Pretty peach

Several of the booths at the Asia Fruit Logistica show featured Japanese fruit exporters. I stopped by and visited with a couple and I was blown away with the quality, particularly the visual perfection, size and sweetness of the fruit. I asked how much the peaches would retail for and a woman told me one peach would sell for about $10. Try packing a lunch with a Japanese peach every day.

I also sampled Envy, the new apple variety from Enza. Sounds like the sweet, hard apple is receiving a lot of validation from Asian buyers this week.

On a totally unrelated note, I watched coverage from the BBC last night that indicated growing worries in China about the U.S. economy. Apparently about 5% of all U.S. home loans are in arrears. A recession in the U.S. would wreak havoc in export-oriented China, creating a cycle of pain that no one wants to see.

I just checked in with the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group and there is plenty of activity there in my absence. Here are a few highlights:

Nutrition sells and Order your local veggies online Luis posts this link:
After analyzing a year's worth of sales data, Hannaford found that customers tended to buy leaner cuts of meat. Sales of ground beef with stars on their labels increased 7 percent, and sales of chicken that had a star rating rose 5 percent. Sales of ground beef labeled with no stars dropped by 5 percent, while sales of chicken that had a zero- star rating declined 3 percent.
Similarly, sales of whole milk, which received no stars, declined by 4 percent, while sales of fat-free milk (three stars) increased 1 percent.
Sales of fruits and vegetables, however, remained about the same as they did before the ratings were introduced. All fresh produce received stars.

Also a story about online f/v purchases
A Web site is scheduled to go online next spring where people can place orders with Wisconsin farmers for their foods that can then be picked up at local farmers markets.
WHO'S DOING IT: The idea is the brainchild of Heather Hilleren, who also is developing a Web site to link farmers with grocers, schools, hospitals and restaurants that want to buy foods locally rather than from distributors hundreds of miles away.

Hot export market for U.S. ag Big Apple posts links to news about booming exports and rising demand for grain crops:
According to the Indiana Prairie Farmer, all four major U.S. crops, corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton will need more acreage in 2008. This is due to increased demand for corn, lack of soybean supply, and strong price strength for cotton and wheat.


Cultivating a Crop of Hope Big Apple posts link about the hope for ethanol production from switchgrass, by The Washington Post:
When it grows high and thick in midsummer, the crop that might fill Virginia's gas tanks, revitalize its farm belt and keep its mud and manure out of the Chesapeake Bay looks like . . . weeds. Like the world's most overgrown lawn.
At a Virginia Tech agricultural research center here, in this small town west of Fredericksburg, the switchgrass plot is an unruly, waving thicket of seven-foot-tall green stalks. But it only looks neglected: This is one of the center's most prized plants, a formerly obscure prairie grass now projected to be a major source of farm-grown fuel.


Dole to test every acre of spinach Several members chime in on what is the reasonable standard for testing produce safety.