JAPAN - The demand for Ruby Roman grapes appears to have boosted by more than $100 a grape. At least at auction.
This time last year we reported that the bunch went for an impressive $5,400, but while that news might be “so last year” the grapes are definitely not.
The Wall Street Journal’s Lisa Du reported a new record as the gavel fell on a single bunch of Ruby Romans for ¥1 million (about $8,200).
“The bunch that sold contained 26 grapes,” Du wrote in the report. “Meaning a single grape was worth about ¥38,000 (about $315). It weighed about 700 grams (about 1.5 pounds).”
Chef Masayuki Hirai of Hotel Nikko Kanazawa, the tallest hotel located in the city of Hokuriku, was the winning bidder that set the latest record for grape demand. He plans to use the luxury fruit in the hotel restaraunt’s dessert over the next few days, according to the Wall Street Journal, where dinner plates range about ￥10,000 (just over $80). The sales price in stores for the grapes could start in the ¥25,000 (about $205) range, according to the report, dependent upon the quality of the bunch.
Hirai told Japanese NHK, a national broadcaster, that he wanted the world to know about the good things in Ishikawa, Du reported, especially with the connection of a new Shinkansen line this year making travel to the area easier.
This year’s Ruby Romans started shipping out on Thursday to select stores in Kanazawa, according to WSJ, but it hasn’t been decided when it will go on sale elsewhere. With the first batch of any produce or other foods being considered in the country as bringing good luck, however, this was a quality (albeit expensive) win for Hirai.
To read Lisa Du’s full report in the WSJ, click here.
JACKSONVILLE, FL - Crowley Maritime Corporation has announced two executive promotions. Mark Miller has been promoted to Vice President, Corporate and Marketing Communications within Crowley’s corporate services group and Parker Harrison has been promoted to Vice President of Procurement.
Miller will remain in Jacksonville and continue to report to Carl Fox, Senior Vice President of Corporate Services.
“Mark has successfully developed a highly skilled team that consistently performs beyond expectations,” said Fox. “He has taken on increased responsibility over the past couple of years, particularly with the growth of internet marketing, content marketing and social media. Crowley’s image and reputation are stronger today, which is due in part to the work Mark and his team have done.”
Miller most recently served as Crowley’s Director of Corporate and Marketing Communications, and joined the company in 1995 as Manager, Public Relations and Advertising for Crowley’s liner services group. According to a press release, over the years he assumed communications roles of increasing scope and responsibility for the entire corporation.
Miller is director of all aspects of internal and external communications around the world for both Crowley and its commercial subsidiaries. He and his team are responsible for the following for the company:
- Companies’ brand development and protection
- Media relations and crisis communications
- Strategic development
- Execution and oversight of marketing communications
Harrison, former Director of Claims within Crowley’s risk management group, will be responsible for corporate-wide procurement, managing teams in Florida, Washington, Alaska, Louisiana and New Jersey, with additional support provided by personnel in El Salvador. She will remain based in Jacksonville and report to John Calvin, Senior Vice President and Controller.
“Parker is customer focused, very bright and has high energy with a good balance of professional poise,” said Calvin. “With her legal background and experience, we will enhance our focus on strategic sourcing and contracting as well as gain traction in consortia purchase opportunities.”
Harrison joined Crowley in 2013 from Shipowners Claims Bureau in New York where she gained relevant marine insurance experience and managed employees across four offices worldwide. While at Crowley, Harrison supported the company’s growing ship management business with claims management, and led the risk management and mitigation for the Ebola relief project (Operation United Assistance) as well as the Accord Ship Management acquisition. Harrison received a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School with a certificate in Maritime Law. She is a member of the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association as well as the Maritime Law Association.
SALINAS, CA - “His passion is in what he does,” the Honorable Joe Gunter, Mayor of Salinas, said to a crowd of hundreds on Thursday at the Forbes Reinventing America: The AgTech Summit.
The man he was speaking about was Bruce Taylor, Founder and CEO of Taylor Farms. I was lucky enough to sit in the crowd this week as he accepted the Impact Award in Leadership and gave thanks to the community and people who have helped to make Salinas, California a leading hub for agtech.
"You don't ask for anybody to be more of a leader than Mr. Bruce Taylor when it comes to leading our agriculture industry."
Naming Mr. Taylor as one of the agricultural leaders in our industry, Mayor Gunter said, “You find that [Bruce] gives back to the community in leaps and bounds. When you watch the man talk about the produce industry – when you watch him talk about the Salinas Valley – his passion is in what he does. The fact that he is a leader in where we’re going, and what this community has got to offer, and what he expects the community to do – You don’t ask for anybody to be more of a leader than Mr. Bruce Taylor when it comes to leading our agriculture industry.”
Described as a “man of action” and a "forward-thinker," Mr. Taylor has always been there for his community, having been instrumental in the revitalization of the Salinas downtown. It’s easy to see why so many look up to his achievements in the industry.
As the leader of one of the world’s largest value-added produce companies, Bruce Taylor could not have been more appreciative and thankful for the award and the role he has been allowed to play as a Salinas produce leader.
“You have to have the right people, in the right place at the right time,” Mr. Taylor said. “All of you that are here, it’s an honor to have you here. And the reason you’re here is because this is where the people are who are going to make the decisions on driving our agricultural industry forward.”
Mr. Taylor was also involved in selecting the ten AgTech finalists who represented the industry for the Thrive Accelerator Program, an initiative sponsored by SVG Partners and Forbes. Mr. Taylor, along with a select group of expert mentors, sifted through over forty entries from innovative leaders in Peru, Israel, Switzerland, Panama, France, UK, Ireland, and from across the USA at Thrive Accelerator’s Seed Camp.
Congratulations, Mr. Taylor, on this recent Forbes award and all those yet to come.
OREGON & WASHINGTON - After a series of record-breaking temperatures, it looks like areas of Oregon and Washington could see a margin of relief.
“Thursday will be the final day that parts of northwest Oregon and western Washington see temperatures 5-15 degrees above average,” the Weather Channel reported, stating that reprieve is due to come to the region on Friday.
Although the western Washington areas and northwest Oregon will see cooler days as early as Friday, forecasts say it is still going to be on the hotter side for another day or so in eastern Washington and northern Idaho.
Seattle and Portland temperatures are set to slip into the 70 and 80-degree range this weekend, according to the Weather Channel, with the interior Northwest temperatures cooling down into the upper 80 degrees or low 90s.
Lower-elevation locations ranging from northern Idaho into both Oregon and Washington are expected to see highs in the 90s, with a few peaks into the 100s today before the lower numbers come in.
While it doesn’t quite look like the reprieve will bring rain, it does shift things away from the sequence of record highs that have been set daily over the last couple of weeks.
Keep checking in with AndNowUKnow to see what is influencing the produce industry.
CALIFORNIA - Is it just me, or is Hollywood going a little Avocado crazy lately? In the latest from a string of bizarre celebrity avocado stories, Magnum, P.I. star Tom Selleck is now being sued for allegedly stealing truckloads of water from a public fire hydrant to water his personal avocado farm.
The Calleguas Municipal Water District in Ventura County is claiming that a tanker truck filled up at a hydrant more than a dozen times and hauled water to a 60-acre ranch owned by Selleck in Westlake Village.
Even more interesting—Selleck claims to not even like avocados.
“I sell them,” he told publication Contactmusic. “They don’t look right… They’re wonderful, healthful, good fat — it’s really good for you but it’s not for me. Why eat them when I could sell them? I’ve got a mortgage.”
In an ironic twist, the district also says it spent nearly $22,000 to hire its own P.I. to document the alleged thefts that date back as far as two years ago.
The lawsuit was filed on June 30th, following the California-mandated 25 percent water cuts that we’ve previously reported on. The specific area in Ventura County where Selleck has his land has imposed mandatory cutbacks as high 36 percent.
The district is claiming that it has sent Selleck cease-and-desist letters ordering him to halt the unlawful water deliveries, but even after the truck was spotted on four separate days, according to Fox News.
In addition to legal fees and the $22,000 in investigative costs, the water district is seeking an injunction barring Selleck and his contractors or employees from taking water from the district.
In an interview the actor did with People Magazine in 2012, he said it’s been “hard to make a living, let alone a profit” from the fruit. AndNowUKnow would never advocate the stealing of water, but if even Tom Selleck is having trouble making profits during this drought, the fire hydrant approach might just be the next best option.
LANGLEY, B.C. - The Overwaitea Food Group, a supermarket operator based in British Columbia, Canada, is moving eastward in an ambitious expansion plan.
The company expects to open 40 stores in Saskatchewan and Manitoba with its Save-On-Foods banner, according to the Financial Post. The openings will occur over the next three to five years, beginning with seven stores in the spring of 2016. Those seven stores include three locations in Winnipeg, as well as stores in Saskatchewan in Regina, Saskatoon, Yorkton, and Moose Jaw.
Darrell Jones, President of Overwaitea Food Group, told the Post that the company has its sights set on slow organic growth, rather than expansion through mass consolidation.
“Our focus is mainly on building stores and putting stores in neighborhoods where we can build stores to fit the neighborhood – having a more focused approach in the communities where we plan to grow,” Jones tells the Post. “We think that is the advantage we have that makes us unique from our competitors.”
Speaking on the rumors that Metro Inc., Canada’s third-largest grocery chain, would acquire Overwaitea, Jones went on the record as saying, “I simply can’t see, right now, anything like that happening.”
Jones continued, “They have a very successful business in Ontario and Quebec and we are doing our thing in the West and I think that is likely going to be the case for some time to come.”
In total, Overwaitea operates 145 stores in British Columbia and Alberta. Overwaitea operates 80 Save-On grocery stores in B.C. and 30 in Alberta. The company plans to add 10 more stores in B.C. and Alberta over the next 18 months.
Jones also told the Post that it may bring its downtown format, Urban Fare, to Manitoba and Saskatchewan as well.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we track Overwaitea’s push eastward.
UNITED STATES - Getting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to approve your drone for commercial use hasn’t always been easy. In fact, until just recently it was nearly impossible. You may remember our story from this January about the first-ever drone approved by the FAA for agricultural use. Well, in the past six months, the FAA have approved over 500 exemptions for everyone from farmers, to security companies, to film production companies.
In the last two years, a lack of specific legal framework for commercial drone flight in the US has been a hindrance to growth of the industry, some are saying.
"Getting an FAA exemption was pretty complicated, and hence you mostly had just larger companies, military contractors, and big energy firms spending the effort to obtain them," Bilal Zuberi, a Partner at drone-savvy firm Lux Capital, tells The Verge. "At one point having an exemption was thought of as a real competitive advantage. That's no longer the case. It’s now just a basic, painful, bureaucratic process of standing in line to get your permission."
Now, working with the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, the Verge has collected data on all commercial drone exceptions by the FAA to give us this informative snapshot of the rapidly expanding industry. On The Verge’s website here, you can find an interactive database that allows you to get a clearer picture of the approved companies and what they are planning to do with their drones.
Even in the past six weeks since The Verge started working on this project, they say the number of drone exemptions processed by the FAA has nearly doubled.
"Over the last 12 months, one of the things I have noticed is major corporations have decided the existential risk of drones is gone," continued Zuberi. "Now most big companies have tasked somebody to figure out their "drone" strategy. Previously there was a lot more action happening overseas.”
Thankfully for our industry, however, it looks like that is all starting to change.
MORGAN HILL, CA - Sakata Seed America and P. Allen Smith Garden Home are teaming up, with Sakata Home Grown immediately becoming the official vegetable seed brand of P. Allen Smith.
“A great joy is eating something you have grown in your own garden,” Smith stated in a press release.
Smith is an award-winning designer, garden and lifestyle expert, hosts two of his own public television programs (P. Allen Smith's Garden Home and P. Allen Smith's Garden to Table), hosts the syndicated P. Allen Smith Gardens show, and is a best-selling author for home gardening.
“I am delighted to share with all gardeners and chefs, beginner to expert, an exclusive P. Allen Smith Home Grown Seed Collection,” Smith continued. “I have selected some of my favorites that I grow in my garden, from Red Robin tomatoes to Broccolini broccoli. These varieties are known for their bountiful harvest and great taste, something that would delight all gardeners from their garden to their table. A return to the vegetable garden is a welcomed trend which is good for the well-being of ourselves, families, and communities. It may not be possible to grow an entire garden, but growing just a few things makes a difference.”
According to Sakata, Smith has identified a collection some of the seed company’s varieties and branded it under the P. Allen Smith Home Grown Seed Collection. Now, gardeners and cooks alike will be able to tune into Smith’s various medias, including his shows that air on over 590 stations nationally, YouTube channel, and digital communications, to learn more about things like:
- Details on the new collection.
- How the varieties are performing in the test garden.
- How to grow and cook with Sakata fruits and vegetables.
“Our goal is to provide top-quality fruit and vegetable varieties to gardeners and cooks and their families,” Alecia Troy, Sakata’s Marketing Manager, said in the release. “We look forward to the exposure Allen will bring to gardening and healthy eating with the P. Allen Smith Home Grown Seed Collection. Our partnership with P. Allen Smith is an exciting step toward connecting with consumers through education and passion.”
Smith grew up in the nursery business and his other partners in business include respected names like Bonnie Plants, Proven Winners, Jobes Organics and Le Creuset.
“The fruits and vegetables Allen selected for the P. Allen Smith Home Grown Seed Collection are perfect for the home gardener,” Tracy Lee, Product Manager for the company’s Home Grown division, said. “They are unique, flavorful, and offer added quality and vigor. He’s done his homework – in fact, right now Sakata veggies are planted at Allen’s headquarters at Moss Mountain Farm in Little Rock, Arkansas, where they are continually evaluated for inclusion in recipes, projects and events.”
Sakata recently educated bloggers about the industry as a whole and how seed reaches the end user at P. Allen’s Annual Garden2Blog Event. Located at his Moss Mountain Farm in Little Rock, AR. Founded in 2011, the event hosts 30 garden bloggers from around the U.S. and Canada for two days of trend sharing and knowledge exchange. Sakata also provided seed for bloggers to take home and plant in their own gardens.
PHOENIX, AZ - Sprouts Farmers Market announced that it added two new members to its executive team; Shawn Gensch as the new Chief Marketing Officer and Dan Sanders as the new Executive VP of Store Operations.
“Shawn and Dan share deep retail leadership experience,” Doug Sanders, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sprouts, said in a press release. “With their marketing and operations expertise, Sprouts will continue to grow as a healthy grocery store offering fresh, natural and organic foods at great prices.”
Gensch, whose appointment was effective on June 29th, brings almost 25 years of marketing and finance experience. With executive roles in both the retail and financial services industries, inluding Target’s Senior VP of Marketing position and serving on the Board of Directors for GWG Holdings, Inc., he now will serve as a member of the Sprouts Executive Leadership Team.
“Never before have consumers had so many options when it comes to making decisions about where to shop for groceries and health needs,” Gensch said in the release. “Sprouts is uniquely positioned to join our guests on that journey, to share what we do and why we do it each and every day. Delivering value and variety for healthy living is paramount to the Sprouts brand and I am thrilled to be joining the team.”
Sanders, whose official start date was on July 6th, brings three years as Division President for SUPERVALU, where he led store operations across various divisions including Albertsons and ACME Markets. With a total of 25 years of supermarket operations experience, he has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Food Marketing Institute and the Western Association of Food Chains.
“I look forward to helping Sprouts sustain its unique approach to inspiring healthy living for all through this period of growth,” said Dan Sanders. “Sprouts puts customers first by providing the best value, service and experience every day and I am honored to join the organization.”
Sanders will report to Sprouts’ Chief Operating Officer, Jim Nielsen, and Gensch will report directly to Doug Sanders.
ORLANDO, FL - Jeffrey Davis, former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Wal-Mart U.S., has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer for Darden Restaurants, effective July 16, 2015.
Davis will report directly to Darden Restaurants CEO Gene Lee. Lee was thrilled to welcome Davis into the fold, highlighing his successful performance and multiple credentials.
“Jeff is an operationally-focused CFO with a track record of helping businesses thrive,” Lee said in a press release. “His wide-ranging experience and leadership style is a perfect fit for our organization.”
Davis, who succeeds Brad Richmond, will be responsible for the financial functions of the company, including finance and accounting, corporate reporting, investor relations, and more. As we previously reported, Richmond will be retiring at the end of the month after 32 years of service and will move into an advisory role to assist with the transition.
Prior to being appointed to the top financial post at Wal-Mart, Davis served as the Vice President of Finance for the Wal-Mart U.S. specialty division in 2006. He later held roles such as Executive Vice President and Treasurer for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Darden operates restaurants chains including Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse. In recent news, the company announced that it will spin off about 430 of its more than 1,500 restaurants into a real estate investment trust. Last June, Darden revealed that the deal will give the company the opportunity to acquire more real estate. The deal is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
Darden Restaurants owns and operates more than 1,500 restaurants that generate $6.8 billion in annual sales and employs approximately 150,000 people.