Since 1970, Turbana Corp., located in Coral Gables, FL, has been an industry leader in the production and distribution of a wide range of bananas and ethnic tropicals. Director of Marketing Marion Tabard said the company’s extensive offerings include conventional, organic and Fair Trade-certified bananas; exotic banana varieties such as baby, red and manzanos; plantains and burros; and pineapples. Tabard said Turbana’s line of 19 ethnic tropicals includes aloe vera, aji cacucha, avocado, batata, chayote, dry coconut, groovy coconut, eddo, ginger, habanero pepper, ñame, malanga amarilla, malanga blanca, malanga lila, malanga coco, calabaza, sour orange, yellow yam and yucca.

Turbana is vertically integrated, giving it control of the entire production process from harvest to packing, shipping and quality control.

According to Chief Executive Officer Juan Alarcon, the banana industry as a whole will see roughly 86 million boxes of bananas imported this year, a volume comparable to 2013. “The U.S. market will be driven by demand,” he said. “The months of June and July will have lower production volumes in the tropics. However, this should not cause a problem in July since demand usually lowers by 10-15 percent. Production will pick up in September-December, which could generate an excess of supply. However, we don’t expect this fruit surplus to come to the U.S., but rather [go] into Russian and Mediterranean markets.”

Last October, Turbana launched Growing Smiles, Sharing Goodness, a nationwide campaign to inspire Americans to achieve goals of life-long healthfulness and community involvement. The campaign took to the road with the Tally Me Turbana Food Truck Tour. Turbana kicked off the campaign in Boston, then traveled through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, DC, and finally to the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, VA.

“The Growing Smiles, Sharing Goodness movement, which is hosted on Turbana’s Facebook and Twitter pages, has taken on a life of its own. It has grown to over 13,000 strong,” Tabard said.

Program excitement is also being generated from other brands interested in participating in Growing Smiles, Sharing Goodness. “Currently, the [campaign] is middle of its first annual International Sister School Garden Exchange,” Tabard said. “The Garden Exchange is aimed at developing cultural understanding … by getting kids from different countries excited to interact with one another. Starting in June, we are launching two big initiatives to support the growth of” the campaign.

Also under wraps is a new marketing program, which Turbana expects to launch July 1.