WASHINGTON D.C. - Today, Western Growers is taking a stand for what it believes in, joining together with other leading American business, manufacturing, and agricultural leaders to take part in a “Day of Action for Immigration Reform.”
Western Growers President Tom Nassif has long been a strong proponent of immigration reform. Over the 4th of July weekend he remarked to Wall Street Journal reporters that even "if we can't have comprehensive immigration reform, we still have to do something to solve the problem: We have too many people here on false documents."
Western Growers farms grow about half of America's fresh fruit and vegetables according to the Journal. Without a way to hire more documented workers, Nassif has noticed some farmers moving away from labor-intensive produce and towards crops that demand less human capital. If this trend continues "we will find that the cost of produce is going to be going extremely high, because people will not be able to afford to grow them," he said.
For the Day of Protest, Western Growers will be joined by:
- Thomas Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Jay Timmons, President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers
- John Engler, President of Business Roundtable and former Governor of Michigan
- John Stineman from the Partnership for a New American Economy.
According to a press release, there will also be events staged in more than 60 congressional districts across 25 states in support of the Day of Action.
Those interested in learning more can follow the protest on Twitter through #ActOnImmigration.
CHARLOTTE, NC – Chiquita is bringing produce straight to your smartphone with the announcement of a big expansion to their consumer loyalty app: Chiquita FanFun. Chiquita worked closely with FunMobility, the leader in the mobile web promotion software industry, to craft an app for consumers where produce lovers can play numerous mobile games, customize photos, test their brains with fun quizzes, and look up hundreds of recipes featuring Chiquita produce, all the while earning Chiquita reward points which can be exchanged for exciting prizes.
To check out the App for yourself you can download it off the iTunes or Google Play Stores, or visit Chiquita's website here for instructions on how to receive it via text download.
“We are expanding the mobile engagement of Chiquita consumers,” said Rob Adams, Director of Marketing and Channel Sales at Chiquita Brands. “This is a creative breakthrough for our category and we’ll be looking forward to building greater momentum through this new app with consumers.”
As a proud supporter of Little League Baseball and Softball, Chiquita also included a Little League® Card Maker in the app which can be used to convert a profile picture into one's very own digital baseball card.
This app will allow Chiquita to interact directly with its consumer base, letting them know of any new promotions as they are released. As an added bonus for consumers, the FanFun app will feature a store-locator which can be used to locate the nearest Chiquita Banana retailer from anywhere in country, according to a press release.
Some of the prizes app lovers can look forward to earning with their reward points are a stylish Chiquita t-shirt, a banana themed flash drive, a Chiquita banana holder, and much more.
Drew Schwartzhoff, Director of Marketing at Robinson Fresh®, joins AndNowUKnow to discuss what this new unified brand will bring to the industry. The launch of Robinson Fresh unifies the C.H. Robinson, FoodSource, Rosemont Farms, and Timco Worldwide entities under a new identity. Drew tells us that Robinson Fresh’s main goal is to drive understanding and awareness of the company’s broad portfolio, which includes exclusive licensed, proprietary, and private label brands. Check out our interview with Drew to learn more about the development of Robinson Fresh…
CALIFORNIA - Fortunately for California’s Central Valley citrus industry, it appears now that that the damage incurred from the severe freeze in December may not have had the devastating impact that was originally anticipated. Based on early reports from growers and agricultural officials in February, a 40% loss was expected for the Mandarin crop, while the more cold tolerant navel variety was anticipated to have a 30% loss.
For more information on the February predictions, check out our previous article by clicking here.
“As the season progressed into the Spring, it became increasingly obvious that we were not going to see the damage we had originally anticipated,” says Citrus Mutual President Joel Nelsen. “While this is good news overall, there was definitely some damage out there, particularly in Kern County where a significant portion of the California Mandarin crop is produced.”
Back in December, a hard freeze hit the California citrus crops with almost a dozen days of freezing temperatures falling well below the critical 28 degree mark. For a more detailed look at the freeze, check out our previous article by clicking here.
California Citrus Mutual credits the advances in freeze protection technologies such as wind machines and real-time weather monitoring capabilities for minimizing the impact of the freeze to the citrus crop.
The navel harvest was originally thought to be shortened considerably because of the freeze, but while the crop was smaller than forecasted, packing houses were still packing them until about three weeks ago. That is better than last year at the same time. Mandarins were better than expected as well, and with only 40% harvested so far, it is too early to tell on Valencias.
With the season coming to a close, it is evident now that the overall damage will be far less than predicted, however, an exact percentage will not be known until the season completely wraps up later this month.
IRWINDALE, CA – Ready Pac Foods, Inc. sponsored a symposium hosted by The United Vegetable Growers Cooperative on the sustainability of organic spinach. The event spotlighted the threat of Downy Mildew to organic spinach to help raise awareness in the industry.
The invasion of Downy Mildew has stopped growers from meeting consumer need this season despite overplanting by 10-30%, according to a press release. Currently, organic spinach yields are down 50% with predictions that the situation will worsen.
Even with fungicides available to treat Downy Mildew for conventional spinach, there is no known solution for the organic spinach. The mildew on one leaf of spinach can yield 10,000 spores that become airborne and spread to nearby crops. It is increasing in some of the largest growing regions in the U.S., including the Salinas Valley in California and Yuma, Arizona, according to a press release.
Panelists at the symposium warn that options to treat Downy Mildew on organic spinach are limited and will take time.
To counter the spread in the short term, growers can increase the acreage used for their spinach crops to prevent spreading. Unfortunately, it can take 3 years to have new organic ground certified. Possibly the best long-term option would be to find new resistant seeds, but that can take over a decade.
Overall, the symposium concluded that current conditions will likely continue, and solutions cannot come quickly enough.
In efforts to keep consumers safe and well-informed, Ready Pac is eager to continue its work with The United Vegetable Growers Cooperative and its efforts to raise awareness and help end this spinach threat.
PLEASANTON, CA - If Safeway has it its way, we could be seeing a billion dollar sale in the next coming months. The Financial Times revealed that Safeway executives had hired Eastdil Secured to round up prospective buyers for its shopping center development business, which acquires land on which to build retail shopping centers in which Safeway acts as the anchor tenant. The price? $1 billion.
A sale of this magnitude would fit into the overall economic strategy Safeway has employed since finalizing its acquisition by Albertsons earlier this year for $9 billion.
Last month when Safeway successfully negotiated a $5 billion deal in which it turned over control of its Canadian chain of stores to Sobey's, Safeway CEO Robert Edwards revealed in a press release that he thought that the revenue generated by this sale would allow Safeway to pay down its debts and improve the general outlook of its balance sheets as it approached its merger with Albertsons.
"The substantial cash proceeds from this transaction will allow us to create value for Safeway stakeholders and contribute to the growth of the ongoing business," said Edwards.
One can only assume that this latest move was driven by similar motivations.
Sources who spoke with the Financial Times also suggested that Safeway would be seeking out buyers for its Mexican business operations in the near future.
Between the two of them Safeway and Albertsons control a total of 2,300 grocery stores. Once their partnership finalizes, Cerberus, the private equity investor which owns Albertsons, will have command of the 3rd largest grocery store chain in the United States.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for any updates in this developing story.
SALINAS, CA - Coastline is giving itself a makeover this summer and will be moving forward with a new company name: Coastline Family Farms. Coastline Family Farms drew from both a proud heritage and the promise of a bright future for inspiration for its rebranding, one complete with a new logo to match. Company 
President Steve Henderson wants buyers to rest assured, however, that although Coastline's name and logo are new, its commitment to its land, its partners, and its crops remains unchanged.
"...we are proud of our commitment to the land, our people and our products," Henderson said. "We want to let our customers and consumers know of our culture and our quality. We have talked with our employees and with consumers, to get their input and thoughts on our new name. And now it is time to share how strongly we feel about the integrity of our company and our products.”
Coastline is also very proud of its new logo, a simple but modern leaf design with the company's initials, CFF, incorporated within the leaf.
“This clean and modern logo reflects our new positioning in the marketplace, building on our past and demonstrating our vision for our company and our products in the future,” says Vice President, Phil Adrian.
According to a press release, Coastline plans to introduce a number of new product areas and sustainability initiatives under the new Coastline Family Farms brand. They will also be ramping up efforts to refine and enhance their quality assurance efforts and innovation programs.
Coastline has been working as a successful year-round produce supplier since 1991.
WATSONVILLE, CA - California Giant Berry Farms is looking forward to a strong summer blueberry season across the Pacific Northwest. With good weather leading up to harvest season, the company is expecting excellent quality, flavor and good volume.
“This is far and away the most exciting and nerve-racking time of the year, the start of our Summer blueberry season in the Pacific Northwest,” said Evan Pence, General Manager for North America Blueberries at California Giant.
Check out a quick sneak peek of California Giant's Canadian blueberry fields in the video below.
Currently, some of the fruit in Oregon is peaking to meet demand, and harvesting in that region will continue through July. The company expects the season to extend well into September to meet customer demand.
California Giant started its harvest season in Canada this past weekend.
SUNSET® Girl Milla Mastronardi is here to talk about SUNSET’s new cocktail tomato, Y.E.L.O.™! Non-GMO Verified and boasting nearly 50% more Vitamin C than regular tomatoes, Y.E.L.O. helps bring the brightness of sunshine to any meal. Look for Y.E.L.O. in the company’s new Top Seal packaging, which uses 20% less plastic than ordinary clamshells. Check out this short video to get an inside look at this new tomato and packaging from Mastronardi and SUNSET! <hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Filmed and produced by: Nick Brokalakis<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
LONE STAR, TX - It seems that Wal-Mart is on the move again, having announced in the last few days that it plans on expanding its footprint in the Lone Star State with three new additions to its line of Wal-Mart Express stores in the towns of Naples, Tatum, and Lone Star. These new Wal-Mart locations bring with them the promise of new purchasing options and job opportunities for the members of these relatively small American towns.
The residents of Lone Star in particular are excited about the proposed expansion and what the 12,000 square foot Express store could do for the town's 1,600 current residents.
“We’re excited,” City Secretary Ruth Nash told the Lone Star newspaper.
While she did acknowledge the increased competition the warehouse giant would bring with it, she remained firm in her belief the net result would be good for Lone Star. “We’re just such a small little town that the new jobs that would be coming to staff the store and the additional sales tax revenue and property tax revenue — we think it will draw enough business into our town that it will more than offset what might happen to the other stores.”
Tatum Mayor Phil Cory added, “From a community standpoint, I’ve always believed competition is good at least." He did note, however, that the plans for the new Wal-Mart were still in the early preliminary stages.
This latest building project is just a part of an overall larger plan by Wal-Mart to expand its Express store line by 300 locations during 2014, according to reporters at Omaha.
“These smaller-format stores are the result of us listening to our customers,” said Wal-Mart spokesperson Betsy Harden. “They are telling us they want new ways to shop.”
Wal-Mart's line of smaller Express stores focus largely on groceries and general merchandise with some stores also featuring a gas station. According to a news release by the National Association for Convenience and Fuel Retailing, the average Express location is roughly 15,000 square feet although West Texas locations look to be closer to a 11,000-12,000 square foot range.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for any further updates on Wal-Mart and its plans for expansion.