Thursday, April 16, 2020
NORTH AMERICA

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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

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

Harvesting intentionally slows on California avocados

Supplies of California avocados are very strong currently. According to the California Avocado Commission (CAC), California avocado growers harvested nearly 46.7 million…

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Imports of tropicals and exotics by air

“Every week, we have to adapt to new carriers and transit routes”

Nowadays, consumers are used to being able to buy many fruit and vegetable items all year long. Although in-season much is grown domestically, some fruit and vegetable…

How will US unemployment affect produce buying?

As the US unemployment rate hit 13 percent and will likely to continue to climb, an increasing number of Americans are watching their wallets and scrutinizing how to spend…

Produce company provides fresh produce boxes to local community

The coronavirus pandemic has had many devastating effects throughout the world, and many people are staying inside to help prevent the spread of the virus. Gold Coast Packing…

PMA Virtual Town Hall panel

Many of today's precautions will remain in the 'new normal'

PMA held its weekly Virtual Town Hall yesterday, Wednesday April 15th. This week, they featured a panel that represented both retail and foodservice and discussed topics such…

US: Organic produce sales jump 22 % in March, up 8 % in Q1

Total organic fresh produce sales were up 22 percent for the month of March, with overall first quarter sales up eight percent in retail conditions unlike any ever experienced…

Keeping produce front and center in homeschool classroom with new video series

The loss of proven nutrition-based interventions like school meals and salad bars means many kids are eating less fresh produce at home during the COVID-19 online school…

US citrus grower associations appeal to Sec. Perdue

Corona crisis impact on certain citrus varieties estimated over $200 million

The chief executives of three large U.S. citrus grower associations estimate that “the immediate COVID-19 impact to certain varieties of citrus will be over…

Pairwise and Plant Sciences, Inc.

New collaboration focuses on developing new berry varieties

Pairwise, a food tech company, and Plant Sciences, Inc., a berry breeder and agricultural research company, announced a collaboration to offer exciting new…

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

Corona-update: President Trump to unveil first phase of COVID-19 farm aid

As we speak, farm workers from Eastern Europe are being flown to the UK on charter flights to pick fruit and vegetable crops and German farms expect to have enough foreign…

Special South Africa

South African top fruit industry is open for business

South African top and stone fruit growers association, Hortgro, announce that exports of apples and pears are continuing as planned, with volumes to the UK as expected and…

Global Focus Packing/Machinery/Fresh-Cut

Wood crate manufacturers support the industry in a difficult season

"Even during the Corona Crisis: Wood over plastic"

In many places, packaging made of wood still has an image problem. They are however, ahead in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. According to initial…

Retail

Island Pacific Supermarket: "Stay Home, Stay Safe" campaign

Sobeys is accelerating the planned launch of its Voilà service

US: Raley's opens flagship Sacramento storeAmid the COVID-19 pandemic, Raley’s has opened its new flagship location in Sacramento's Land Park, a project that's been under…

New organic butternut and spaghetti squash program available mid-April

Wholesum® recently launched a new program of high-volume, organic and Fair Trade butternut and spaghetti squash. This is the first commercial production of hard squash for…

Michael Manson joins Monterey Mushrooms as LTL sales manager

Monterey Mushrooms hired Michael Manson to manage the less than truckload (LTL) sales territory of the eastern region supporting the company’s Princeton,…

USDA & DHS temporarily relaxes H-2A rules on US guest workers

The Department of Homeland Security, with the support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), announced on April 15 a temporary final rule to change…

Crunch Time Apple Growers and Schwinn bicycles join forces for third year in a row

Crunch Time Apple Growers and Schwinn bicycles joined forces for the third straight year to create a consumer promotion designed to boost awareness of Crunch Time's…

California farmer plows under lettuce due to crippled restaurant market

The lockdown in most U.S. states that started in mid-March created a logjam of fruit and vegetables bound for restaurants across the country. The effects of…

Refrigerated cargo capabilities expanding with new USDA inspection dock in Florida

Crowley Logistics recently expanded its on-terminal, perishables handling capabilities by constructing a new USDA inspection dock in Port Everglades, Fla. The…

British Columbia - Canada

Helicopters being used to fight frost on this year's cherry crop

Okanagan residents are familiar with helicopters using their blades to clear off rain and dew build-up on cherries as they get closer to harvest, but perhaps…

Asian citrus psyllid bug threatens Arizona citrus

'Once you have it, you're in trouble'

Citrus Greening or HLB is a disease that is spread by the tiny Asian citrus psyllid bug. The African variation was first reported in 1947 in South Africa,…

COSCO Shipping Lines announce new EAST Mediterranean - US East-coast service

COSCO has announced a new, dedicated EAST Mediterranean - US Eastcoast service in April this year, with weekly departures from all main export markets in Italy, Spain, Turkey,…

70% of the avocados from Arequipa can't be exported due to the closure of the borders in Peru

Exporters have been unable to ship out 70% of the avocado production from the region of Arequipa, which is destined for the European, Asian, and US markets,…

Latin American ports strengthen their prevention protocols

The expansion of the coronavirus continues to affect Latin America's port system, which has implemented new actions against the pandemic to its protocols to…

Cross-border fruit trade badly hit by coronavirus lockdown

Gauteng’s fresh produce markets, particularly Johannesburg and to a lesser degree Tshwane, are a major supplier of fresh produce to neighbouring countries, particularly on…

Garlic shortage while ginger demand spikes

The hottest fresh lines currently are lemons, garlic and ginger as temperatures drop across South Africa and the lockdown, which was originally to have ended today, extends…

Alain Tulpin, Tulpin Group

"Airfreight fruit and vegetables quadruples"

“Because the passenger flights have been canceled due to the corona virus, everything shifts to cargo flights. Normally, a Boeing 777 passenger plane flies daily from Cairo to…

Cédric Geens, W. Jonckheere:

"A lot of demand for luxury fresh produce, lime market currently a disaster"

Due to the effects of the corona virus and the lockdown in Belgium, there is quite a lot of demand for the more luxurious fruit and vegetable products. “Mangos and avocados…

Alban Descamps, En’Diva:

“Endives are very popular but this year production is low”

Endives are not usually a key product for collectives or commercial catering. As a consequence, the demand for the product did not decrease with the lockdown. On the contrary,…

Good movements observed

Blueberries from Shandong, China now available on the market

Affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, the volume of imported blueberries over recent months has declined compared with previous years, which gives blueberries grown locally a…

Pieter Gabriëls, Bejo Samen GmbH:

"This is what growers are thinking about now: harvest helpers, harvest helpers, harvest helpers"

The mood among German asparagus producers is divided. Prices are generally good at the moment, especially at Easter the demand for this noble vegetable was satisfactory.…

Job van Iterson:

"The boom is over, but top fruit sales continue to do well"

According to Job van Iterson from the Dutch fruit company of the same name from Haarsteeg, the sale of hard fruit continues smoothly. "You can say that we are on the right…

Mundial consortium

The club-variety melon campaign has started

The netted melon campaign is reaching its peak with the first fruits of the Red Falcon variety, the best in this segment. "The variety is exclusive to partners of Gruppo…

Additional nights of frost in April expected

More frost hits Poland; pears, apples, potatoes and early field vegetables affected

Another wave of frost has hit Poland recently, although the temperatures weren’t incredibly low compared to the previous night of frost. Still, there will be damages to a…

La Grande Bellezza Italiana ready-to-eat kiwifruit

"Our objective was to supply kiwifruit that is ready to eat so, with the help of our single companies, we developed a produce storage and management system under the La Grande…

Alejandro Peiró: "South Africa will find a good market, but what will consumption be like?"

"These high citrus prices are dangerous for trade"

The demand for citrus fruits has increased exponentially since the COVID-19 crisis started and prices are reaching unprecedented levels. "From January to the end of February,…

New Zealand apples arriving in Europe and Asia

“If this had been a normal year, we would have been looking at an excellent season.”

As the demand for apples in Europe increases the first arrivals from New Zealand are landing on a good market. “The first New Zealand Cox have arrived and are looking very…

Demand for operators in the Italian apple sector to peak in a few months' time

On April 14th, Assomela's Marketing Committee analyzed Italian stocks at the start of the month as well as market dynamics. Sales in March followed the trend of the previous months and…

Safe chemical kills hitchhiker pest, preserves fruit quality

Fruit export companies and farmers in the Western Cape don’t just have to deal with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; they also have to do battle with the grain…

Argentina's onion export season begins with low prices

The agricultural colony of the Lower Valley of Rio Negro, which has almost 2,000 hectares devoted to growing this vegetable, has started its export season uncertain of the…

The first pears from China arrive at Brazilian stores

According to Produce Report, Brazilian stores have already received the first Chinese pears after the opening of the South American market for this fruit in…

Colombia

Waruwa offers online home delivery service in Bogota

The Waruwa technology platform has expanded its service by implementing online home sales during this critical period that Colombia is going through due to the…

Concerning imports from red zone areas of neighbouring states

India: Commissioner lifts temporary vegetable import suspension order

On Wednesday, Itanagar-Capital Region Deputy Commissioner Komkar Dulom, lifted the temporary suspension order to import fresh vegetables, which was earlier issued on 3 April…

Mexico continues exporting bananas to China

Primary activities in the different states of Mexico haven't stopped despite the health emergency that was declared in the country due to the coronavirus. The banana sector in…

South Africa

Cape Town Container Terminal invests in four new straddle carriers

The Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) – one of 19 Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) – has acquired four new-generation straddle carriers. The investment is aimed at mitigating…

Ugandan growers alarmed as locusts adapt to spraying

Scientists are warning that locusts have become more adept at beating measures meant to eliminate them. A new breed of insects has developed adaptations such…

10,000 hectares of plantain in Venezuela at risk due to lack of fuel

The president of the Foundation for the Improvement of Banana in Venezuela (Fumplaven), Jose Rafel Urdaneta, stated that the lack of fuel to keep drainage systems active…

The word "potato" in several German dialects on a pre-1945 map

You say potato, I say Knolle.

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