HOUSTON -- "Are we listening to consumer trends?" The industry's answer to that question is critical to its future success, according to Brian Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, based in Newark, DE.

In his state-of-the-industry address delivered at the Oct. 13 breakfast general session during the PMA Fresh Summit International Convention, here, Mr. Silbermann emphasized the importance of focusing on basics, noting that "the first and perhaps most important basic rule is to listen to consumers."

But consumers can be fickle, he said, "so we must constantly re-examine our business models to be sure we are consumer-centric."

It is vital to listen to consumer trends, Mr. Silbermann said. "We ignore them at our peril. But we also know that it is equally dangerous to overreact and invest millions of dollars on a trend that may disappear in the face of the next 'Big Thing.'"

One current consumer trend is the locavore trend, which is closely associated with the organic trend, Mr. Silbermann stated. Consumers' "love affair with organic and local is exploding. They are striving for connections -- to local farmers, to unique products," and to a lifestyle that they feel is "more in harmony with what nature intended."

While the locavore trend is "fueled by the perception that local equals safer, healthier, more flavorful and grown with less impact on the environment, the majority of locavores actually tell us that they are motivated by a very basic instinct: the need to connect a product with a place or a face. It is all about making a connection," he said. "Therefore, we have to start telling consumers who we are."

That shouldn't be hard to do, he said. Consumers have a perception that most food is grown by large, impersonal agribusinesses. Yet fresh produce is largely grown by family businesses, and "sustainability has been at the heart of farming for generations."

The current generation in the produce industry does not stand alone, he said. "Our history defines who we are. We farm the same lands that our grandfathers nurtured and passed on to their sons. We were sustainable before sustainability was trendy."

Many existing relationships between buyers and their suppliers and vendors began a generation or more ago "when deals were sealed with just a handshake," said the PMA executive. "Our industry today stands on the shoulders of those past leaders. We are still learning from them and the tradition of excellence they built so long ago."

One important way that consumers can make a connection with the produce chain is for store-level produce personnel to have more interaction with customers, Mr. Silbermann said. "Consumers tell us there is very little interaction with the clerks in most produce departments, and they also tell us they buy more when those interactions increase."

The increase in sales that results from such interactions is borne out by the fact that "leading retailers always have well-trained produce staff who make it their business to engage customers," he said.

One important way to make a connection with consumers is through branding, Mr. Silbermann said. "Consumers really are looking for a connection, and there is nothing more basic than branding when it comes to building that connection."

Yet "despite the fact that branding is a basic element of effective marketing," he said, "we are an industry with very few consumer brands. Consumers have told us repeatedly that a brand inspires confidence, that it makes them feel connected to the people behind the product."

Many consumer trends relate to produce packaging, and with regard to packaging, consumers "want it all," Mr. Silbermann said. They want packaging that is convenient, reusable, resealable and environmentally friendly -- in a variety of convenient sizes, with colorful graphics "promising health and flavor."

Of the many types of packaging that appeal to consumers for their convenience and other factors, "clamshells rule the day," he said. "They are not just for berries anymore," but are now used by savvy marketers for a wide assortment of produce products.

"Like the fruits, vegetables and flowers we grow, our industry lives and breathes. We are constantly adapting to the challenges around us," Mr. Silbermann said.

Today's global produce industry transcends regional and national boundaries, and PMA recognizes that "to serve a global marketplace, we must ourselves be global." PMA's current executive committee represents that "global face," he said.

Marketing functions are now beginning to dominate production, "influencing what products we grow and where we grow them. Trade buyers often decide the final shape and form of our product," and growers and buyers are working together to create new products, "all to meet consumer demand," he said.

"Whether large or small, U.S. or international, companies that are succeeding in our brave new world are the ones that focus on basic rules that have stood the test of time," rules which are "all part of the legacy that was passed down from our elders." Those basics "begin and end with the consumer," he said.

PMA's new chairman-elect, Bruce Taylor of Taylor Farms California, also spoke at the Saturday breakfast session. His theme was the need for the industry to work in unity, recognizing that the competition is not other produce companies but the makers and marketers of less healthy food alternatives. He urged the people in the produce industry to act as "one industry" with "one voice, one standard, one promise."