OVERVIEW GLOBAL GINGER MARKET

China is the largest ginger grower on the global market and has seen the demand for the product increase due to the pandemic. Heavy rainfall has also resulted in a large part of the old harvest being lost. Worldwide, this is causing market scarcity, while the demand has increased. The first ginger harvest will start again in…

Drought worries Peruvian mango growers and exporters

The Peruvian mango season is set to start in the middle of November with the northern growing region of Piura. This start is a few weeks late, which is the result of cooler weather in June and July which delayed the flowering period, according to Milton Calle of Exotic Producers and Packers. The volumes…

Spike in demand for California dates

Supplies of California dates are solid as the industry approaches the end of harvest. “I don’t predict any type of shortages for dates. It doesn’t mean that sales are down. It just means we’re continuing to plant and get additional crops each year,” says Bob Harrick of Woodspur Farms in Coachella, CA. This…

Drop in Wisconsin cranberry production

Supplies of cranberries out of Wisconsin are down though demand has increased for the berry. “Wisconsin is a big player and across the board, Wisconsin’s volume is down about 10 percent. However, as a company we are lucky to have a great group of growers who brought more fruit than ever into the cooler.…

Avocados From Mexico partners with Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews on Super Bowl promotions

Avocados From Mexico is launching a campaign kickoff with sportscasters, Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews, to inspire shoppers to take their love of game day guac to the next level. AFM's first-ever in-store celebrity shopper engagement program is available to all grocery retailers and features free POS…

Fresh Summit’s “Best of Show” winners are announced

Produce Marketing Association announced the “Best of Show” awards this week, a Fresh Summit tradition of recognition that celebrates innovation and creativity in marketing and product promotion. This year’s event featured virtual Marketplaces where exhibiting companies could customize and share their own…

Packaged citrus is in high demand

DiSilva Fruit and Morning Kiss Organic are ready to deliver organic and conventional citrus for the coming citrus season. DiSilva Fruit and Morning Kiss Organic have seen tremendous growth in specialty and organic citrus over the last 5 years. "Citrus is one of the leading categories of all organic…

Mission Produce promotes Brooke Becker to Sales Director

Mission Produce announced the promotion of Brooke Becker to Sales Director. As Sales Director, Brooke is responsible for managing outside purchases and utilization of product.…

Generation Farms adds Mike Harris to lead watermelon sales team

Generation Farms has added produce industry veteran Mike Harris to their expanding sales team. Harris recently joined the leading grower-shipper of organic and conventional…

Berry grower-shipper secures partnerships with growers in Peru for blueberries

Berry People, a year-round, full-line shipper of branded organic and conventional strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and avocados, has recently secured strong, influential partnerships with growers in Peru. These relationships will allow Berry People to provide promotable volumes of…

Avocados From Mexico partners with Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews on Super Bowl promotions

Avocados From Mexico is launching a campaign kickoff with sportscasters, Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews, to inspire shoppers to take their love of game day guac to the next level. AFM's first-ever in-store celebrity shopper engagement program is available to all grocery retailers and features free POS…

Generation Farms adds Mike Harris to lead watermelon sales team

Generation Farms has added produce industry veteran Mike Harris to their expanding sales team. Harris recently joined the leading grower-shipper of organic and conventional…

Debbie Willmann celebrates 30 years at Index Fresh

Just 21 years old and barely into college, Debbie Willmann started at Index Fresh on October 21, 1990, as an accounting temp with plans of pursuing a career as a CPA. Fast…

Fresh Summit’s “Best of Show” winners are announced

Produce Marketing Association announced the “Best of Show” awards this week, a Fresh Summit tradition of recognition that celebrates innovation and creativity in marketing and product promotion. This year’s event featured virtual Marketplaces where exhibiting companies could customize and share their own…

Mission Produce promotes Brooke Becker to Sales Director

Mission Produce announced the promotion of Brooke Becker to Sales Director. As Sales Director, Brooke is responsible for managing outside purchases and utilization of product.…

Fyffes North America wins award for "Easy to Eat, Easy to Pronounce" campaign

Fyffes North America "Easy to Eat, Easy to Pronounce" advertising campaign won Gold at the 2020 Summit Creative Awards in the Integrated Campaign, B2B category. This marks the second recognition by the Summit International Awards organization, which also awarded Fyffes innovative campaign with the 2019…

USDA revises U.S. standards for grapefruit and oranges

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is revising the U.S. Standards for Grades of Grapefruit (Texas and States other than Florida,…

Chowbotics encourages grocers to ‘Reclaim Your Salad Bar’

While some people fear COVID has pushed salad bars to extinction, Californian company Chowbotics has unveiled new technological developments for its fresh food robot Sally that should allow grocers to reclaim this once profitable area of the store. The Hayward-based Chowbotics company has developed a…

Modern carrot harvesting machine in action

Modern harvesting machines have simplified the process of carrot picking. Toplift harvesters pull the carrots out of the ground swiftly and with minimal effort. The machines optimize harvest times, and multiple rows of the carrot crop can be harvested at a time. As the machine is tracked across the…

Vegetables to be adapted to suit picking robots

In the future, vegetable varieties will be created with the specific intent that picking robots can harvest them more easily. Colinda de Beer predicts it will be a case of…

Chiapas registers a decline in mango and banana production

According to a report from the Agri-food Information Service, in 2019 the southern Mexican state of Chiapas produced 696,877 tons of bananas, i.e. 0.15% fewer bananas than in…

Oregon Fruit releases new Dragon Fruit Mango to its 'Fruit In Hand' line

Oregon Fruit Products announced a tropical addition to its Fruit In Hand Original line, Dragon Fruit Mango. Featuring a vivid fuchsia color and tangy sweetness, Dragon Fruit…

Good quality avocados, but less big sizes from Chile

Avocado Company received the first Hass avocados from Chile mid-September, but hadn’t been seeing anything close to the volume they would have expected in the last month. In most cases Chilean farms started harvesting around 4 weeks later than last season – with a number of reasons behind the delay. For…

“Brazil's preparing for mangos year-end push”

Sea freight mangos went through a hard time this summer. That’s according to Henk van der Meij of Hars-Hagebauer, a Dutch wholesaler that specializes in mangos. “There was…

Drought worries Peruvian mango growers and exporters

The Peruvian mango season is set to start in the middle of November with the northern growing region of Piura. This start is a few weeks late, which is the result of cooler weather in June and July which delayed the flowering period, according to Milton Calle of Exotic Producers and Packers. The volumes…

“Israeli avocados benefitting from empty European market”

Israel sends large amounts of mangos and avocados to Europe. Jordi Fijnheer, Sales Manager at FruitPro, in the Netherlands, however, noticed that this year wasn't a top one…

USDA cites National Produce Sales Inc. in Illinois for PACA violations

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has imposed sanctions on National Produce Sales Inc., Lake Zurich, Ill., for violating the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. These…

Spotted Lanternfly discovered in Jefferson County, Ohio

A population of Spotted Lanternflies has been found in Mingo Junction just south of Steubenville, along the Ohio River. The initial report came from a resident who spotted a…

Drop in Wisconsin cranberry production

Supplies of cranberries out of Wisconsin are down though demand has increased for the berry. “Wisconsin is a big player and across the board, Wisconsin’s volume is down about 10 percent. However, as a company we are lucky to have a great group of growers who brought more fruit than ever into the cooler.…

“Our new building should be 20% more efficient”

“After all these years, we were bursting at the seams. We even had to rent three additional locations. We needed sufficient capacity for storing and processing our soft fruit. That brings you to a point where the process is simply no longer efficient,” says Wil Beekers on the phone from BerryWorld’s new…

Late South African cherry crop eagerly awaited in Europe & UK

The European and UK markets are “very, very ready” for their first cherries (the more so because the harvest is a week to two later than last year) but the logistics of getting it there will require considerably more planning, says Tanith Freeman, product development manager at Dutoit. “We won’t be able…

Berry grower-shipper secures partnerships with growers in Peru for blueberries

Berry People, a year-round, full-line shipper of branded organic and conventional strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and avocados, has recently secured strong, influential partnerships with growers in Peru. These relationships will allow Berry People to provide promotable volumes of…

“Indian consumers are convinced avocado will be the fruit of the future”

Pictures of the Indian floods have been shown on many news outlets, but these floods are not unusual for India. Heavy rains during the monsoon season replenish the water supply of the Indians, although it brings destruction along with it. The fruit industry is not affected as much though, as fruit…

Could the Miracle Fruit be suitable for South Florida?

In a study published this week, researchers at University of Florida’s Tropical Research and Education Center have unlocked the mystery behind a highly sought-after berry…

BASF to acquire innovative melon breeding company ASL

On Wednesday, October 28, 2020 BASF has formally agreed to acquire ASL, a melon breeding company, to continue expanding its position as a partner in the fruit and vegetable value chain. The transaction with the privately-owned French company based near Avignon, covers all assets, including seed…

Volume of EU-28 apple crop expected to be about 10.8 mln tons

During the ongoing marketing year, prices remain firm above the historical reference period, as expected, due to a  small crop. There are indications pointing to a Polish crop even smaller than initially expected due to extreme weather events and absence of sufficient labour because of the crisis. The new…

Virginia Tech research: How long does COVID-19 survive on food surfaces?

Virginia Tech researchers are studying how long COVID-19 survives on these food surfaces. Dr. Andrea Bertke a virologist and associate professor, told nbc12.com: “For the…

More up-scale markets appearing in China

A new kind of market is starting to appear in big Chinese cities, appealing to a more well-off sector of the population and aiming also at receiving tourism groups. These stores include fresh food markets that are more organized and well-decorated. The market features local decorations and takes up all…

NeonMind manufactures 4 superfood mushroom coffees

Better Plant Sciences Inc. announced that its majority owned subsidiary NeonMind Biosciences has completed an initial production run of all four of its Ayurvedic, functional mushroom coffees. “With this production run successfully completed, we are now prepared to begin consumer testing. We are also…

‘California growers should test lettuce for E. coli - or keep it’

Companies that import lettuce must now prove each shipment has been tested for E. coli, or was grown outside of California's Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey…

Mechanized harvesting for chestnuts

Managing a chestnut forest at 650-700 meters above sea level is challenging. Terra Amica from the Italian town of Loiano in the province of Bologna are currently harvesting their chestnuts. An air blower is used to facilitate the work. This moves the bolsters to predetermined areas, after which they are…

Gulf states apprehensive over possible damage from Hurricane Zeta

While the US hurricane season is getting near its end, usually being cited to end on November 30th, a new hurricane has hit the US Gulf Coast: Hurricane Zeta. The hurricane made landfall Wednesday afternoon in Southeastern Louisiana, and brought heavy winds, rain and tidal surges to the Gulf Coast. By…

"We will lose the whole of November, usually a very busy time for us,”

Ireland has been back in full lock down for two weeks, prior to that different counties had different levels of lock down. The situation will be reviewed again on December 1st.  As before this has had major implications for the fresh produce trade with the hospitality sector completely shut down. “The only thing…

Recent farm bills have made progress in helping US specialty farmers

For years, Jimmy Buckley watched government subsidies go to big corn and soybean farmers growing crops that become fuel and animal feed. Buckley grows organic fruits and…

New vision technology for lower volume growers

When new technology is introduced to agriculture, it’s not always within reach of smaller growers. But that’s not the case with one new vision system that’s likely to appeal…

Slimmer ginger supplies cause prices to spike

The ginger market in North America continues to see shifts from countries supplying the market right now. China, a significant ginger growing country, has seen pressure on its supplies in recent months. “Bad weather ruined a lot of the old crop so they haven’t been shipping as much in the last few…

New Indian startup to curb onion wastage

Although India is the second-largest onion producer in the world, prices have been on a steady rise owing to heavy rainfall in some states and poor storage facilities in others. Kalyani Shinde is an engineering graduate, who was born and raised in Lasalgaon, home to Asia’s largest onion market. She is…

Indian government to release 100,000 tonnes of onion buffer stock to combat price hike

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has stated that the federal government will release 100,000 tonnes of buffer stock of onions. The minister said: “The…

Using data analysis to improve sweet potatoes

An interdisciplinary team from North Carolina State University, SAS, and Intero Life Sciences are partnering for a three-year project that will use artificial intelligence to…

Sunfresh growers introduce Formosa papayas from Dutch greenhouse

Several years ago, the Sunfresh growers from Venlo were involved in a trial with Wageningen UR in a test greenhouse in Bleiswijk to see which exotics can be grown in the Dutch greenhouses. In the end, exotics such as mangos and avocados were dropped, but from a botanical point of view the Formosa papayas…

'Solutions for food retailers facing seismic shift in consumer habits and spend'

Global logistics company C.H. Robinson is bringing supply chain expertise and technology to the aid of grocery retailers facing unprecedented demand and consumer change during…

Zespri welcomes new Fresh Carriers vessel MV Kowhai into its shipping fleet

The New Zealand kiwifruit industry will be boosted by three specialised reefer vessels following significant investment by operator Fresh Carriers, underpinned by their confidence in the kiwifruit industry and their longstanding relationship with Zespri. The first of the three vessels, MV Kowhai, arrived…

Ocean carrier schedule reliability drops to 2020 low

Schedule reliability of ocean carriers fell to 56 per cent in September. The on-time performance of Asia shipments to the US west and east coasts plunging below 50 per cent.…

Gaia Herbs Bv expands its reach in Europe by merging with German company

Gaia Herbs has had a subsidiary in the Netherlands since 2017 and it has now merged with Via Maris GmbH, one of the largest herb companies in Germany. Gaia has been a strong, stable herbs supplier in Europe for some time. It’s Dutch branch is very well located, logistically. Now, its ready for the next…

2nd Xtrema Fruit National Stone Fruit Forum will be held in online format

The latest developments in the stone fruit sector will be presented at the second edition of the Xtrema Fruit National Stone Fruit Forum, which, due to the situation caused by…

Packaged citrus is in high demand

DiSilva Fruit and Morning Kiss Organic are ready to deliver organic and conventional citrus for the coming citrus season. DiSilva Fruit and Morning Kiss Organic have seen tremendous growth in specialty and organic citrus over the last 5 years. "Citrus is one of the leading categories of all organic…

Vietnam: Dong Thap province preserves endangered pink mandarin

The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has approved a project to preserve the specialty pink mandarin of its Lai Vung district. The fruit allegedly faces extinction. The 73…

“It’s exciting that we’ll enter the Japanese market this year”

High demand for Egyptian citrus in Europe and Saudi ArabiaThe pandemic still brings a lot of uncertainty to the Egyptian citrus exporters, as they’ve been working on the Navel and Baladi varieties already. They expect is to be a good season, with high demand from Saudi Arabia, as they’ve banned the…

No more coca, but organic limes for Colombian farmers

When the first shipment of Colombian limes from "Persian Limes" arrived at organic fruit specialist Eosta in Waddinxveen last week, they came with a very nice surprise. On the 800 boxes of fresh green limes, almost a hundred postcards were stuck with personal messages from the farm workers of the valley…

Spike in demand for California dates

Supplies of California dates are solid as the industry approaches the end of harvest. “I don’t predict any type of shortages for dates. It doesn’t mean that sales are down. It just means we’re continuing to plant and get additional crops each year,” says Bob Harrick of Woodspur Farms in Coachella, CA. This…

"Despite Corona, we were able to offer a complete range of bananas throughout"

In addition to conventional bananas, organic, fair trade and organic fair trade batches have been increasingly popular with consumers in recent years. Demeter bananas are also developing into an increasingly important market niche in the German trade. Hamburg import company Direct Fresh has set itself…

"Supermarkets given opportunity to predict turnover per location with up to 90% accuracy"

"The Belgian-Dutch geo-marketing scale-up RetailSonar is well on its way to becoming a European player. Thanks to a new partnership with Geocible, French retailers now also have the opportunity to predict, with up to 90% accuracy, the turnover of each location," said the company. RetailSonar currently helps…

"Fruit growers are clearly looking for smart and flexible approaches"

Pixofarm's digital solution for the fruit industry is now being used by producers in Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, after customers in Europe reported on their successes. Pixofarm uses artificial intelligence to conveniently digitize fruit counting and fruit sizing via a smartphone…

Unload fruit, load frozen French fries

Reefer containers filled with fruit arrive by ship at Cool Port I in Waalhaven, Rotterdam. The pallets are removed, and in future, the reefers will be loaded with frozen French fries. The pallets will then immediately be sent back by barge to the Maasvlakte. By the beginning of 2020, these fries should…

Natural Branding© by LaserFood: the one and only supported by European Union

"When looking for innovative laser labeling for fresh produce, beware imitations! With almost 15 years’ experience LaserFood is the pioneer and undisputed leader of laser-labelled technology", claims John Bean Technologies - JBT Corporation. Natural Branding©: more than just technologyNatural Branding© is…

Amazon: 37% year-over-year increase in Q3 net sales

Canada: Empire’s Michael Medline weighs in on supplier feesMichael Medline, president & CEO of Empire Company and Sobeys Inc., says he does not think government legislation of grocery relationships with suppliers would be helpful because of the complexity of the relationships. But he is open to an…

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