A mid-summer's week produce promotions

Hy Vee Summer Favorites ad (July 19 to July 22)
Britts Farm Market Fresh Homegrown Produce: (include a text box describing Britts Farm near Manhattan, KS)
Homegrown green bell peppers: 2 fr $1
Homegrown sweet corn: $2.99 for a dozen ears
Homegrown zucchini or yellow squash: 88 cents/pound

Hy Vee Weekly (Ad price effective July 18-24)
Kandy label cantaloupe: 3 for $5
Stemilt Rainier cherries: $4.88/pound (Fruits and Veggies More Matters logo with ad)
Dole celery: 77 cents stalk
Dole iceberg lettuce: 88 cents each
Grimmway Farms baby carrots: $1.77
Hy Vee cut vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower or California medley (12 ounce) 2 for $5
Fresh artichokes: 2 for $3
Everybody's Nuts! pistachios: $2.99 (7 ounces)
Fresh cilantro (bunch) 2 for $1
Fresh green beans 99 cents/pound
New Zealand gala apples: $1.38/pound
Zucchini or yellow squash: 97 cents/pound
T Marzetti's veggie dip or hummus: 2 for $5
Monterey portabella mushrooms: $3.38/pound
Italian red onions: 88 cents/pound
Sliced red watermelon 49 cents/pound
Minisweet watermelon: 2 for $5
Monterey whole white mushrooms: $1.29 (8 ounces)
Columbine red seedless grapes: $1.28/pound
Ripe N Ready plums: $1.28/pound


Hy Vee natural and organic
Cal-Organic baby carrots (16 ounce) : 2 for $3



Hen House Market (rewards card) - July 21-22 ad
Whole quartered watermelon : $1 each


Hen House Weekly ad (rewards card) July 18-24
Big Bunch living basil: $3.49each (local grower)
1/4 peck vine-ripened tomatoes: $3 each
Andy's Candy Corn: 8 pack peaches and cream variety: $3
Tropical Delight, Altulfo, or Tommy Atkins mangoes: 2 for $1
Kingsburg Orchard California pluots: $2.49/pound
Large California lemons: 2 for $1
Tentation New Zealand apples: $1.99/pound
Dole Ready to eat summer salad kit: 2 for $5


Dillons (rewards card) July 18 to July 24
Red seedless grapes: 99 cents/pound
Fresh corn on the cob: 2 for $5
Whole white mushrooms 16 ounces: 2 for $5
Cauliflower: 2 for $5
Driscoll's strawberries: 2 for $5
Michigan blueberries: $5.99/2 pounds
Cantaloupe or honeydew: 2 for $5
Private selection organic salads (5 ounce); 2 for $6
California peaches, nectarines, or plums: $1.79/pound
Green seedless grapes: $1.69/pound
Northwest rainier cherries: $3.99 per pound


Price Chopper (chopper card)- July 18-July 24
Cantaloupe: 99 cents each
California sweet dream yellow peaches: $1.49/pound
Rainier cherries: $3.99/pound
Blueberries: two 1-pint pack: 2 for $6
Tommy Atkins: 2 for $1
Roma tomatoes: 99 cents/pound
Fresh green beans: 99 cents/pound
Green Giant sliced mushrooms: $1.69
Dole Summer Salad kit: 2 for $5
Vidalia onions: 99 cents/pound
California's Driscoll's strawberries: 2 for $4
Earthbound Farm organic salads: (5-ounce clamshell) 2 for $5


TK: Hen House breaks out the "peck" reference in their retail ad. I wonder how many consumers know what a "peck" is? Maybe nobody. But it makes you yearn for the good old days of a "bushel and a peck" and homegrown produce.

United, PMA to meet in Chicago

TK: Credit Greg Johnson, managing editor of The Packer, for early intelligence of the upcoming meeting between United and PMA leaders: Here is the story, as it stands now:

Six members from each of the boards of the Produce Marketing Association and the United Fresh Produce Association and their respective presidents/chief executive officers Bryan Silbermann and Tom Stenzel will meet in Chicago on July 18, the leaders of the group said July 16. Silbermann and Stenzel released a statement July 16 that read:

There is a one-day meeting of PMA and UFPA leaders scheduled for this Wednesday, July 18 in Chicago. This meeting includes six board leaders from each association, plus the two of us as CEOs. This is not a secret meeting, and we of course intend to share information from the meeting with our two memberships at some point after the meeting. The general purpose of the meeting is as follows:
Both associations' priority is always to deliver the best value to our members, and our volunteer leaders and staff have been talking about ways to do that better. We are now exploring ways to enhance member value through collaboration between our two associations, although there is no predetermined endpoint such as merger. Rather, we are focusing on enhancing value to members of both associations and letting that guide our discussions. We hope this addresses any immediate questions, and fully explains the nature of the meeting.

Declining to characterize it strictly as a merger discussion, the leaders of the Newark,Del.-based PMA and the Washington, D.C-based United said it was part of an established dialogue between the two national produce associations.
“It is an ongoing series of discussions that the associations have had about how to work more effectively together,” Silbermann of the Newark, Del.-based PMA said in a telephone interview. “This is not a meeting with a predetermined end point.”
There will be six representatives from each association’s board in attendance, in addition to Silbermann and Stenzel. Silbermann said that the six representatives from each board would not be publicized.
“At some point after the meeting we will have something to say to the membership, but I can’t tell when that will be and I can’t even tell you what it will say because we don’t have a specific endpoint in mind,” Silbermann said.
“I wouldn’t put too much stock in this specific meeting; it’s not the first,” Silbermann said.

TK: There is no specific endpoint in mind, but the effort and expense to bring 14 leaders of the two associations together would indicate there may be some discussion of what a merger would be like. Tom Stenzel indicated that a previous discussion of a merger broke down on the issue of trust between the boards. Now the boards are more similar than they were a decade ago and perhaps it is the membership of both groups that must trust their leaders with this very important dialogue.

Big Easy not so easy on taco vendors

"Satan gave me a taco, and it made me really sick.
The rice was all rancid and the grease was mighty thick...
There were aphids on the lettuce, and I ate every one.
And when I was done, the salsa melted off my tongue." - Beck

From the hubbub, you would think a taco stand like the one that singer/songwriter/rapper Beck describes had just opened up in New Orleans.

Instead, there have been no reports of widespread foodborne illness, yet Jefferson Parish in New Orleans has passed regulations that have some alleging racism, not sickening tacos.

As the news writer suggests, that's odd for a town where politicians "have long turned a blind eye to whites and blacks peddling shrimp out of pickup trucks and snow cones on the street," but "recently outlawed the rolling Mexican kitchens, calling them an unwelcome reminder of what Hurricane Katrina brought."

What Hurricane Katrina brought were scores and scores of Latino laborers to rebuild the city. The article notes that New Orleans' population, once 460,000-strong with about 15,000 Latinos, now is just 260,000-strong, with about 50,000 Latinos now living there.

This cultural change has ushered in a new cuisine, one that many in New Orleans have embraced. Yet others haven't.

The new rule in Jefferson Parish states that any mobile vendor selling cooked food must offer restrooms and washing stations.

The article notes that, "Advocates of reclaiming the old ways see new establishments that do not build upon the city's reputation, and might not even be permanent, as a barrier to progress. As Oliver Thomas, president of the New Orleans City Council, recently said in an interview with the Times-Picayune, "How do the tacos help gumbo?" "

I certainly would be sad if New Orleans' distinctive creole cuisine were to be washed away, but I just don't see it happening. In the meantime, I'm sure the creative chefs there will find new ways to fuse together the foods of the cultures. That sort of open-minded ingenuity is what created the New Orleans taste in the first place.

Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance Responds

This just slid across the overstuffed email inbox. From the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance:

SPECIALTY CROP FARM BILL ALLIANCE ADVOCATES FOR EQUITY IN LATEST FARM BILL DRAFT


WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA), a national coalition of more than 110 specialty crop organizations, has issued the following update in light of continued negotiations with the U.S. House Agriculture Committee leading up to the Farm Bill markup scheduled for the week of July 16th:

“Our 110 member organizations throughout the United States support efforts by Congressman Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, Chairman Peterson, and the House Leadership to secure increased funding for specialty crop producers and their priorities. Since the release of the Chairman’s mark on Friday, key members of the coalition have been working hard to craft a Farm Bill that addresses the needs of specialty crop producers since they represent nearly half of the farmgate value in America. This involves coming out of the House Agriculture Committee markup next week with a package of policy initiatives that addresses key priorities which includes infrastructure investment, international market access, dedicated research, technology and science priorities, protecting domestic production from pest and disease intrusion, and targeted nutrition programs that provide increased access to fruits and vegetables. Over the last two years, our coalition has outlined our priorities in H.R. 1600, the “EAT Healthy America Act,” which does not include direct subsidies to producers and has been cosponsored by 119 Members of Congress. We look forward to continue our dialogue with the House Agriculture Committee and our partnership with Members of Congress such as Congressman Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) who continue to advocate that specialty crop producers receive their fair share.”

TK: Perhaps chances are increasing that the House Agriculture Committee may scrape together enough funds to placate fruit and vegetable interests. The release doesn't overtly suggest going beyond the committee, at least.

Peterson teleconference 7/13

For the farm bill junkie, I offer up House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson's July 13 teleconference. The committee markup of the farm bill begins tomorrow, so we will hear more from Peterson and Co. the rest of the week. Fruit and vegetable program funding figures to be one of the central story lines to the full committee markup. I ask Peterson if f/v industry lobbyists have given the committee a "bottom line" number they would be satisfied with. Not really, he said, though he said with a touch of wonderment that some seem to want the $5 billion or so they asked for in the EAT Healthy America Act. Obviously (my words here) the industry won't get $5 billion or $8 billion, but Peterson and the committee must find dollars that will keep f/v in the fold.

Market roundup 7/16