NEW YORK, NY - “On the one side, this eating mindfully and vegan seems to be the solution to nutrition, to health, to global warming… On the other side: Corned beef. How do we bridge that gap?”
Well if that’s all that’s holding you back, Jon, you’re practically vegan!
Or so says animal activist and vegan lifestyle advocate Gene Baur, who endeavored to convince Jon Stewart when he appeared on the Daily Show last week, which you can see in the video below.
The famed comedian brought Baur on to discuss the benefits for both the individual and the world of going vegan, a decision Stewart seems only to oppose for the lack of convenience and maybe a few dishes he would have to give up.
But he might change his mind if things keep going the way Baur says they are.
“They are getting better every year, and it’s getting easier than it’s ever been,” Baur told Stewart, speaking on substitute foods that incorporate traditional flavors without the use of meats or dairies.
The rising convenience and substitutions could be part of why we are seeing a rise in vegan advocacy. As we reported previously, celebrity power couple Beyonce and Jay-Z decided to make a permanent change to vegan after successfully completing a 22 day challenge. Other big names that switched to a produce-fueled and anti-animal diet include:
- Ellen DeGeneres
- Anne Hathaway
- Tobey Maguire
- Olivia Palermo
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Alicia Silverstone
- Lea Michele
Baur also reinforced the global impact veganism could have by eating a more produce-based diet, saying it is a simple decision of what we eat and could conserve resources used to raise animal foodstock.
While Stewart did not necessarily declare himself converted to the vegan way at the end of the show, he did push purchasing Baur’s book “Living the Farm Sanctuary Life,” complete with recipes and tips Stewart said beautifully laid out how to live vegan.
Soon, John. Soon.
WASHINGTON - The USDA has lifted PACA reparation sanctions on Grambs Produce LLC, a Nogales, Arizona-based company.
Grambs Produce LLC has reportedly met its obligations and is now free to operate in the produce industry, according to a USDA press release. Mario Grambs was listed as a member of the business and may now be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee.
The company had formerly been restricted from operating in the produce industry for allegedly failing to pay a $13,954 award in favor of an Arizona seller.
In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 4,250 PACA claims involving more than $77 million. The USDA also assisted more than 7,000 callers with issues valued at approximately $110 million. Individuals, including sole proprietors, partners, members, managers, officers, directors, or major stockholders may not be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee without the approval of the USDA. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), PACA Division, regulates fair trading practices of produce businesses operating subject to PACA.
JAPAN - This is a story that made those of us who love produce reconsider island living.
Apparently in Japan it’s pretty normal to spend about three dollars on an apple, and strawberries are a downright delicacy at $500 a berry. But Tokyo has really set the bar as far as what we are willing to spend on mangos.
Two of these brightly colored fruits went up for auction yesterday, and when the gavel fell one wealthy buyer reportedly spent 300,000 Yen (about $3,000).
Yes, about $1,500 a mango. And they didn’t even get to see how they taste.
According to a Japan Today report, the cherished produce was airlifted to the buyer’s luxury store in Fukuoka where he priced them down to 210,000 Yen (over $1,600). What a bargain!
The mango pair was apparently part of the “Taiyo no Tamago” (Egg of the Sun) label, considered top of the line because any mango must have a high sugar content and weigh more than 350 grams to qualify.
While our heads are still spinning for what has to be a record for mango purchases, it’s not the most outrageous spending spree the country has recorded for buying produce in general. According to CTV News, the overall champion still stands from a 2008 bid for a pair of cantaloupes that went for $32,000. Yes, dollars.
Wow.
CARPINTERIA, CA - Hollandia Produce, L.P. is launching a contest to show retailers and consumer alike the versatility of living butter lettuce.
The company’s A Better Butter Lettuce! Recipe Contest launched yesterday, giving anyone who submits an at-home recipe of their own living butter lettuce dishes an opportunity to win a $1,000 Williams-Sonoma gift card grand prize, according to a press release.
To help push the contest, a national retail campaign intended to showcase living butter lettuce as a staple ingredient, Hollandia Produce, L.P. has started to ship its Live Gourmet® Living Butter Lettuce in clamshell containers with one of six rotating recipes on the cover.
The contest has three categories that participants can enter:
- Salads/Sides
- Appetizers
- Main Course
There is a first, second, and third place for each category, with an eligible prize of a $150, $75 and $50 gift card, respectively. It is open to all who are elligible, and will continue through July 31, 2015.
SALINAS, CA - TransFresh® Corporation’s high velocity Tectrol® application systems are experiencing an expansion in usage after reportedly having successfully increased strawberry production, efficiency, and throughput for the U.S. and Canadian-bound markets.
“Transporting strawberries in the sealed TransFresh Tectrol® pallet cover system, in which CO2 concentrations were elevated at consistent levels, was most effective in complementing low temperature management practices to reduce decay and maintain fruit quality,” stated a jointly conducted research initiative from the University of Florida and University of California, Davis, according to a press release.
The high velocity Tectrol® application systems was placed in multiple cooler locations a step ahead of peak strawberry production, using specialized equipment systems to ensure the accurate application and sealing of poly sheeting, according to the TransFresh® Corporation.
According to Vice President of TransFresh Rich Macleod, the high-performance method of the system increases the number of Tectrol pallets processed per hour, which in turn increases the total volume of Tectrol strawberries moving through each cooler facility.
“In sum,” Macleod concluded in the release, “the TransFresh investment in research, equipment development and installation has resulted in greater efficiency and throughput as well as enhanced sealing efficacy.”
The in-depth study by the two universities, entitled “Comparison of Pallet Cover Systems to Maintain Strawberry Fruit Quality during Transit,” also concluded produce from the Tectrol® pallets bore significantly less decay after a two-day shelf life. This reflects the company’s mission, according to Macleod, to protect berry quality and support the berry trade industry to its fullest.
OXNARD, CA - Mission Produce is welcoming Tracy Malmos as its new Senior Vice President of Human Resources.
Steve Barnard, Mission’s President and CEO said, “As Mission continues to grow globally, we need to build a team that can take us to the next level. Tracy brings a great track record from working for a very large multi-national company, as well has having experience in produce. He is a results-focused person, and is very familiar with helping companies grow their talent. He is a great fit for our growth plans.”
Malmos' most recent position was with Bolthouse Farms, where he led the HR function for the company during an explosive period of growth for the company. Before joining Bolthouse, Malmos was the Vice President of Human Resources for Wal-Mart, playing a critical role in providing strategic leadership and consultation, and ensuring that the company’s human capital plan aligned with ongoing business needs.
“I was attracted to Mission based on its global expansion and the company’s desire to ramp up its HR capabilities,” Malmos said.
He continued by saying that all of his previous positions have given him the right background to understand and implement the programs needed during a period of rapid expansion, according to a press release.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Former Safeway Group Vice President Anne Dament has joined the Target team as the Senior Vice President of Merchandising to help vamp up the company’s grocery category.
Dament, who worked most recently as a Vice President for Petsmart, served as Safeway as Group Vice President, Perishable Strategy, for almost ten years, overlapping with current Target CEO Brian Cornell during his time as Chief Marketing Officer for the grocery retailer. She has also served as a former buyer for SUPERVALU.
Dament’s role to improve and expand Target’s grocery sector begins April 20, according to the Wall Street Journal, expanding private-label products, adding more organic and gluten-free options, and emphasizing categories geared more towards millennial consumers.
As we have previously reported, the new Target CEO plans to make the fresh foods area of the company, which currently only garners about a fifth of its annual $73 billion in sales, a stronger branch. Cornell announced that the company tapped Dament, who brings with her a total of nearly 20 years in grocery and consumer packaged foods experience, to help do just that, according to a press release.
“Our guests tell us they expect Target to inspire them with differentiated food offerings like we do in other areas,” Cornell said, according to the press release. “We have an opportunity to make food more reflective of our brand, elevate the shopping experience, and make Target a food destination for our guests.”
Dament commented, “Joining the team at Target gives me an opportunity to bring my professional experience and love of food to the organization as their transformation is just getting underway. I’m excited to return home to Minnesota and work alongside great leaders for such an iconic brand.”
Target’s overall facelift of its grocery department is reportedly expected to take place over the next 12 to 18 months.
ORLANDO, FL - Starboard Managing Member and CEO Jeffrey Smith sat down in an interview with CNBC to discuss Darden Restaurant Group’s recent turnaround.
As we’ve previously reported, in October of 2014, Darden overturned its entire Board of Directors following nearly a year of feuding with its investor group Starboard Value LP.
It seems now to be a consensus that Darden has completely turned around its poor financial results from the past year. In its most recent quarterly report, sales for the company had increased by nearly 7 percent.
When asked if gasoline prices and an improved economy were major factors in the company’s turnaround, Smith had this to say, “Darden is actually performing better than the rest of the restaurant industry.” He credits Darden’s success almost entirely to the company’s new CEO Gene Lee.
“He’s really focused on the operations of the business and making sure that we’re focused on the guest first, and that’s pervaded through the organization and the organization is doing a fantastic job,” Smith says.
Smith says that he’s very proud of what Darden has done in recent months.
“We were the first to be successful at replacing the entire board at Darden, but what’s amazing is the relationship between the management team and the board from the first weeks has been incredible,” continued Smith. He tells CNBC that this relationship made it easy for the company to find a new CEO, and drew candidates' interest from all over.
“The feedback [the candidates] were getting from management about how well the board was working, how well we were working with them, and how we were focused on just doing the right thing for the company and improving the company for the best interest of the shareholders and the employees, really impressed them.”
Smith continued that working well with the management of Darden is what has brought value to the company overall.
And Smith might be right, looking at the stock data. Averages increased steadily by nearly 20 percent over the last year.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest updates on the improving company.
DELTA, BC - Will you be at this week’s CPMA? Village Farms will be, accompanied by its new Corporate Chef Darren Brown and a few special surprises.
The company has enlisted Chef Darren Brown to highlight the newly debuted Village Farms’ Olde World Flavor collection.
According to Chef Darren Brown, “The uniqueness of Village Farms’ new varietals is only surpassed by their outstanding flavor profiles and versatility in cooking.”
Chef Brown continued to say the new Cherry no. 9™ Fall in Love Again, is a great little tomato sold on the vine with a crisp sweet flavor unlike most other cherry tomatoes. Also, according to a press release, the new Cabernet Estate Reserve™ tomato is a burgundy color with a flavor profile reminiscent of a fine wine.
Stop by Village Farms' booth #1424 during the convention at the Palais des Congres de Montreal to experience these new offerings, as well as some new packaging.
Helen L. Aquino, Director of Brand Marketing & Communications, shared, “We now have QR codes on our labels that offer value to consumers with Chef-inspired recipes.”
The Village Farms sales team will be available during the show to show you all the new offerings featured for this event. Village Farms will also be displaying its entire line of products, including its exclusive Heavenly Villagio Marzano®, a mini San Marzano tomato, and its True Rebel Mix™ tomato.
SALINAS, CA - “The most important thing that humanity has to do in the next 20 years is to feed itself in ways that are sustainable, plentiful, and equitable. Technology can drive that effort,” Dan Bigman, Managing Editor at Forbes, tells me. “We have a huge opportunity to reinvent the way we approach food production and accessibility, and we hope that this summit can bring the right minds together.”
As we previously reported, Forbes, in partnership with SVG Partners and The Steinbeck Innovation Cluster, will host “Reinventing America: The AgTech Summit” this July 8-9, 2015 in Salinas, California. The invitation-only event will bring together the Silicon Valley and global agriculture in the Salinas Valley, California, to address some of the world’s most critical food challenges.
Keynote speakers will include Bruce Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms, Dr. Robert Fraley, EVP and CTO of Monsanto and Neal Gutterson, VP Research of DuPont, as well as others.
To request an invitation, please click the button below:
Request an Invitation to Forbes Reinventing America: The AgTech Summit
Forbes’ audience is largely made up of investors and entrepreneurs looking to engage in news, opportunities and information about business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, and leadership. So, it made sense to Dan that Forbes should partner with SVG Partners and The Steinbeck Innovation foundation; a company whose goal is to help younger generations become entrepreneurs, drive innovation in fields and factories, and bring high tech to industrial zones.
“There is so much happening in and around agriculture. There couldn’t be a bigger market at this time. We are going to see the population jump from 7 billion to 9 billion people in the next 30 years and food production is already an issue,” Dan says.
By pooling their resources and intelligence, Forbes and Steinbeck are looking to bridge the gap between technology and agriculture, between the Silicon Valley and the Salinas Valley.
“While we are both reasonably close in proximity, there has been a lack of communication. Where there is a lack, we see an opportunity,” he notes.
The summit will address challenges from water related issues in California and the U.S. Southwest, to weather prediction technology, the biotech revolution, labor, and robotic farming. The question that encompasses it all: What does the farmer of the future look like?
“Increasing the production per acre will also be a hot topic as population increases and acreage stays the same. These issues all tie into trade policy, regulation, government involvement and non-involvement…we are on the search to find a balance.”
You can also expect local beers and wine, tours of farms and facilities in the area, high-caliber speakers and presenters as well as plenty of occasions to network and be amazed.
See you all in Salinas in July!