ST. LOUIS — The Midwest produce industry needs a focal point for preparing for the future, according to Mike Kemp.

Kemp retired in January from Market Fresh Produce LLC, located in the southwest Missouri town of Nixa. He was associated with Market Fresh for four years. For the first year-and-a-half, he was the chief operating officer. Then he worked as an independent business analyst for Market Fresh.

Kemp has lived in St. Louis for 11 years and met there with The Produce News in late February to discuss his retirement and concepts that interest him going forward.

Beyond his grandchildren, one of Kemp’s key interests springs from his view that the produce industry is in need of education because some strengths have been lost.

The produce industry “has changed a lot because it is not a merchandising-focused industry. The days of truckload deals are gone” because buyers have been taught to be inventory- and shrink-conscious. “Those are important, but I always felt that big displays sell more,” he said.

Kemp spent most of his career working for Supervalu Inc. in Eden Prairie, MN, where he served as the corporate director of produce for a decade. He then moved on to Save-A-Lot, where he became the vice president of fresh. Save-A-Lot is a wholly owned subsidiary of Supervalu.

In retail produce merchandising, Kemp’s philosophy was to “take a deal and run with it. The payback was stronger” than with the newer, conservative approach of fearing losses. Today, “a lot of decisions are based on doing what the computer says,” he said.

His associations with Supervalu, Save-A-Lot and Market Fresh “all gave me a great opportunity to see the world and gain exposure to a lot of different things,” he said.

Kemp, who will turn 60 this December, said, “I look forward to the next 10 years to do something before I am too old to get out of a chair.”

He believes there is a need for a forum where the Midwestern industry can gather to participate in educational programs or to discuss issues of mutual concern.

Furthermore, he wants an effort to assure that midwestern growers receive their specialty crop allocations and have a group to help promote “local” crop marketing.

As to “local” marketing, he noted, “Consumers and retailers want it. I think the opportunity is there.”

Kemp also credited the Southeast Produce Council with its program “to help kids get involved” with the produce industry through training and scholarships.

“Produce is very exciting and dynamic,” he said. But today there is a real need to “get kids out of high school who want to go into produce. This is a huge industry. To promote produce careers, we need to start at the grassroots.”

He added that in his recent years at Market Fresh, “we got a lot out of the smaller produce shows. You will always have the one big trade association. There are two now. But some day we’ll realize there are a lot of synergies to get beyond the ‘egonomics’ versus economics. What is the right thing for business and the community?”

Kemp added that he enjoyed serving on boards for both the United Fresh Produce Association and the Produce Marketing Association. “I have the utmost respect for Tom [Stenzel] and Bryan [Silbermann].” These men, respectively, head those two national associations. “They are two very, very knowledgeable, fine people.”

But still, there are regional needs to have conferences to train retailers about forecasting and understanding supply and demand, he said. New produce buyers also need to learn how to build truckloads at f.o.b.

“There needs to be a continuing education unit for people to become more marketable inside and outside the company,” he said. “In this industry we get people in, and then burn them out until they go to another department or to an industry that is more glamorous.”

Kemp would like any potential conference group to have low membership fees, with costs covered by conference admittance.

“The show would probably be self-sustaining,” he said. “Retailers would be involved if you have the right program. Retailers are hungry for ways to train and improve.”

Kemp grew up in Dubuque, IA. There, he starting working with his father, Joe Kemp, who at age 40 bought and operated the grocery store “Kemps.” Kemps could not compete on price with grocery chains.

“We could only one-up them on service and better quality,” he said. “We were always there when they needed us.”