FFVA convention highlights ways to market smarter
FFVA convention highlights ways to market smarter
NAPLES, FL -- Members of the Florida produce industry were afforded opportunities to improve their businesses with a combination of educational and networking events during the 63rd annual convention of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association held Sept. 17-19 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, here. The theme of the convention was "Market Smart."
The convention featured a golf tournament and fishing excusion on Sept. 18, along with an opening reception that evening. A full slate of events followed Sept. 19, kicked off by the traditional Cracker Breakfast at which keynote speaker Joe Calloway, a popular business author who has a 20-year career as a consultant, urged attendees to achieve true differentiation over competitors.
"In today's marketplace, buyers of almost everything see sameness among products, and this certainly holds true for the agricultural market," he said. "Clear differentiation is the only way to keep from being pulled into the downward spiral of a price war."
Three educational sessions followed the breakfast, including one that set out to understand the produce consumer, an outlook on the upcoming farm bill and an update on immigration reform in Florida.
In the session "Understanding the Produce Consumer: Building a New Brand for Fruits and Vegetables," Elizabeth Pivonka, president of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, outlined specifics of the new "More Matters" brand campaign that will replace the "5 A Day" program when it officially launches in March.
Dr. Pivonka said that when the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines for Americans were announced earlier this year, fruits and vegetables were the only food groups to increase in the number of recommended servings. She said the new "More Matters" brand takes some of the confusion away from consumers who were unsure whether they should be eating five servings a day or 13 a day as recommended under the new guidelines.
In developing the new brand, Dr. Pivonka said that research identified mothers age 25 to 41 as the target group due to the various traits they exhibited, most notably their strong sense of duty in being responsible for the health and well being of their families.
Also, she said that since these mothers are more technologically savvy, they can be reached relatively inexpensively via the Internet.
Additionally, research revealed that the "More Matters" brand is more inspirational and emotional than the "5 A Day" program, which is more in line with this target group.
The foundation has enlisted the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Cancer Institute, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the American Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Association and the American Heart Association as public partners in the campaign. It is currently looking for partnerships from within the produce industry and, in fact, had licensing agreements on hand at FFVA. Dr. Pivonka said that it had already begun meeting one-on-one with retailers to enlist retail partnerships. Plans are to extend and boost its collaboration with the Culinary Institute of America.
The official launch of the new "More Matters" brand in March will be supported by a national announcement with considerable media attention, a consumer sweepstakes and a new web site. The consumer magazines Baby, Child and Parents have committed to support the launch.
Dr. Pivonka said that the new "More Matters" brand is expected to be in place for the next 15 years.
Also during the session was an announcement that the world's largest retailer will seek to boost produce consumption within its own ranks. Beginning Oct. 1, all associates of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club will receive a 10 percent discount on produce purchases, according to Tom Holbert, Wal-Mart's regional produce buyer for Alabama and Florida, who said that the chain feels it is "more important to support the fruit and vegetable industry than to put the money toward its bottom line."
A second session, "Building a Stronger Produce Industry: The New Farm Bill," explored the status of a national industry coalition the is seeking to build congressional support for federal agriculture policies.
Thomas Nassif, president and chief executive officer of Western Growers Association in Irvine, CA, and Mike Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, related how the two organizations got together to work on the common goal of carving out a bigger piece of the agriculture appropriations in the upcoming farm bill.
Mr. Nassif, who said that he "cut his teeth in agriculture as an agriculture labor lawyer in the Imperial Valley [of California] during the Chavez years," held a positive outlook as Congress gets set to address the farm bill for 2007. He cited the passage of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act as an example of using hard work as a means to pass seemingly difficult legislation. "We were told we'd never get it passed, but we did," he said.
Mr. Stuart was equally upbeat, saying that Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns acknowledged the disparity of funding between program crops and specialty crops. He said that according to Mr. Johanns, "five program crops receive 93 percent of subsidy payments, but specialty crops of equal value receive virtually nothing." He said that Mr. Johanns also acknowledged that specialty crop producers are "not looking for a handout but money for research and to boost consumption."
The final educational session addressed immigration reform and the need to have a viable immigrant workforce to keep the state's agriculture industry from failing. Highlighting the session was the account of John Stickles of Florida Pacific Farms in Dover, FL, who related his experiences of getting workers to harvest the company's strawberry crop under the H2A program.
During its Sept. 19 luncheon, FFVA gave out several awards, including its merchandiser of the year award to Wal-Mart, which was accepted on behalf of the chain by Mr. Holbert. Florida State Sen. Jeff Atwater (R-West Palm Beach) and Rep. Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) received awards for Legislator of the Year. Timothy Gottwald, head of plant pathology for USDA's Agriculture Research Service horticulture lab in Fort Pierce, received the Researcher of the Year Award. Hugh English, who spent 35 years as corporate vice president of the citrus division for A. Duda & Sons, received FFVA's Distinguished Service Award.
A silent auction was held during the three-day event, and a live auction was held at the closing Sock Hop-themed dinner, with proceeds from both fundraisers benefiting the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Research & Education Foundation Migrant Scholarship Program.
The convention featured a golf tournament and fishing excusion on Sept. 18, along with an opening reception that evening. A full slate of events followed Sept. 19, kicked off by the traditional Cracker Breakfast at which keynote speaker Joe Calloway, a popular business author who has a 20-year career as a consultant, urged attendees to achieve true differentiation over competitors.
"In today's marketplace, buyers of almost everything see sameness among products, and this certainly holds true for the agricultural market," he said. "Clear differentiation is the only way to keep from being pulled into the downward spiral of a price war."
Three educational sessions followed the breakfast, including one that set out to understand the produce consumer, an outlook on the upcoming farm bill and an update on immigration reform in Florida.
In the session "Understanding the Produce Consumer: Building a New Brand for Fruits and Vegetables," Elizabeth Pivonka, president of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, outlined specifics of the new "More Matters" brand campaign that will replace the "5 A Day" program when it officially launches in March.
Dr. Pivonka said that when the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines for Americans were announced earlier this year, fruits and vegetables were the only food groups to increase in the number of recommended servings. She said the new "More Matters" brand takes some of the confusion away from consumers who were unsure whether they should be eating five servings a day or 13 a day as recommended under the new guidelines.
In developing the new brand, Dr. Pivonka said that research identified mothers age 25 to 41 as the target group due to the various traits they exhibited, most notably their strong sense of duty in being responsible for the health and well being of their families.
Also, she said that since these mothers are more technologically savvy, they can be reached relatively inexpensively via the Internet.
Additionally, research revealed that the "More Matters" brand is more inspirational and emotional than the "5 A Day" program, which is more in line with this target group.
The foundation has enlisted the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Cancer Institute, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the American Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Association and the American Heart Association as public partners in the campaign. It is currently looking for partnerships from within the produce industry and, in fact, had licensing agreements on hand at FFVA. Dr. Pivonka said that it had already begun meeting one-on-one with retailers to enlist retail partnerships. Plans are to extend and boost its collaboration with the Culinary Institute of America.
The official launch of the new "More Matters" brand in March will be supported by a national announcement with considerable media attention, a consumer sweepstakes and a new web site. The consumer magazines Baby, Child and Parents have committed to support the launch.
Dr. Pivonka said that the new "More Matters" brand is expected to be in place for the next 15 years.
Also during the session was an announcement that the world's largest retailer will seek to boost produce consumption within its own ranks. Beginning Oct. 1, all associates of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club will receive a 10 percent discount on produce purchases, according to Tom Holbert, Wal-Mart's regional produce buyer for Alabama and Florida, who said that the chain feels it is "more important to support the fruit and vegetable industry than to put the money toward its bottom line."
A second session, "Building a Stronger Produce Industry: The New Farm Bill," explored the status of a national industry coalition the is seeking to build congressional support for federal agriculture policies.
Thomas Nassif, president and chief executive officer of Western Growers Association in Irvine, CA, and Mike Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, related how the two organizations got together to work on the common goal of carving out a bigger piece of the agriculture appropriations in the upcoming farm bill.
Mr. Nassif, who said that he "cut his teeth in agriculture as an agriculture labor lawyer in the Imperial Valley [of California] during the Chavez years," held a positive outlook as Congress gets set to address the farm bill for 2007. He cited the passage of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act as an example of using hard work as a means to pass seemingly difficult legislation. "We were told we'd never get it passed, but we did," he said.
Mr. Stuart was equally upbeat, saying that Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns acknowledged the disparity of funding between program crops and specialty crops. He said that according to Mr. Johanns, "five program crops receive 93 percent of subsidy payments, but specialty crops of equal value receive virtually nothing." He said that Mr. Johanns also acknowledged that specialty crop producers are "not looking for a handout but money for research and to boost consumption."
The final educational session addressed immigration reform and the need to have a viable immigrant workforce to keep the state's agriculture industry from failing. Highlighting the session was the account of John Stickles of Florida Pacific Farms in Dover, FL, who related his experiences of getting workers to harvest the company's strawberry crop under the H2A program.
During its Sept. 19 luncheon, FFVA gave out several awards, including its merchandiser of the year award to Wal-Mart, which was accepted on behalf of the chain by Mr. Holbert. Florida State Sen. Jeff Atwater (R-West Palm Beach) and Rep. Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) received awards for Legislator of the Year. Timothy Gottwald, head of plant pathology for USDA's Agriculture Research Service horticulture lab in Fort Pierce, received the Researcher of the Year Award. Hugh English, who spent 35 years as corporate vice president of the citrus division for A. Duda & Sons, received FFVA's Distinguished Service Award.
A silent auction was held during the three-day event, and a live auction was held at the closing Sock Hop-themed dinner, with proceeds from both fundraisers benefiting the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Research & Education Foundation Migrant Scholarship Program.
