Cantaloupe industry a step ahead of curve
With the new proposed produce rule requiring handlers of produce to create food-safety practices that can be verified and audited, the cantaloupe industry is a step ahead of the game.
New partner, new entry prize for IPC’s PLM display contest
BOISE, ID — The Idaho Potato Commission’s popular Idaho Potato Lover’s Month retail display contest is in its 22nd year, and Jamie Bowen, marketing manager for the commission, expects to see more than 2,500 entries this year, topping the previous record set in 2011.
Randy Green joins Watson Mulhern as principal; firm renamed Watson Green LLC
Watson Mulhern LLC, a leading Washington-based food and agriculture issues management and policy firm, announced that Randy Green joined as principal Jan. 1 and that Watson Mulhern will collaborate with Mr. Green’s former firm, McLeod, Watkinson & Miller, to enhance both firms’ capacities to serve clients.
Outlook 2013: Heirloom trend not just for tomatoes
Rene van Rems Industry buyers, as well as design and merchandising professionals, want to know what the trends are.
Outlook 2013: Create grower partnerships
Last year in this space, I pointed out a few trends that are happening in the entire store and how they can affect floral holiday sales in supermarkets. Those points were:
• Customers are looking mostly for value today,
• Customers want to be connected today, and
• Customers are making fewer trips but buying more each trip.
I believe that each of these predictions was on target, and that if supermarket floral departments focused on action plans related to these trends, they had a good chance for growth in 2012.
Outlook 2013: Remember the forgotten supply chain link in floral distribution
Transportation has been called “the forgotten link” in the chain of flower distribution for a good reason. The flower supply chain is commonly thought of as grower to importer to bouquet maker or wholesale florist to retailer, forgetting how many companies and people are involved with getting flowers from one of those links to another.
Supervalu selling Albertson's, four other store banners in $3.3 billion deal
Supervalu Inc. announced Jan. 10 that it will sell its Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market stores and related Osco and Sav-on in-store pharmacies to AB Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of a Cerberus Capital Management L.P.-led investor consortium, in a transaction valued at $3.3 billion.
The sale to AB Acquisition includes 877 stores for $100 million in cash. Additionally, the group will assume $3.2 billion in existing debt, according to a press release issued by Supervalu.
World Floral Expo March 13-15
The World Floral Expo returns to New York for its second straight year. In early December, the show had booked 35 exhibitors from about a dozen countries.
The show will run at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 13-15, according to Jasper van Dijk, marketing manager for the sponsor, HPP Exhibitions in Holland. The Javits Center has about 48,000 square feet of exhibit area.
Outlook 2013: Blooming business on rebound
Excitement builds every January as the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association races toward the year’s kick-off premiere show — its Tropical Plant Industry Exposition. We anticipate a strong spring market for tropical and foliage plants. The tropical eye candy that fills the entire Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL, for TPIE attracts tropical and foliage plant buyers from throughout the United States and nearly 50 countries.
Fowler Farms says ‘New York does have apples!’
“Our crop was pretty similar to the rest of New York state,” Lee Peters, vice president of sales and marketing for Fowler Bros. Inc., in Wolcott, NY, told The Produce News. “There is no question that we are down in crop size, but despite the rumors in the marketplace, we are definitely doing business. At the end of the day, it’s going to be an OK year. It is absolutely not true that New York does not have apples.”