Around the globe, the new year is celebrated in vastly different ways and at different times. Despite our diverse traditions though, I believe December is always a good time to reflect on the past year and prepare for what lies ahead (both good fortune and challenges).

Since members drive PMA’s direction, I asked some U.S. member-leaders what they think are the biggest opportunities for the fresh produce and floral industries in 2015.Bryan Silbermann The lenses they each use to view their world reflect the wonderful diversity that they bring to bear.

Kevin Fiori, vice president of sales and marketing, Sunkist Growers and PMA Board of Directors chairperson
As befits a world-class marketer, Kevin focused on connecting with consumers. A few words surfaced when discussing the opportunities of 2015 — food safety, organic vs. conventional, sustainable, local, social responsibility.

Keeping those thoughts in mind, Kevin sees the way we connect to the consumer is changing rapidly. There are various social media conversations taking place that affect the fresh produce industry — some are fact based and others are not.Kevin Fiore He stresses that we need to get better at telling our story or it will be told for us, so we must make sure it’s honest and fact-based. There’s no need for embellishment, we have a great story to tell.  

Making sure our honest and compelling story is told is how we’ll boost consumer confidence, according to Kevin.

Tim Riley, president, The Giumarra Cos.
Tim likes to kid himself about his focus on technology and operational focus, so we shouldn’t be surprised that he identifies emerging technologies as a major area of focus in the years ahead. He sees further upgrades to more sophisticated software systems for use on-farm and in distribution, and he echoes the comments heard at PMA events this year where Big Data will be coupled with CRM to provide solid process management.  

Tim RileyAdvanced dashboards in ERP systems will deliver business intelligence and analytics, and even more importantly, will be built around the business processes of our industry (not off-the-shelf packages modified for us).

Tim calls out the advances being made in aeroponics and recommends we all pay attention to the advances being made in protected agriculture generally as a game-changer.

Tim channels the optimism of Star Trek’s Captain Kirk and sees a bright future for our industry as it adopts the new tools coming its way.

Alec Leach, president, Taylor Farms
Alec’s view reflects the big-picture perspective that’s so typical of him personally and his company. He proposed that one of the most important topics for 2015 facing our industry will still be increasing consumption of fresh produce.Alec Leach

In noting that there are a few ways to help with this ongoing critical goal for both the health of the nation as well as our respective companies, Alec shared his excitement about what programs like eat brighter! can do to help sell fresh produce to a new generation of customers. He also took time to point out our need to successfully understand and implement the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act requirements to enhance both customer and consumer confidence in our fresh products.

Debora Coleman, floral sales manager, Albertsons
Debora’s comments are important because they reflect how integral the floral sector has become to driving a fresh image at retail. She commented on the struggle with talent, as sourcing talent remains an ongoing issue. She noted that as the economy has recovered, we have seen some of the talented store-level associates leave for other companies and often leave the industry entirely.

Debora also mentioned that developing a program that helps attract young people to the industry through better advertising and working with area schools will become vital as we all move to increase the talent in our industry. In commenting about some high schools in her area that offer floral design programs, she said that no one is working with them to pull that talent over to our industry, so developing a national campaign will be vital.

John Oxford, president and CEO, L&M Cos.
John’s big-picture view parallels that of his fellow PMA vice chair Alec Leach, with its focus on building consumption.John Oxford John noted that while it’s hard to single out just one issue as the most important facing the fresh produce industry, increasing consumption is certainly one of them.

He went on to comment that while the problem is difficult because it’s so broad and all encompassing, it’s also not a short-term problem and there doesn’t appear to be any easy low-hanging fruit.

That being said, John believes that the bigger the challenge the bigger the opportunity. Therefore, he stated, as an industry we must combine all of our resources from great tasting, innovative, easy-to-eat products to marketing movements like eat brighter! to leading the way in low-cost production. We must keep our eye on the prize of a thriving fresh fruit and vegetable industry in a healthier, more productive global economy.

Drew Yurko, CFO, FreshPoint
Drew YurkoPMA’s new treasurer, Drew Yurko, shares Debora’s focus on talent, not surprising for someone who was a standout at the PMA Foundation’s first Emerging Leaders Program a few years ago.

Drew noted that attracting enough top talent to fill our leadership pipeline is a key priority because once people get into the produce industry, they tend to love it. The trick is enlisting quality individuals who haven’t been exposed to our industry through family or friends. To work toward filling this need, Drew plans to continue to network in our communities both formally and informally, and focus on mining the candidate pool that is available through the PMA Foundation for Industry Talent.