COACHELLA, CA - Prime Time International is welcoming Eric Meyer, a highly regarded Nogales produce veteran with over twenty years of direct experience, as the company’s new Sales Manager. Eric will be based out of the company’s Nogales, Arizona office in time for the kick-off of the upcoming Mexico import season, according to a press release. He will be responsible for sales and grower communications throughout the year.

“Eric is the exact prototype we have been searching for; we took our time in making this selection and we know we have an excellent and valued addition to our staff,” said Mike Way, Managing Member at Prime Time.

Eric has previously worked for companies in Nogales, including Sun-Fed and Wilson Batiz, and was highly praised for his excellent skills as a communicator. “I am thrilled with this opportunity and look forward to joining one of the true iconic companies in the fresh produce business,” he said.

Eric is a graduate of the University of Arizona and currently resides in Nogales with his family.

Congratulations on joining Prime Time, Eric!

Prime Time International

UNITED STATES - After being challenged by Potandon and Allen Lund, our staff at AndNowUKnow was determined to take on the #IceBucketChallenge. Our writer Christofer Oberst, Account Manager Brian LaForce, VP of Sales Whit Grebitus, and myself stepped up to bat and braved the cold to raise money for this great cause.

Watch as the AndNowUKnow team and these other brave produce leaders take on the Ice Bucket Challenge!

If you want to challenge someone in the industry, click here to send us your video!

The AndNowUKnow team:

Cindy Jewell, Director of Marketing, and the California Giant Berry Farms team:

Joe Rubini, President at Rally Logistics:

General Sales Manager, Tim Evans, and the Chelan Fresh team:

This produce star with the National Watermelon Board:

Jordan Kniaziew, VP of Sales and Marketing at Orangeline Farms:

Lori Taylor, the Produce Mom:

The ALS Association reports that as of August 24th, they have received $70.2 million in donations compared to the $2.5 million they received in the same time period last year.  Joining existing donors, 1.3 million new donors have also contributed.

The ALS Association’s mission includes providing care services to assist people with ALS and their families and a global research program focused on the discovery of treatments and eventually a cure for the disease.

Stay tuned for more produce industry video challenges. Thank you to those that have donated and we're looking forward to more videos!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO ALS ASSOC.

California Giant Berry Farms

Rally Logistics 

Chelan Fresh

National Watermelon Board

Orangeline Farms

The Produce Mom

Green Giant™ is introducing a popular, low-fat alternative to high calorie vegetable dips and dressings.  The company has added eight all-natural hummus flavors; each topped with complementary ingredients to create bold and unique flavor profiles.  The new line includes a Classic Hummus with Sesame Seed Topping as well as a Roasted Pine Nut Hummus with Pine Nut and Sundried Tomato and Artichoke Spinach Hummus with Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach.  

Try the Mediterranean Hummus with Tapenade Topping for a fresh flavor combination.  The full line has something for everyone.  Try with carrots, celery, cut cauliflower, cut broccoli or Green Giant Fresh Little Gems.  If you’d like to see your product in this video segment, please send samples to 2020 L Street, Suite 320, Sacramento, CA 95811.  

UNITED KINGDOM – Bruno Monteyne, an analyst at Bernstein Research, is calling for Tesco’s new Chief Executive, Dave Lewis, to split the retailer into three separate stores: a high-end “Finest” store, the regular Tesco chain and a discount store. According to The Independent, Monteyne believes that a Tesco split would help stop the slow decline of the retailer.

“Splitting themselves into different channels allows them to use different strategies with different customers,” said Monteyne, a former Tesco Executive himself who was most recently the Supply Chain Director at Tesco Asia.  “Rip out 20% of the range, have cheaper shelving and cheaper products in the more deprived areas and give customers a better deal.  In London, where people want someone behind the counter who knows the difference between a parma ham and a Serrano ham, that requires more investment.”

Lewis is replacing Philip Clarke who stepped down as CEO last month. Since March 2011 when Clarke first took the job of CEO, Tesco's domestic market share has declined 1.3% to 28.9%. According to BBC, like-for-like sales figures over the past month were also down 3.7%, their worst mark in decades. For more on this decline, check out our previous articles by clicking here and here.

Discount grocers like Aldi and Lidl and upscale chains like Waitrose have pressured Tesco from both sides.  “By Tesco promising to have the same prices in the most affluent areas as the poorest areas, it’s basically tied its hands behind its back by committing to an uneconomical model,” said Monteyne.  “Tesco could probably be cheaper than Aldi in some areas, but national pricing would force them to do the same in Chelsea as well and Chelsea wouldn’t be successful.”

By splitting into three stores, the “Finest” store could compete with Waitrose and other high-end stores and a discount chain could go up against Aldi and Lidl.  Monteyne admits that most people in the sector have received his views as radical but he argues that this is exactly what Tesco needs, according to The Independent. 

As of 12:57 pm ET, Tesco stock is $0.59 up for a 2.90% increase in the U.S., and its stock is up $2.50 in the UK for a 1.02% increase. 

Lewis will be taking over the top spot at Tesco at the start of October.  It will definitely be interesting to see if he takes a ‘radical’ approach when the time comes.  Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest news on this and other retailers.

Tesco

FOWLER, CA - Bee Sweet Citrus is continuing to ramp up its summer import program at its Fowler, California facility. Mandarins, Lemons, and Navels are imported all summer long from Chile, Peru, and Australia starting in July and finishing through October. Over the last fifteen years, the company has grown to become the largest importer of Chilean citrus on the West Coast.

Every product is handled by hand as it’s brought into the facility with regards to repack, restyle, or reconfigurations. Bee Sweet has the ability and versatility to pack any style that the consumer wishes to use. The company’s strong partnership with its growers in South America and expeditors in Southern California allows fresh citrus to arrive at their facility in 25 days or less. Bee Sweet recognizes the importance of timely arrivals and keeping quality at optimal levels by examining every box before it ships out.

Bee Sweet is passionately committed to its import program and supplying fresh citrus year round to its customers. Navel oranges, lemons and mandarins 12 months out of the year!  No other shipper in the country carries all three commodities year round like Bee Sweet.  As volume continues to increase, Bee Sweet encourages its customers to provide their continued support to the company and to offer a growing effort to expand the program to greater levels of service. With its seamless ordering process, the company can help give your customers access to citrus items whenever they need it. Bee Sweet can carry you through the summer time.

Bee Sweet Citrus

MEXICO CITY – Mexico has created a special 5,000-member police force to fight agricultural, industrial and business crime.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the new force will be known as the Gendarmerie and is made up of new recruits with an average age of 28.  The Mexican army trained the new force with its commanding officers receiving training from police forces from Colombia, Chile, Spain, France and the U.S.

“The officers of the new gendarme force… are trained to serve the population on foot, and on horseback, in rural, urban, tourist and border zones,” President Enrique Peña Nieto said.

This should be good news for farmers. “If there is organized crime that could disrupt production, then the Gendarmerie will be there,” said Monte Alejandro Rubido, Director of the National Security Commission.

The Wall Street Journal reports that one example of the difficulties that farmers in Mexico have faced is in Michoacan where the Knights Templar cartel told lime farmers when to plant and took a cut on every product.  “The planters, pickers, packing house and distributors all had to pay a cut for the right to operate or ship to the criminals,” Rubido said.

Banana growers in the Mexican Gulf state of Tabasco have also come under gang pressure.  Rubito told the Wall Street Journal the when banana harvest season starts, extortion and kidnappings rise to some of the highest rates in Mexico.

The National Statistics Institute of Mexico estimated in 2012 that crime cost the country about $16.5 billion, or 1.3% of GDP.

The Gendarmerie will not be able to fix the problem overnight, but hopefully they will be able to help farmers working under these conditions.

CHINA - China is reopening its massive domestic market to California citrus growers after an almost 1.5 year trade embargo. According to ABC News 10, provided that California growers take certain preventative measures to ensure the health and quality of their exports, they once again have access to what has become the second largest export destination for California citrus.

"Resuming trade before the start of the 2014 citrus shipping season is the result of a lot of effort by a number of USDA employees, who worked very closely with their foreign counterparts to resolve China's concerns," said Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack.

Joel Nelsen, President of California Citrus Mutual, said that word of this agreement was incredible news for the $2 billion California citrus industry. Before the ban roughly $30 million in citrus was shipped to China each year by California growers, a number that Nelsen said he expects to rise to $50 million in the near future.

"We were hoping to get (exports) reopened in November in time for the 2013-14 navel orange season . . . but that didn't happen," Nelsen said. "As a result, there were several million packages of fruit that were not exported to China. We were still able to do a little bit of business in Hong Kong, but we lost mainland China."

China first instituted the citrus ban after discovering brown rot, a soil fungus, on several shipments of navel and Valencia oranges and lemons in April 2013. Provided that growers agree to prune their trees to remove branches close to the ground, increase ultraviolet scans during the packing process and apply copper, a metal which impedes the growth of rot fungus, to trees early in the season after the first rainfall, Chinese officials were comfortable reopening their ports to California citrus.

This is certainly great news for California citrus producers. Despite having to work under less than ideal conditions due to the California drought, growers have proved resourceful in raising an excellent looking crop. Nelsen agrees on this point explaining that he expects yield to remain good despite weather complications. Now that Fall crop will have a massive new market to trade with, something which is good news for growers and Chinese consumers alike.  

California Citrus Mutual

CALIFORNIA - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook Northern California early Sunday causing widespread infrastructural damage and power outages in Napa and in the surrounding counties of Solano and Sonoma. Though the quake’s epicenter was about 9 miles south of Napa, vineyards in the area have reported minimal damage.

The temblor occurred at 3:20 a.m. and was felt as far south as Santa Cruz and into Sonoma County, according to LA Times, while NY Times reports shaking could be felt in Salinas. It was reported to be Northern California’s strongest earthquake to hit since the infamous magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) states that the earthquake occurred within 44 miles of a set of major faults along the San Andreas Fault system that forms the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates.

Governor Jerry Brown has since declared a state of emergency, noting that public safety officials are doing all they can to help residents. “Those living in affected areas should follow their guidance and instruction,” said Brown in a statement.

Reports suggest numerous antiquated buildings were damaged during the quake, while Pacific Gas & Electric says 20,786 homes and businesses were left without power. Many of these damaged buildings were in an older area of Napa, USA Today reports. Homes and buildings away from the city’s center suffered less damage. USGS says the estimated damage could be up to $1 billion.

“The regions around Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga seem to have experienced minimal damage and disruption,” said Clay Gregory, President and CEO of Visit Napa Valley, according to USA Today. “For travelers coming to the Napa Valley, most businesses are open as usual.”

USGS predicts that the probability of a strong and possibly damaging aftershock this week is approximately 36 percent. There is a smaller chance at around 5 to 10 percent that an earthquake equal to or larger than the main shock will occur in the next 7 days. Approximately 15 to 50 small aftershocks are expected in the same period and may be felt locally.

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for any further updates on the situation.

U.S. Geological Survey

UNITED STATES - Several high profile produce industry league members took a stand for ALS awareness last week by taking the #IceBucketChallenge and sending us their videos to share with the produce community. Since then we have had even more produce leaders from Rick Antle to Nora Trueblood and many more decide to take on the challenge. 

Watch as these brave produce leaders take on the cold for a great cause below!

If you want to challenge someone in the industry, click here to send us your video!

Tanimura & Antle, led by Rick Antle, CEO: 

Barbara Keckler, Marketing Manager at Potandon Produce:

Nora Trueblood, Marketing Director at Allen Lund Co.:

Steve Ottum, COO at Potandon Produce:

John Toner, Vice President, Convention & Industry Relations for United Fresh:

Terri Mouton, Director of Marketing at Frieda's:

The ALS Association reports that as of August 24th, they have received $70.2 million in donations compared to the $2.5 million they received in the same time period last year.  Joining existing donors, 1.3 million new donors have also contributed.

The ALS Association’s mission includes providing care services to assist people with ALS and their families and a global research program focused on the discovery of treatments and eventually a cure for the disease.

Stay tuned for more produce industry video challenges. Thank you to those that have donated and we're looking forward to more videos!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO ALS ASSOC.

Tanimura & Antle

Allen Lund Company

Potandon Produce

Frieda's

United Fresh

REEDLEY, CA - This week, DJ Forry has begun harvesting two of its new domestic pomegranates: the Red Elite and the proprietary Rubliee varieties. So far, reports out of the fields are incredibly positive.

“We're very excited about our early season pomegranate varieties this year,” Ray England, Vice President of Marketing at DJ Forry tells me. “This is our first year harvesting the Rubilee and Red Elite varieties and volume has been great so far, especially for a first season run. The color on these pomegranates is outstanding. Just looking at them, you're immediately struck by the lush red of both the seeds and the pomegranate's skin.”

Color is a key selling point for pomegranates because it is the first thing that customers notice about the fruit at the retail level.

“Color is what the customer first looks at, what draws them in,” Ray explained. “This puts our pomegranates in a great position and we're very confident that they'll be a bit hit with consumers.”

If this first run is a successful one, DJ Forry says it plans on expanding the amount of acreage devoted to these two varieties for next season. While the overall pomegranate market may be slightly down at this time of the year, the strength of DJ Forry's own crop puts them in good standing to make this a reality.

Congratulations DJ Forry on an excellent start to this years harvest! I'll be looking forward to yet another great pomegranate season this year.  

DJ Forry