New poll question - Yes, we need a national promotion order for fresh produce

Last week's poll question drew slightly more votes "against" NAFTA than "for" it, relative to the impact on the U.S. fresh produce industry. Check out the results here, for that poll and all previous Fresh Talk poll questions.

As for this week, the Fresh Talk polls asks if the industry would benefit from a national promotion order for fresh produce. I have already voted and cast my vote in the affirmative. Aside from the fact that the "Fruits and Veggies - More Matters" campaign encompasses both fresh and processed fruits and vegetables. it is underfunded. With no mandatory assessment, consumer messaging about fresh produce is woefully inadequate.

True, fresh produce tends to generate favorable press coverage organically owing to its health benefits. But where is the industry directed, attention-grabbing messaging to consumers?

The dilution of industry efforts - even within a commodity category - is remarkable. Why should California, Mexico or Chile run their own separate promotions of hass avocados, for example, as opposed to a unified generic promotion?

Wouldn't buyers prefer dealing with one promotion department rather than several?.

The answer is undoubtedly linked to control of the message, decisions with mandatory assessment dollars and pride in a particular growing region. That reality for avocado promotion is not going away, and in fact, one source tells me the regional promotion focus for avocados may increase in the future.

This, of course, is not unique to the avocado industry.

Promotions for potatoes, onions, apples, grapefruit and countless other fresh commodities argue for the fruit of a particular region or state.

Perhaps that is why so many in the industry have rejected the idea of a mandatory assessment to fund generic promotions of fresh fruits and vegetables. How can you unify marketers of dozens of commodities when there is no unity within a commodity?

Despite — or because of — the history of fragmentation of efforts, I think the industry may benefit from a national promotion order for fresh produce. A promotion order - collecting from both domestically grown and imported produce - would undoubtedly give the industry more clout at the USDA and in the consumer marketplace.

Given the fact that the Produce for Better Health Foundation promotes the “all forms count” message, a fresh-focused effort would not necessarily be redundant. Perhaps the promotion order could specify that mandatory assessments be used for fresh “More Matters” promotions exclusively by the Produce for Better Health Foundation. An even more attractive alternative would be a new “fresh-first" oriented message.

While processed fruit and vegetable marketers pressure to elbow their way into the USDA fruit and vegetable snack program, the industry needs a well funded promotion arm that will make the case for fresh and fresh alone.

The self-interest of the industry to promote fresh produce needs to come to the forefront. In same way Whole Foods has marketed organic produce over what it considers its pedestrian competition, fresh asparagus must count for more than canned asparagus. Fresh pears must count more than canned pears. If consumers don’t believe that, the bloom of off the rose of fresh produce.