MOLINE, IL – As John Deere pursues its planned purchase of the Monsanto-owned farm equipment business Precision Planting, the U.S. Justice Department (U.S. DoJ) has filed suit against the company in U.S. courts to prevent the sale. 

The sale has been planned since November of last year, with Monsanto agreeing to sell its business to John Deere. The U.S. DoJ stated that this sale could make it more expensive for farmers to access and utilize precision planting technology. 

"By offering farmers high-speed precision planting retrofit kits at a fraction of the cost of a new planter, Precision Planting posed a formidable challenge to Deere and its profitable sales of new planters," the Justice Department said in its complaint and request for courts to block the sale.

Precision Planting makes components for precision planters, including technology to retrofit older planters and manufacturers. The DoJ, according to Reuters, is reportedly concerned about the combination of John Deere selling both the machines themselves, as well as the technology to create them. 

"Precision Planting has been a key innovator in high-speed precision planting and Deere’s only significant competitor in developing and selling these technologies," said Renata Hesse, the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division in a press release. 

The DoJ estimated that together, John Deere and Precision Planting make up 86 percent of the market, at a minimum, with the estimated transaction price at around $190 million. 

Monsanto’s Precision Planting business is being sold but its Climate Corporation unit. The Monsanto subsidiary stated that it believes the sale is good for the farming industry, with both companies looking to give farmers incentive through the sale to upgrade their equipment and services. 

"This transaction will create value by delivering broader access to precision equipment advancements that help farmers increase yield and productivity," Climate Corporation said.

John Deere said in a press release that  it believes the DoJ’s concerns about the competitive impacts of the transaction are misguided, and intends to fight the lawsuit. John Deere stated that it will remain its focus on helping American farmers up productivity and efficiency to become globally competitive. 

This transaction, if approved by the courts, would mark the second precision planting purchase for John Deere within the past year. In February, John Deere completed its acquisition of Monosem, another precision planting company.

Retuers noted that after the suit was filed yesterday, John Deere's share price dropped 1.4 percent to close at $84.55 on Wednesday, with Monsanto's share falling 0.9 percent to close at $106.50.

Will U.S. courts side with the Department of Justice and block the sale? Or will John Deere continue its proposed purchase of the farming company? AndNowUKnow will keep you up-to-the-minute as the deal unfolds.

John Deere Monsanto

FLORIDA - It looks as though Hurricane Hermine, the graduate of this week’s Tropical Depression 9, could be the first to make landfall in Florida in eleven years.

As we previously reported, the state has seen several inches of rain thanks to the storms last weekend and beginning of this week. Now Hurricane Hermine is projected to push up the Eastern Seaboard, beyond the southern U.S. in time for Labor Day weekend, according to AccuWeather.

"With a storm of this nature, flooding rainfall can occur, regardless of prior dryness," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams said in the report. "A track over land or right along the coast could translate to more of a heavy rain event, while a track just offshore could mean more of a wind hazard for the mid-Atlantic."

Current cautions include enough rain and wind to be on watch for flash flooding, downed tree limbs, and sporadic power outages.

It looks like Saturday conditions will be rainy, with the storm strengthening through Sunday.

Hermine is looking to climb the coast, including over parts of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York, as well as much of Delaware and New Jersey. The storm may possibly stall on Sunday, depending on the severity and location of flooding and damaging winds, AccuWeather said.

AndNowUKnow will continue to track the hurricane and possible affects on transportation within the industry.

WATSONVILLE, CA - In the midst of a tense political climate, California Giant Berry Farms is hoping to inject some light-heartedness through a marketing campaign leading up to the 2016 Presidential Election. Launching this week, the company will use a ‘color coded’ campaign utilizing strawberries and blueberries, encouraging shoppers to vote for their preferred ‘berry’ candidate.

“Ultimately the promotion is focused on California Giant berries and building a stronger network of influencers and shopper contacts that help to continually improve ongoing relevant communication, while having a little fun along the way,” said Cindy Jewell, VP of Marketing at California Giant, according to a press release.

The two-month promotion and sweepstakes is geared to spotlight the continued availability of fresh berries into fall and winter months. The sweepstakes will engage shoppers while collecting additional data as they enter, capitalizing on the buzz and interest in the election while enhancing relationships with consumers. The company has been building a database, and will use the information collected during the promotion to fill data gaps for brand loyalists and attract new followers.

The promotion will result in multiple winners, and social media platforms will engage various audiences throughout the promotion beginning September 1, 2016. The California Giant staff is looking forward to having fun with unique and trending hashtags, along with topics associated with the 2016 Presidential election.  Shoppers can enter to win one of several cash prizes offered via www.calgiant.com and all California Giant social platforms.

Keep checking AndNowUKnow for all the latest innovations in fresh produce industry marketing.

California Giant Berry Farms

CHICAGO, IL - This year’s Apple Man of the Year has been named, with Mike Wade, General Manager of Columbia Fruit Packers, a Co-Owner of CMI, coming out on top. The company says Wade was selected based on his honesty, integrity, and willingness to invest in longterm trends.

“Mike has been out in front of the industry in identifying and producing new, high-flavor apples,” said Bob Mast, President of CMI. “Mike saw the opportunity to provide great tasting apples to consumers. He worked with key members of his staff to literally search the world for new apple innovations like KIKU® and Kanzi®. His early adoption of organic production enabled our Daisy Girl™ brand to become a leading organic apple brand nationally. The entire CMI organization is delighted for Mike. ”

Wade is the leader of Columbia Fruit Packers, an apple, cherry and organic growing and packing company started over 60 years ago by his father, 

Jim Wade. According to a press release, Columbia Fruit Packers is internationally recognized for its leadership in bringing KIKU® and Kanzi® brand apples to the United States, as well as being an early leader in organic apple production. Columbia Fruit Packers now manages its own apple and cherry orchards, while providing packing and storage services for approximately 100 local growers.

Over the years, Wade has shown a strong participation in the apple industry, serving as the Chairman of U.S. Apple Association, Chairman of the Northwest Horticultural Council, and as a board member on both the Washington State Fruit Commission and Northwest Fruit Exporters. Columbia Fruit Packers has also been responsible for contributing to Washington Apple Education Foundation scholarships that help developing industry leaders of the future.

“Kanzi® generated the fastest dollar growth rate of any apple in the top 25 in U.S. supermarket sales last year,” continued Mast, who says Wade has been an asset to this growth. “Mike’s leadership and vision has been a driver behind the success of CMI. Mike has many skills, but his vision in identifying great, new apples to bring to market is second to none.”  

Announced on August 26, 2016, Mike was presented with the 2016 Apple Man of the Year award at the US Apple Association Annual Outlook conference in Chicago.

Congratulations to both Wade and to CMI, and here’s to another year of excellent apple growing!

CMI

SALINAS, CA - Taylor Farms has announced a new addition in response to consumer demand for healthy, delicious, and convenient meals.

The company has launched a new line of vegetable Stir Fry Kits, consisting of four distinctive recipes, just weeks after the debut of its innovative Organic Chopped Salad Blends.

“Our new vegetable Stir Fry Kits address today’s consumer needs for fresh, easy-to-create vegetable based meal options,” Bryan Jaynes, Vice President of Product Development of Taylor Farms Retail, said, according to a press release. “Similar to our innovative Chopped Salad Kits, the Stir Fry Kits are positioned to grow category sales nationwide.”

Featuring pre-washed and sliced vegetable blends, with on-trend ingredients like bok choy, kale, and Brussels sprouts, the four Stir Fry Kits include:

• Teriyaki (12.5 oz.): Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Carrots, Kale, Snow Peas, Red Cabbage, Broccoli Shred with Teriyaki Sauce
• Ginger Garlic (14.0 oz.): Bok Choy, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Carrots, Kale, Snow Peas, Green Cabbage with Ginger Garlic sauce
• Sesame Chili (13.5 oz.): Bok Choy, Green Cabbage, Snow Peas, Broccoli with Sesame Chili sauce
• Orange (12.0 oz.): Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Carrots, Kale, Snow Peas with Orange sauce

Each kit takes five minutes to cook, paired with a tasty sauce. At a suggested retail price of $3.99, Taylor Farms Stir Fry Kits are available now at multiple retailers nationwide.

Taylor Farms

WATSONVILLE, CA - Monterey Mushrooms is growing the sales team, welcoming one new Sales Manager and hunting for another as the company restructures and expands current job openings.

Erica Manfre, who brings a sales and leadership resume spanning ten years, has joined as a Sales Manager to operate from the company’s home base of Watsonville, CA. 

In this new role, Manfre will be responsible for maintaining relationships with customers and will seek new opportunities.

“I am excited to add Erica Manfre to our sales team,” Mike O’Brien, VP of Sales and Marketing, said in a press release. “Not only will she bring a focus on customer relationship quality to our team, but she will bring  new insights and exuberance to an already talented group.”

Kevin Eichele, Western Region Sales Director and Manfre’s direct supervisor, commented, “Erica’s career path has given her many of the skills we’re looking for in a sales manager. She’s proven to come up with creative ways to drive business initiatives and her experience in produce distribution will bring an interesting perspective to our team.”

Manfre’s joining the team is just one part of the company’s growth.

Not only is Monterey Mushrooms hiring an additional sales manager, responsible for maintaining business relationships with accounts in Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona, but it has also established a marketing internship program.

The program is under Marketing Specialist Lindsey Roberts, who reports directly to Mike O’Brien, collaborates with sales, product development, and procurement to execute new concepts to position Monterey Mushrooms as an innovator in the mushroom industry.

This is a team that enjoys friendship, community, and an informal work environment with a culture that looks to embody intellect, integrity, and creative imagination.

For any interested in the sales management position, which would allow for managing business out of their home office in a city that logistically makes sense to the region they would be responsible, can connect with the company here.

Monterey Mushrooms

ROCHESTER, NY – How hot is too hot? Perhaps when hot peppers leave their corporeal state as someone’s dinner, to become a food-based peppery spray infiltrating the entire surrounding area is the new line. Residents of one New York apartment building found this out firsthand, after their building was evacuated by Hazmat teams.

According to source UPI.com, the James A. Dobson building in Rochester was fully evacuated once hazmat teams were called to the scene after residents reportedly inhaled an odor which caused difficulty breathing. 

Shortly after arriving and clearing the building, authorities quickly pinned down the worrisome culprit; a microwaved hot pepper. 

"It seems whatever kind of pepper they were using, once it's aerosolized, if you've ever gotten pepper in your eyes, you know how hard it can be on your system," Lt. Dana Cieslinski of the Rochester Fire Department told WHAM-TV. "I do not know what kind of pepper it was, but clearly spicy enough to affect the people in the hallway." 

Never put a ghost pepper in your microwave!!! https://t.co/3He7yrzYjE

— Scott Wischmeyer (@OurTinyEarth) August 30, 2016

It turns out there is a bit more scientific truth to this homemade pepper spray than just an innocent pepper. Once microwaved, the pepper’s spicy chemical makeup of capsaicin was released into the air, causing the slightly toxic effect. 

The building’s website says the high rise houses 254 units within its walls. Authorities stated that it allowed all residents back into their homes less than two hours after arriving on the scene, and no one required medical attention. 

Although some news outlets are pinning the pepper fiasco on the ghost pepper, officials maintained that they did not not identify the particular kind of spicy pepper used.

As the spicy peppers continue their upward trend, what heated situations will they find themselves in next? AndNowUKnow will report on all the latest.

WATSONVILLE, CA - In a pivotal move to help the fresh produce industry break the chains of traditional norms and move towards emotion-driven marketing like world class CPG brands, Driscoll’s is rebranding for the first time in its 100 year history.

This new branding strategy, driven by Driscoll’s desire to create more authentic consumer connections, took root four years ago as an intuition the company wanted to explore and is launching in the U.S. today as part of a worldwide plan to roll-out a cohesive visual brand statement.

The new look includes a refreshed logo and new design elements for packaging, in-store merchandising, digital, and social media touch-points. According to the company, the rebrand already hit Australia and Europe in previous months with great response.

“We had this sense, being in the business, that consumers had more of an emotional feeling about berries,” said Soren Bjorn, EVP of Driscoll's of the Americas. “Once we started heading down that road, we quickly realized that our current expression of our brand - our physical assets and how we talk about the berries - were more functionally oriented.”

Consequently, the company invested in a worldwide study of nearly 5,000 consumers, asking them to write about their experiences with berries.

Bjorn said, “It was amazing. Consumers would describe these experiences they had with berries in very emotional terms, and in very universal language. You’d have a consumer in Shanghai writing about going to a strawberry farm with Mom and Dad to pick strawberries, and you’d have no idea it wasn’t someone from California or Holland. These stories were so similar around the world, and they were all about the special moments that berries create for people. Once we saw that, we realized it was something we could tap into.”

As part of the brand journey, Driscoll’s made a significant investment in global consumer research as part of its strategy. The company comments that survey findings demonstrate a direct connection between eating berries and happiness, which allowed the company to evolve its brand strategy from fruit as function, to a stronger emotional connection. In a statement, Driscoll’s cited findings which support the decision to update to a more emotional, joy-driven brand, including:

• A recent U.S. survey of 1,000 men and women further showing that more than 85% of people agree eating berries make them happy as compared to other types of fresh produce.
• Berries consistently trigger the strongest, most positive, emotional connections, while kale, beets and lettuce are more often associated with functional benefits.
• Happy memories (79%) and summertime (82%) as strong positive emotional links associated with berries.

“We have introduced some elements that are softer, more emotional, and more relatable to consumers,” Bjorn commented on the updated branding.

Driscoll’s new look was inspired by berries as colorful pop icons of fresh produce, with the individual colors and shapes of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries captured in a fresh color palette paired with expressive typography. The updated Driscoll’s brand logo reflects a personalized handwritten stylistic approach, along with an iconic Driscoll’s Dot which sits atop of the “i” and will lend itself to many different digital and social applications down the road. The Driscoll’s Dot can take on the color of each berry, while the main dot will remain red, as a nod to strawberries, which are where Driscoll’s got its start.

“Creating global brand value is key to any company’s future. When you consistently deliver on a great consumer experience, successful brands build a loyal consumer base willing to pay premium pricing. We’ve seen berry consumption significantly grow over the last five years. Fresh berries continue to lead fresh produce sales as a top selling retail category. Our passion is to grow great tasting berries and we are one of the few berry companies with a dedicated R&D team focused on breeding proprietary varieties,” said Bjorn. “As a market leader in fresh berries, we are excited to elevate the brand opportunity to further capture the hearts of our berry consumers – such an opportunity is rare and a privilege in the produce industry.”

As the company continues rolling out the visual branding worldwide, Bjorn comments that while there aren’t currently any major changes to the company’s core products, this rebrand has the potential to open new doors down the road. He adds, “Our brand is the last name of our founders, so this has been a very emotional change for us. The founding families have been very involved in the process, so for our company this is a bit bigger. We’re excited to see this come into fruition, and it’s been a very rewarding process.”

While the updated and modern design approach is new, the brand will still be familiar to loyal consumers as it maintains the foundational colors of green and yellow. The brand identity also retains the promise “Only the Finest Berries” which speaks to the superior flavor that has earned credibility and trust with consumers.  

To learn more about the Driscoll’s new visual brand identity system and to access the U.S. survey details, please visit Driscolls.com/ShareTheBerryJoy.

Driscoll's

CUBA - After more than half a century, a U.S. commercial plane touched down on Cuban soil.

JetBlue Flight 387 touched down today, August 31st, making a notable stride in our relations with the country since the Cold War, and stirring up possibilities of what this means across the board from travel to trade.

The door is not yet completely open, U.S. citizens still need to sign an affidavit swearing their travel falls within permitted categories, including educational, religious, and humanitarian reasons, according to a CNN report. However, Cuba has seen almost double the amount of U.S. visitors since the relaxation of the embargo.

"This process of establishing regular flights is a positive step," said Eduardo Rodríguez, the Cuban Vice Minister of Transportation at a news conference on Monday in Havana. "Although the restrictions of the blockade remain, which among other things impede United States citizens from traveling to our country as tourists."

That could mean key exposure to Cuban culture and, of course, Cuban foods.

According to the Global Exchange, fruits and veggies are playing a critical role in guiding the Cuban diet in a more healthy direction in recent years, including tropical fruits, peppers, and other fresh produce.

And Americans are curious about that untouched culture, it appears.

"Our friends had been here and said, why don't you come to Cuba before it’s too Westernized," Gerry Hall, a New York educator who joined a "people-to-people" tour of the island in August, told CNN. "We wanted to come before you see McDonald's and Walmart and other U.S. companies in Cuba.”

So is this one small step for tourists, and one big step for fresh produce? We can’t wait to find out.

SALINAS, CA – As consumers continue to increase their purchases of Brussels sprouts, Ippolito International is also continuing to put an emphasized focus on not only the distinct, crave-inducing taste of the veggie, but its versatility and ease in use and preparation. 

As Dan Canales, VP Sales, Marketing and Processing, recently told me, the company’s latest Brussels sprouts endeavor is a series of videos providing consumers quick and easy ideas on the diversity of Brussels sprouts, for all of its offerings.

“We are excited to now offer value-added Brussels sprouts in a variety of new pack sizes and styles for both retail and foodservice markets. For our first video recipe, we decided to focus on bulk, whole Brussels sprouts, and plan on creating more recipe and video ideas in the future for our halved and shredded Brussels sprouts,” Dan says.

The video boasts a contemporary feel for a classic veggie choice, and details to consumers in under two minutes how to quickly prepare Brussels sprouts in five different and delicious ways. Take a look for yourself in the video below.

Retailers can increase rings at the register with Brussels sprouts by highlighting the below preparation ideas for a health-minded consumer looking for an effortless treat: 

• Microwaved
• Sautéed
• Grilled
• Steamed
• Oven Roasted 

Foodservice operators can also increase their profit margins and offer time-saving opportunites with the value-added Brussels sprout packages now being offered by the company. 

Ippolito International’s website is brimming with even further veggie ideas for fast, easy, and tasty recipes starring the many uses of Brussels sprouts.

“As North America’s largest fresh Brussels sprouts grower and shipper, we are always excited about giving customers ideas on how easily Brussels sprouts can be to prepare,” Dan finishes. “And how quickly a tasty dish can come from them!” 

As Ippolito International continues to push Brussels sprouts to the consumer forefront with innovative videos and promotions, AndNowUKnow will have the latest.

Ippolito International