Thursday, April 23, 2020
NORTH AMERICA

Our team

Marieke Hemmes
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Annika Durinck
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Astrid van den Broek
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Sander Bruins Slot
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Job Offers

Senior Commercial Manager | Murcia, Spain | Fruit

Country Manager | France

Avocados Sales/Marketing Professional - Europe

Looking for an opportunity in India

Procurement & Sales Manager, Potato Division - Lobinstown, Co. Meath, Ireland

European regional agent and new sales manager

Head Grower - Owatonna (Minnesota) USA

Teeltspecialist (Proeftuin & Veredeling) - Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands

Farm Manager - Riana, Tasmania, Australia

Industry Development Manager - Rocklea, Australia

Mike Chirico of McDaniel & Chirico Worldwide LLC

Avocado industry gearing up for Cinco de Mayo; good traffic expected

Avocados in the United States are currently coming out of California and Mexico. Just like many other fresh produce products, avocados have experienced some ups and downs in…

PMA Virtual Town Hall focuses on e-commerce

Exponential growth for online orders, produce purchases remain high

At this week’s PMA Virtual Town Hall, the focus was on e-commerce. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, due to social distancing guidelines and fears of getting infected,…

Drop in foodservice lettuce demand affects future plantings

Supplies of lettuce are ample right now, in part thanks to the shift in foodservice demand on the product. “Lettuce supplies are robust,” says Mark Vaughan of Santa Maria,…

Crop update

Ample volumes and stable pricing on Mexican mangos

The Mexican mango industry has been picking and packing in the remote southern regions of Chiapas and Oaxaca. The virus has so far stayed far from the region. The northern…

Peruvian ginger could see higher pricing

Supplies of ginger in Canada are currently even. CDS Foods Inc. in Montreal, Que. carries ginger from two countries of origin—China and Peru. “China is by far…

March retail purchases of potatoes 41% higher than last year

Potatoes represent the largest sales increase of all vegetables sold at retail in March. Retail purchases of all potato products were 41 percent higher in…

Today's important COVID-19 news in the fresh produce sector

Corona-update: Specialty crop growers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley face significant problems

In today’s article, we see how specialty crop growers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley are facing significant problems due to disruptions and market losses; we also take a look at…

LGMA CEO Scott Horsfall to retire, search for new CEO begins

After 13 years as the Chief Executive Officer of the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement (LGMA), Scott Horsfall announced his plans to…

New Director of Sales and Business Development

Lorena Garcia joins TerraFresh Organics

TerraFresh Organics, an organic fruit company supplying organic citrus, mangoes, stone fruit and grapes to North America, announced the hiring of Lorena Garcia…

Ecuadorian banana growers get ready to halt sales for 3 weeks

The difficult situation that the banana sector in Ecuador is going through due to the drop in income as a consequence of the world health crisis has forced the productive…

Special South Africa

Availability of spare parts for packhouse equipment & labour movement pose problems

Big year for soft citrus at Sitrusrand

An exceptional clementine season has started at Sitrusrand, in terms of both volumes and quality, inside and out. “It’s a miracle, actually,” laughs Attie Janse van Rensburg,…

Global Focus Packing/Machinery/Fresh-Cut

Martin Dahlberg, Oboya:

Boost in demand for packed produce in Scandinavia

In Scandinavia, a boost in demand for berries and other agricultural produce packed in plastic boxes with lid can be noticed. "Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, more hygienically…

Retail

Metro: Q2 profit rose

GrubMarket: Acquisition of Chasin Foods completed

Meet the new American grocery shopperFood retailers wondering when the pre-pandemic consumer will return to stores may be in for a longer wait than they anticipated. According…

Growers Express relocates HQ offices to Monterey, CA

After successfully executing the sale of their fresh value-added vegetable business to Church Brothers Farms earlier this year, Growers Express LLC has announced that they…

Restraining order sought

US: Global Container Terminals go to court to block exit of Maersk

As the COVID-19 situation unfolds and demand has dropped, global carriers are heavily curtailing ocean services. Just as it makes sense to rationalize vessel…

California pear farmers to start harvesting in early July

As the US food industry is working hard to keep food on our tables, California pear farmers are preparing to harvest their pears in early July. “California…

ProEx Food is aiming to solve labor shortages amid COVID-crisis:

"The mushroom market is ready for a leap in throughput and automation"

ProEx Food, LLC is adding their automation and integration expertise to their mushroom processing equipment. “We have been selling ProEx Food mushroom processing equipment for…

Market and Crop Update for April 23, 2020

Washington state: "We saved our best onions for the finish of the season"

MARKETCalifornia Imperial Valley:Robert Bell with Western Onion in Camarillo said on April 22, “I returned from Imperial Valley yesterday.” He noted that the…

Sarawut Muensang

AgBiome study

Sweet potato microbiome research: Important first step towards improving yield

Grown around the world, sweet potatoes are an important source of nutrition particularly in sub-Saharan African and Asian diets. Sweet potatoes are especially…

Hai Huy Ton That

Reacting to $19 billion Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

Farm Groups thankful for COVID-19 package, but claim greater need

Over the weekend, a range of farm groups said the $19 billion Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced late…

United States, Canada, Brazil and South Africa looking for the Egyptian produce

High demand for Egyptian garlic

The Egyptian garlic market is still going strong. As Brazil opened its country to the Egyptian produce last year, this is the first season Egyptian exporters can use the…

First Argentinian lemons on their way to Europe

"We will arrive in a good market, but we'll have to see how tourism affects consumption"

Argentinian lemons will soon arrive in European markets, where they will compete with the Spanish Verna lemons in the first months. “Between weeks 14 and 17, we made the first…

Ana Marcela Armas, manager of Pimanfruit, from Ecuador:

"Europe is one of the most important markets for our pitahayas"

The Ecuadorian fruit and vegetable company Pimanfruit, which is based in Quito (Ecuador), is dedicated to the production and marketing of red and yellow…

Peruvian flower growers block the transit of trucks loaded with fruit

Strawberry producers from Huashao in the province of Yungay, Ancash, have requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation to send the Peruvian National…

Peru's mango export campaign ended with a 37% growth

The general manager of the Association Peruvian Mango Exporters (APEM), Juan Carlos Rivera, stated that Peru exported 231,123 tons of fresh mango in the…

More than 90% of vegetables grown in central region Dominican Republic are rotting

More than 90% of the open field vegetables grown in Constanza are being lost. Growers are concerned with the “slowness” with which the government has been…

Neil Barker - BGP

"China is back at work, things are moving but it’s not full of confidence and bustling along like it usually is”

In the last few weeks there have been major changes in how we do business, how the markets are responding and how we get that product to market. Neil Barker has been in the…

"Sales conditions have slightly improved, but they are far from ideal"

"Nearly 60 thousand tons of Chinese navel oranges from Zigui are unmarketable"

The lock-down of Wuhan officially ended on April 4th, 2020. People from Wuhan are once again allowed to travel beyond their city and people from other parts of China are now…

We eagerly await the new tracking app as the Chinese refrigerated supply chain industry speeds up

Life across the globe has changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it is the pace of life or work, the changes are apparent. The most significant changes are…

Alban de Speville talks about growing on a tropical island

Mauritius horticulture hit by lack of tourists

Mauritius is an island that usually gets a lot of tourists. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, they are not allowed to come. Alban Doger de Speville, the General Manager of Agrex,…

Fruit Attraction is adapting its format

"We have a responsibility to celebrate Fruit Attraction 2020 together"

Fruit Attraction 2020, co-celebrating from 20 to 22 October with Flower & Garden Attraction and with the new Fresh Food Logistics project, which offers…

After difficult 2019, the Covid-19 crisis increases pressure on potato growers across Europe

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating effect on the ware potato 1 market, which will have repercussions on the other potato market segments including…

Proto states they've had an exceptional kiwi season

"We’re confident that Greek kiwi quantities could reach 300,000 tons next year”

The Greek kiwi season is not as bothered by the world pandemic as some other sectors within the fruit and vegetable trade. The Greeks have produced more kiwis than ever…

Fed Douven, abbGrowers:

"Insecurity hangs over blueberry market"

The blueberry market is currently very fragile, says Fred Douven of abbGrowers from Horst. "There are not enough workers available at the growers in Spain, but also in…

Leon van den Hombergh, Frankort & Koning:

"The Dutch melon market emptying of some varieties for the first time in a long time"

The days are currently, literally and figuratively, getting brighter on the Dutch melon market. "We are in the traditional transition weeks between overseas and European…

The Spanish company launches its new biotech division Seeds4i

Agrointec makes it easier for seed houses to obtain their horticultural hybrids in record time

In partnership with the Institute for the Conservation and Improvement of Valencian Agrodiversity of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (COMAV-UPV), the Institute for…

Don't waste any time protecting your IP rights in the international market

Australian growers and producers are being encouraged to register any new Intellectual Property (IP) and trademarks as quickly as possible, before entering international…

Agence Bio report 'Organic Farming and Market in the European Union'

Organic fruits grown in the EU: Spain and Italy at the top

The EU area of fruits grown organically amounted to almost 985,500 ha in 2017 (+6% vs 2016). According to recent estimates, they exceeded 1 million ha in 2018, increasing by…

Week 16 pome fruit exports

South Africa: Apple exports to Europe at 139,326 cartons

South African growers have exported 172,703 12.50 kg cartons of apples to other African nations in week 16, against 120,520 cartons in the same period in 2019. Some 66,511 cartons went to…

G20 requests that the measures against the pandemic don't affect the food supply

According to a new report by the Global Network Against Food Crises released this week, some 135 million people in 55 countries suffered from extreme food insecurity in 2019,…

FreshPlaza Funny

After Easter Bunny