Do not reply to this email. Send your response to info@freshplaza.com.

Friday, March 5, 2021
NORTH AMERICA

Our team

Marieke Hemmes
Email

Annika Durinck
Email

Astrid van den Broek
Email

Sander Bruins Slot
Email

Job Offers

Grower, Vine Crops - Richmond (KY) USA

Cultivation/Propagation Manager Young Plants - Australia

Assistant Head Grower - Mason City (Iowa) USA

Global Category Director for Cherries - Chile, North America, Australia or New Zealand

Head of Sales - LA (California) USA

Head of Agronomy: Research & Development - Berlin, Germany

Africa Fruit Export Sales Manager - South Africa

Grower - Philippines

Assistant technical manager

Food Safety and Quality Director - South Bend (IN) USA

OVERVIEW GLOBAL MELON AND WATERMELON MARKET

The melon supply is currently shifting from Brazil to Senegal. The Central American melon season has started much too late. Normally, the first volumes arrive in early to…

Sila Louw with Oppy in South Africa

“Our strength is to sell produce from Africa directly to North American retailers”

Oppy recently opened an office in South Africa and discusses the journey of setting foot on the African continent, combined with the immense opportunities the country offers.…

Supplies of iceberg lettuce exceed demand

Iceberg lettuce volume remains high thanks to a few factors. Sam Christopherson of Salinas, CA-based Markon notes that ample supplies of iceberg are currently being harvested…

Washington-grown organic produce offered year-round for fourth year

Last year, organic produce outpaced conventional produce in terms of volume and sales. “The pandemic changed consumers’ grocery shopping habits,” says Blaine Markley, director…

Crop update South American mango growing regions

The National Mango Board (NMB) projects the total volume of mangoes shipped to the United States over the next two months to be 34 percent higher year-over-year. The 2021…

Private online trading platform for fresh produce launches

Fresh produce can ‘trade smarter’ through the release of the industry’s online marketplace. ProduceIQ is a business-to-business platform for qualified growers and buyers to…

Mission Produce enters the mango category

Mission Produce, Inc., well-known for sourcing, producing, and distributing fresh Hass avocados, has announced its year-round mango program. The program will incorporate…

USDA imposes sanctions on two companies for PACA violations

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has imposed sanctions on Southern Sun LLC, Woolwich, N.J., for violating the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. These…

March 8-12

Tomato Week covers e-commerce trends, COVID-19 and more

The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas has opened registration for Tomato Week 2021 which takes place March 8-12. The event is open to all who have an…

"We're expanding because we want to continue to support food service"

A 10-acre greenhouse facility in Massachusetts is providing the United States’ East Coast with “local lettuce that locals love,” according to the company’s slogan. Paul Sellew…

Global Focus Bananas

Thomas Hug (Bananen+Frucht AG) on the global banana market

"Importing bananas yourself is a risk that doesn't pay off"

Bananen + Frucht AG is a modern service provider with its own ripening facility at Zurich's Engrosmarkt. "We sell around 3,500 tons of bananas per year," says Thomas Hug, the…

Special Australia / New Zealand

"There are stories being told about you - but who is telling that story?"

Melbourne fruit retailer believes that embracing a digital strategy is the future of fruit and veg marketing

When a local Melbourne grocer was getting tired of the "same old advice" that was constantly being given to him on how to sell fruit and vegetables, he decided to think…

Retail

Dreamstime

Walmart Canada is accelerating its e-commerce expansion

Kroger: Strong fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 results

US: Trader Joe’s is No. 1 in customer satisfaction, but metrics down overallFollowing 4 years of fairly steady customer satisfaction, the supermarket industry’s rating in this…

State grant means good health, good economy and good for the environment

Enhancing California’s specialty crops

The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program has awarded $450,000 to researchers in the UC Davis Center for Precision…

Ecuadorian bananas need to recover markets

Ecuador has been the largest banana exporter in the world for almost 6 decades, with more than 30% of the global market share for this fruit. The European…

Cooling down a hothouse to launch Panama's strawberry cultivation

When you think of Panama and especially when you think of Panama City, strawberries might not be the first thing that come to your mind. Yet, if it’s up to the team of Ag…

Jan Marc Schulz, SFI Rotterdam, the Netherlands

"The Chilean grape season ended abruptly, but no shortages on the European market"

The Chilean grape season literally ended up in the water. "For the growers, it's tragic. They had a perfect growing season. Everything was going their way until the last…

Tim Struckman, Exotic Roots:

"With our packaging line we want to bring consumers into contact with exotics they never buy"

Starting your own business in the export of exotics during COVID times sounds like a challenge. Nevertheless, according to Tim Struckman of Exotic Roots, it is precisely now…

Michael Franks - Seeka

"SunGold 7-10 days advanced, Hayward same as last year"

The New Zealand kiwifruit harvest is about to begin and grower and post harvest company Seeka have been harvesting kiwiberry for a few weeks now and are on the home straight…

Bringing automation to nut harvesting

The macadamia market is constantly growing: indeed, the nutritional virtues it provides makes the macadamia nut a fruit very much in demand. "The success is such that today…

"Retail prices are expected to remain high for this financial year and into the next"

Forecasts show that there is no short term end for Australia's horticulture labour shortages

Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) says while the horticulture industry will suffer significantly from labour shortages, there are…

Lechelle Earl - Onions Australia

Good domestic demand for Australian onions

While the northern and eastern states of Australia have finished the onion harvest the south is in full production. South Australian and Tasmanian onion harvests are in full…

Tessara Berrisys: Big difference in arrival quality of blueberries

Tessara’s launch of their Berrisys product for blueberries came at exactly the right time, when many blueberry exporters from South Africa were looking at a sea freight…

The Italian Pieve di Rivoschio Association asked the authorities for help in dealing with the emergency

Chestnuts and marrons are now facing the threat of the chestnut tortrix

A small consortium, the Associazione Marrone dolce di Pieve di Rivoschio (Sarsina) in the province of Forlì-Cesena, has asked the local and regional authorities for help in…

"Sales of delicate tomatoes remain unaffected by the pandemic"

Delicate tomatoes can be used in cooking as a vegetable, but also eaten as a snack. These small tomatoes contain 1.7 times the vitamins of regular tomatoes. The outside is…

HM.CLAUSE

The weather affects fennel crops

Over the past few years, fennel crops have been going through many crises in the various cultivation areas - the planning schemes operators (producers, traders and…

Eurostat, Comext

DG agri dashboard - Citrus fruit

Current EU weighted average orange price €5 above 2019/2020 average

2019/2020 EU imports of saw a new high regarding oranges, at about 950,000 tonnes. the same was true for small citrus fruits, with imports coming in at about 410,000 tonnes. The…

FreshPlaza Funny

A beer that goes down well