Country Club, 81 Corral de Tierra Road in Salinas on October 28th. The association notes that event begins with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 10:00 a.m., and is open to all Board members of the LGMA and the Grower-Shipper Association, as well as their invited guests.

LGMA Grower-Shipper Association

ROYSTON, UK - Johnson Matthey recently introduced a new, innovative product for automated packaging: Xflow.

The unique  MA/MH film structure is applicable for flow pack machines, with the company touting its potential to be the  future of MA/MH bulk packaging.

“The implications of our new technology Xflow are significant,” commented Dr. Gary Ward, Technical Development Manager at Johnson Matthey, ACT-Tefen, Israel. “Improved throughput, reductions in material usage and waste, as well as savings in labor make using Xflow in automated bulk packaging for fresh produce items like melons, pomegranates, and stone fruits extremely exciting!”

Delfin Srl. Owner of Alberto Drago, Italian packing machine veteran, and business partner to Johnson Matthey, developed the prototype machine Galaxy 1200 with the Xflow for automated packing especially.

“The Galaxy 1200 machine is designed for any produce item packed in trays,” said Srl, according to a press release. “The packaging width is adjustable depending on the packers needs. We are delighted to be in partnership with Johnson Matthey to offer the fresh produce industry such an exceptional new way to enjoy the benefits of MA/MH freshness technology and improve packing operations and costs.”

The Galaxy 1200 is now available for testing through California-based Main Line Industry Inc., Delfin’s handler in the state. Johnson Matthey also recently released the Xbloom line of packaging, designed to extend shelf-life to as much as double for a variety of carnations and roses, currently being marketed across South America and Europe.

For more information on these and other products looking to improve and revolutionize all aspects of our industry, continue to follow AndNowUKnow. 

Johnson Matthey

CALIFORNIA - Parched Southern California could see a refreshing spritz of rain as we head into the final week of October. A storm system brewing towards the end of the week is expected to bring rain to much of the state, and even add to the snowpack in the state’s higher elevations. 

As reported by AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde, Thursday and Friday will see California getting doused by a storm from inland across northern and central California. And while the heaviest rain is expected to fall across the northern and central parts of the state, in a rare turn of events, some rain may also spread to some of the state's most “in-need” areas, such as Fresno, Bakersfield, and Los Angeles.

"Rainfall amounts will vary widely, but rainfall totals are expected to range between 0.50 and 2 inches," Rinde said. AccuWeather says that higher amounts are possible across the Sierra. Southern California also has the potential to receive higher levels of rainfall if a system brewing off the coast of Mexico gets involved, the weather source notes.

According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor released on October 20, more than 40 percent of California is dealing with extreme to exceptional drought conditions. The rain, of course, will aid to the state’s fight against dry conditions, but will also likely cause travel disruptions and localized flash flooding into Friday. AccuWeather highlighted that portions of Interstates 5, 10, 15, 40, and 80 may see delays.

"Any substantial rain in central and Southern California could create slick conditions for travelers as the rain water mixes with the oil residue left behind during the dry summer months," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist, Kristina Pydynowski, added.

Southern California will likely dry out as we head into the weekend, but wet weather may continue in the northern and central parts of the state across the weekend as a new storm rolls onshore.

ARLINGTON, VA - New formats with a greater focus on fresh look to be a rising trend in retail, with Aldi being the latest to unveil a new interior. The german-based discount chain has launched a new format in Richmond, Virginia, offering a boost to its produce department among other changeups.

Fruit, salad greens, and vegetables are offered in an expanded fresh produce section, as well as premade dips and soups, according to news source Business Insider, with large digital displays and lit signs promising quality and freshness.

Additional changes include: 

• Refrigerators lining the store
• Electronic displays on the walls
• Permanent eye-level shelving fixtures
• Wider, more spacious aisles

While the exterior is much the same, inside the news source reports a clear focus on fruits and vegetables. Stores contain a large refrigerated section devoted to produce, and a spotlight making the fresh produce department a central focus.

The chain continues to sell the majority of produce in bulk packaging, and looks to be on a track for further growth in the U.S.

As we recently reported, the traditionally low-cost retailer has expressed interest in wealthier, suburban areas, and has also recently looked to more locations in the Texas market. Already with 1,500 U.S. stores, Aldi wants to add significantly to that number in the next couple of years.

Will this new, produce-fueled strategy soon spread with that growth? AndNowUKnow will report as the story develops further.

Aldi

SALINAS, CA - Josie’s Organics’ was among the projects that won accolades for full service marketing agency Moxxy at the 2016 Summit Creative Awards competition.

The agency’s Wordplay campaign for grower-shipper Braga Fresh Family Farms took Silver for the B-to-B Campaign category, while its beautifully designed and strategically developed website for Smith Family Wines snagged Bronze in the Consumer Product Website category.

“Since Josie’s Organics had only been on the market for a few years, with Wordplay our goal was to create a campaign that transitioned from introducing the brand to building awareness of their extensive product line, as well as encouraging affinity for the brand,” said Karen Nardozza, Principal at Moxxy. “By making the ad campaign lighthearted and memorable, we were able to more effectively tell the Braga story of three generations of family farming, vertically integrated operations, and premium organic products, and still be unique and genuine.”

The Wordplay campaign consisted of a series of inventive print and digital ads, according to a press release, focusing on seven products from Josie’s Organics premium line of vegetables.

Headlines included:

• Simply Dillicious
• Tap Into Caulipower
• Let’s Celerybrate
• Hopeless Romaintic

The integrated campaign ran in a number of trade publications, with high quality photography and sophisticated graphic design the circulated for nearly a year.

In speaking on the Smith Family Wines website, Nardozza said, “Before creating the website, Moxxy first helped develop an umbrella brand for the Smith’s multiple wine and vineyard companies. Prior, they didn’t have a straightforward, easy way to tell their story—and it’s a powerful story—so they needed a solid base from which to tell it. Creating the Smith Family Wines name and logo were the first steps, and designing the website was the critical next step.”

Nardozza explained that Moxxy developed the site to clearly explain its three wine brands—Alexander-Smith, Paraiso and Irie—as well as to entice visits to their Santa Lucia Highlands vineyards and two tasting rooms.

The Summit Creative Award, now in place for 22 years, brings together judges from around the globe to represent all sizes of firms and universities. This year brought entrants from over 20 countries.

Josie's Organics Moxxy Marketing

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Produce has once again met the White House, this time with industry leader Cathy Burns meeting face to face with Barack Obama to speak on our nation’s plan for childhood obesity. Burns represented PMA on October 5 at a White House capstone event for Michelle Obama’s Let's Move! campaign, highlighting various programs, including eat brighter! and FNV.

"Marketing works, let's use it!” Burns told attendees of the presidential event. “As a mom with a teen and a tween at home, I'm alert to what they see. It's my job to be sure they grow up healthy, smart, and strong. We know marketing works. Let's be sure we're using those tools to shape children's desire for fresh produce."   

So, how can you help Burns and the White House continue the fight towards healthy eating and against childhood obesity? In an email to PMA attendees, Bryan Silbermann outlined the following tips for suppliers and retailers:

• Suppliers—Encourage your retail partners to join and place your healthy eat brighter!-branded products in their stores
• Retailers—Encourage your suppliers to join and send eat brighter!-labeled products to you. Consult the list of suppliers that are already in the movement and/or talk with your wholesalers about sourcing eat brighter! products. 

“Marketing works and so do supply chain partnerships. Cathy and I are proud of what you, our members, have done to advance these programs. But we are not finished,” Silbermann urged in his email. “I call on you to do even more. Marketing efforts can influence our kids in ways that build their bodies, their minds, and their futures. And when they and their families eat more produce, you sell more produce. Join the eat brighter! movement today and let's build more consumers for life.”

To learn more about what you can do to help push produce, visit PMA’s webpage for the eat brighter! campaign, and stay tuned for more news on the intersection of produce and politics.

Produce Marketing Association