I remember when the idea of forming the Southeast Produce Council was just that -- an idea.

I felt that there was a real need to bring together the different factions that make up the produce industry in the Southeast. Our region has long been a leader in agriculture, and we are also home to some of the more innovative and leading supermarket chains in the country.

It was a natural progression to form an association that would link us in a way that had never been realized on a regional basis in the South.

In September 1999, a group of industry colleagues met in Atlanta. The "Atlanta Six" laid the groundwork that would form today's Southeast Produce Council.

The six members of that first team were Tom Page of Supervalu Inc., Ken Lanhardt, former director of produce for Cub Food Stores in Atlanta, along with Heidi McIntire, William Watson, Cathy Carney and I.

Unfortunately, Ken would never be able to attend any of the events of the organization he helped form. Soon after that seminal meeting in Atlanta, he became quite ill and succumbed to cancer in the late spring of 2000.

We have never forgotten Ken's contribution to our success, and today our annual golf tournament is named in his honor. It was Ken who wanted our organization to give something back to the communities in the Southeast in which our members operate. To date, the council has contributed several thousand dollars to local charities that benefit children in our communities.

Since that day in 1999, we have grown to include over 400 members. We have met our goal of bringing buyers, sellers, growers, shippers and packers together one-on-one and face- to-face. The smallest farmer in rural North Carolina and South Carolina as well as industry giants such as Del Monte and Fresh Express have the ability to put a face to a name, to meet on neutral ground and to form relationships with the produce-buying decision-makers in the Southeast. In this day of e-commerce, it is refreshing to be able to sit across the table from someone and actually have a conversation instead of answering almost endless e-mails.

Since our inception, we have also added educational programs and an annual conference and exposition called Southern Exposure. And we soon came to realize that we needed to be more than a social organization if we were going to be able to get the participation from our retail and foodservice members. Through our Educational Road Show program, we offer educational workshops that will be of interest to our regional retail chains as well as our grower-shipper members in various cities throughout the Southeast.

Southern Exposure, our annual expo, offers an affordable venue for all our members to learn about industry changes and challenges along with providing them with an opportunity to network. The success of Southern Exposure is directly related to the fact that companies can meet in a more informal setting where the number of exhibitors is limited. This puts exhibitors on a level playing field where they are more than just a number. All exhibits are the same size, and everyone is a big fish in a small pond.

During the past few years, the Southeast produce industry has experienced some of its greatest challenges with innumerable storms, canker, worker issues and disappearance of land due to development. The SPC offers a place of discussion and contemplation of the issues important to its members. We are all in this together. We can be successful by helping and learning from each other.

As I reflect on our short six-year history, we have so many to thank for our success and growth. We couldn't have done it without the help of our directors, past and present, company sponsorships and our general membership who supported us by attending our events. We also owe a debt of gratitude to our friends at the New England Produce Council who helped us lay the groundwork for our organization.

In the future, we know that the continued success of the council will require us to constantly look at new and innovative ways to offer value to our members. We plan to expand our efforts in foodservice along with working with smaller independent retail stores in the Southeast.

As always, we will continue to strive to fulfill our vision of becoming the premier produce resource in the Southeast.

(Terry Vorhees is executive director of the Southeast Produce Council, which will hold its annual conference and expo March 2-4 in Fort Lauderdale, FL.)