PMA Fresh Connections: Growing a brighter future!

With only three weeks to go before PMA Fresh Connections, an event for the entire fresh fruit, vegetable and floral industry, kicks off in Brisbane, all signs are pointing towards PMA Fresh Connections being the event to attend in 2016. Organisers have confirmed that this year’s exhibitor numbers have squashed previous years’ with a record number of companies exhibiting on Trade Show Day, 18th May. Not to mention the extension of the Meet the Experts corner and the Fresh Hub stage giving delegates even more opportunities to expand their knowledge and grow their business connections towards a brighter future.

The 2016 speaker line up is top notch with key sessions delivering the freshest insights into a wide range of topics including consumer trends, the state of the retail sector, the impact of the digital age and new business models for exporting. The Conference Day on Tuesday 17th May will be opened by Senator Anne Ruston, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources and the day’s proceedings will be chaired by the Cape Town-based, internationally-acclaimed ‘the other’ Michael Jackson.

The third and final day of PMA Fresh Connections, Wednesday 19th May, allows delegates to mix-and-match topics. Each topic has been refined and shaped to be of highest value to the fresh produce industry with special guest speakers, panel experts and industry representatives. The Fresh Ideas for Success Forum is designed for businesses that have the desire to learn about the opportunities in fresh produce innovations, while the Foodservice Forum offers vital tips on consumer insights and re-inventing ‘fresh’ on the restaurant and QSR menu. If you are an existing or aspiring exporter and interested in understanding the opportunities of global trade, the Australian Horticulture Exporters’ Association Forum is for you. And finally, the Fresh Produce Organics Forum will give insight into the agronomics around the “Organic Way”, the organic customer and new market opportunities.

Day three also offers two fantastic tour options. The Farm/ Value Add Tour will visit the beautiful Sunshine Coast region, offering some of the most technologically advanced and innovative agribusinesses that Queensland has to offer while the ever-popular Retail Tour will visit some of the top retailers and wholesalers in Brisbane, showcasing some of the best quality produce and new concepts in fresh produce retailing.

The power of industry events like PMA Fresh Connections simmers down to a single yet loaded word… ‘Networking’. Building your social capital occurs by design, not chance. Successful businesses build a spider web structure of relationships that capture information, ideas, knowledge, opportunities, contacts and, of course, referrals. And there is no better place than PMA Fresh Connections to create those connections, build your networks and design you own web of success. With buying teams from all leading retailers attending as well as growers, packers, wholesalers, suppliers, processors, importers and exporters, government, industry associations and foodservice, you’ll see why you need to be there too!

Kicking the whole event off is the annual Women’s Fresh Perspectives dinner on Monday 16th May. This year, the theme is 'Creating a path to Diversity' - chosen to encourage the industry to reflect on how it can improve through workplace diversity. Women’s Fresh Perspectives delegates will hear from Alice Gorman and Gen Windley from the Just Veg. brand and Richard Gorman, CEO of Kalfresh Vegetables on how incorporating diversity into the business plan helped to drive sales, increase ideas and innovations, build new customer relations and enhance the businesses reputation.

After realising that the Kalfresh Vegetables management team was man-centric, the organisation addressed the ‘bloke problem’ by established a team of farmers’ wives from diverse professional backgrounds to form a Customer Focus Team. This team was tasked to assist the organisation to connect with female shoppers, reduce food waste and value-add the company’s core crops. As a result, this group of professional women created and developed the Just Veg. brand and launched a range of pre-cut snacking carrots in September 2015 using so-called ‘ugly veg’ or ‘seconds’ that would usually not make it past the packing shed. Register for the Women’s Fresh Perspectives dinner and hear how the Just Veg. ladies built a 100-fold increase in value for their ‘ugly carrots’ from a paltry $50 a tonne as stock feed, to the value added seconds pulling in an incredible $5000 a tonne!

For more information:

Renee Harrison